Why Won't My August Lock Auto-Unlock Trigger?

Problem Description

Your August lock's Auto-Unlock feature isn't unlocking the door automatically when you arrive. Because Auto-Unlock relies on your phone's location and Bluetooth plus a geofence, the fix is almost always in phone permissions or the geofence rather than the lock itself.

Why This Happens in Real Homes

Auto-Unlock works by watching your phone leave and return via a geofence, then unlocking over Bluetooth as you reach the door — so a lock that "won't auto-unlock" is nearly always a phone-permission or geofence problem, not a lock fault. The phone has to be allowed to track location in the background continuously.

Give the August app Always and Precise location, turn on background app refresh, and exempt it from any battery-saver that suspends it. Confirm Bluetooth is on, DoorSense is set up (Auto-Unlock uses it), and that you travel far enough to exit the geofence when you leave. When the phone reliably detects the leave-and-return cycle, Auto-Unlock becomes consistent.

Symptoms

• Lock doesn't auto-unlock at home
• Unlocks late or not at all
• Have to unlock manually
• Intermittent auto-unlock
• Fails after an OS update
• Only when the app is foregrounded
• No arrival unlock
• Different behavior per phone

Recognize these? Here's what usually causes it.

Common Causes

• Location not set to Always/Precise
• Background app refresh / battery optimization off
• Bluetooth issues
• Geofence radius too small
• Lock or bridge offline
• DoorSense not configured
• Poor Bluetooth range at the door
• Account/phone conflicts

Tools & Requirements

Step-by-Step Solution

1

Enable Auto-Unlock and check requirements

Auto-Unlock uses your phone location to detect when you arrive home and unlocks the door automatically. Open the August app, go to Lock Settings > Auto-Unlock, and make sure it is enabled. Auto-Unlock requires: location services set to Always (not While Using) for the August app, Bluetooth enabled on your phone, and the phone to have left the geofence area before returning. It only triggers once per departure — if you never left, it will not auto-unlock when you walk to the door.

Needed for this step

Door Latch Strike Plate, Stainless Steel Door L...

This helps complete the fix you are currently reading.

$7.49

View Needed Item

2

Fix the geofence not detecting arrivals

Auto-Unlock uses a geofence (about 200 metres around your home). When your phone exits this area and later re-enters, the lock unlocks. If you only go a short distance (mailbox, neighbour's house), you may not leave the geofence, so Auto-Unlock will not trigger on return. The geofence size is fixed and cannot be adjusted. For short trips, you need to use the app, keypad, or key to unlock.

3

Check location permissions on your phone

On iPhone: go to Settings > Privacy > Location Services > August. Set it to Always. Also enable Precise Location. On Android: go to Settings > Apps > August > Permissions > Location. Set to Allow All the Time. Without persistent background location access, the August app cannot detect when you leave and return to the geofence. Battery optimisation on Android can also kill the August app in the background — add August to your battery optimisation exceptions.

4

Check Bluetooth availability at the door

Even with the geofence triggered, Auto-Unlock requires Bluetooth to communicate the actual unlock command to the lock when you are physically at the door. If Bluetooth is off on your phone, or if you arrive home and go to a different part of the house before approaching the door, Auto-Unlock may not trigger. It needs to detect your phone via Bluetooth within about 10-15 feet of the lock to confirm you are actually at the door.

5

Fix Auto-Unlock for multiple household members

Each person who wants Auto-Unlock must have the August app installed, be granted Owner or Guest access, and enable Auto-Unlock in their own app with their own location permissions. Auto-Unlock is per-phone, not per-household. If one person has it working and another does not, the issue is with the second person's app settings, location permissions, or battery optimisation. Each phone must independently detect the geofence exit and entry.

Quick Solutions

Still having issues? This is usually the deeper cause below.

Need More Help? August Home Support

Note: The contact information below connects you directly to August Home's official customer support team, not Trunetto. They can help with warranty claims, device replacements, and advanced technical issues.

How Does August Home Compare?

Before replacing your August Home device, see how it stacks up against alternatives in our full comparison guides.