Level Lock vs Level Lock+

What they share

Level puts the motor and the electronics inside the bolt itself. The outside of the door keeps the hardware and the keys you already have, and nothing on it tells a visitor that the lock is smart.

That invisibility is the reason to buy a Level at all. It suits a period front door, a shared entrance with fixed appearance rules, or anywhere a keypad and a large escutcheon would look wrong.

What the Plus adds

• Apple Home Key. Tap an iPhone or an Apple Watch on the door and it opens. The standard Level Lock cannot do this.
• Matter, so it joins Apple Home without a Level bridge.

The question to ask before either

Neither lock has a keypad. Access comes from the app, a key card, your original mechanical key and, on the Plus, Home Key.

That is a clean set of options for a household where everyone carries a phone. It is a problem the moment somebody needs a code: a cleaner, a dog walker, a builder, a teenager who has lost their phone. There is no way to issue a temporary code on either model, because there is nothing to type it into.

If that describes your household, neither Level is the right lock, and a keypad model will serve you better regardless of how it looks.

Which to buy

If the invisible design is what you want and everyone has a phone, buy the Plus. Home Key is worth the difference, and Matter means one less bridge.

Buy the standard Level Lock only if you have found one cheaply and genuinely do not want tap-to-unlock.