Ring's foray into smart locks brings a first-of-its-kind feature that solves one of the categories biggest pain points.

Smart locks are becoming the norm, not the exception, for homeowners who value security. They’re mostly straightforward, affordable and user-friendly, but because smart locks are rarely hardwired, they rely on standard replaceable or rechargeable batteries. Therein lies the biggest smart lock pain point: keeping the battery charged so you don’t inadvertently lock yourself out.

Until now, most smart locks have relied on an old-fashioned key as a backup if the lock dies, along with some experiments with solar panels. Ring’s first entry into the smart lock category, announced today and dubbed The Ring Smart Lock, uses a supercapacitor, a first-of-its-kind energy crank built into the thumbturn.

The small knob fixed below the backlit touchscreen keypad charges the smart lock with just a few turns, giving it roughly 20 seconds of operation – enough time to get in the house and, hopefully, throw your battery on the charger. We got a first look at the lock during a private demonstration by Ring Founder, CEO and brains behind the debut smart lock, Jamie Siminoff.

A small display screen (not included with the lock) showed how quickly the lock could be temporarily charged—roughly four or five spins. The crank operates no matter how dead the battery is. In fact, it’ll work even with the battery completely removed, Siminoff said.

When developing the lock, Siminoff couldn’t believe most were still relying on keys as backup, a tool he refers to as “medieval” in its simplicity and fallibility.

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