Yale Assure Lock 2 Plus vs Touch

The difference that decides it

These two locks look almost identical, fit the same doors and cost within about ten pounds of each other. The naming does nothing to help. What separates them is a straight swap:

• The Plus supports Apple Home Key. Tap an iPhone or an Apple Watch and the door opens. It has no fingerprint reader and no key cylinder.
• The Touch has a fingerprint reader and a key cylinder. It does not support Apple Home Key at all.

That is the entire decision. Everything else about them is the same lock.

Choose the Plus if

You are already carrying an iPhone or wearing an Apple Watch, and you want the door to open by tapping it. Home Key works even when the phone’s battery has run down, which is the answer to the obvious objection.

Be clear about what you are giving up. With no key cylinder there is no mechanical fallback, so the keypad is the only way in if the electronics fail and your phone is dead. Some people find that unacceptable on a front door, and it is a fair position.

Choose the Touch if

You want biometrics, or you want a physical key. A fingerprint reader is faster than a phone for anyone whose hands are full, and it works for household members who do not carry a phone at all: children, older relatives, a cleaner.

The key cylinder matters more than it sounds. It is the fallback that needs no battery, no network and no app.

Which to buy

If the household is entirely on Apple devices and you are comfortable without a mechanical key, take the Plus. If anyone in the house does not carry a phone, or a physical key is a condition, take the Touch.

Both start as Bluetooth locks. Yale sells Wi-Fi versions of each, and the separate Yale Wi-Fi Smart Module upgrades a Bluetooth lock later. The module adds remote access, not Home Key, so it cannot rescue the wrong choice here.