This Tapo smart lock scans your palms’ veins for hands-free unlocking

Smart security company Tapo has just announced its new smart lock as part of its CES 2025 showcase. The Tapo PalmKey Smart Door Lock has palm-vein recognition technology that scans your hand for hands-free unlocking – although details are few and far between on its availability and pricing.

Despite the best smart locks still being fairly new to the market, they’re getting smarter and smarter every day. While it used to be all about app unlocking, today’s smart locks now have scanning technology that reads fingerprints or palms to unlock your front door. More recently, it’s been all about palm-vein scanning, and Tapo’s latest smart lock is a perfect example of this.

The new Tapo PalmKey Smart Door Lock has palm-vein recognition technology that scans the unique patterns of the veins in your hand to unlock your door. The scanner uses AI technology and requires your palm to be around 4-10 inches away from it so it can accurately read your palm.

Tapo states that this technology surpasses traditional fingerprint scanners and facial recognition systems. According to Tapo, the Tapo PalmKey Smart Door Lock’s palm scanner still works if your hands are dirty or wet. Designed to stay with you even as you age, the Tapo PalmKey Smart Door Lock can also read dry or aged hands, so it can still be used regardless of your age or physical condition.

This unlocking method is the most exciting feature of the Tapo PalmKey Smart Door Lock, but it also has seven other ways to unlock your front door. These include fingerprint scanning, a physical key back-up, Wi-Fi remote control, PIN codes and third-party integrations. To better integrate into your smart home ecosystem, the Tapo PalmKey Smart Door Lock is compatible with Alexa, Google Home and Samsung SmartThings.

In terms of charging, the Tapo PalmKey Smart Door Lock has a 10,000 mAh rechargeable battery. It can also withstand extreme weather and temperature conditions and is IP65 weatherproof.

As the Tapo PalmKey Smart Door Lock was only recently announced, no pricing or availability has been confirmed yet. A product page for it can be found on the Tapo US website but it’s only mentioned in a press release on the Tapo UK website. We hope to find out more soon and expect to see it arrive around spring/summer 2025.