Unlock Your Door Like A Jedi

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I get the opportunity to review a wide variety of devices in my career and very few of those — aside from whatever the latest iPhone is at any given time — capture the interest of the younger generation in my household. But there was my daughter, 15 years old and Gen Z, calling her friends to show them how she could wave her hand in front of a door lock in my sunroom. Personally, I just wanted to feel like a Jedi and tell the door that “credits will do fine.”

Whatever the motivation, people in my home both 15 years old and 50, giggled like children once I installed the Tapo DL130. Through my review period I intentionally closed and locked the door just so I could do it over and over again. It’s silly fun, but it’s also pretty impressive.

Of course, another reason I liked the TapoDL130 is because, as a phone nerd, I distinctly remember the LG G8’s vein reading technology. This was a nice little throw-back to that time, and I’d just like to say it here — I miss LG’s crazy phones — and I’m glad it lives on in some form or another. I’ve had the Tapo DL130 installed in my sunroom for one week, and this is my full review.

Installing the lock was pretty simple. I’ve installed more than a few door locks in my home, and this one is up there with one of the easiest. All the door hardware you need is included, of course. You’ll just need your own screwdriver, but beyond that you get everything you need. Door locks are usually pretty standard in size, so nothing about this is surprising.

One note about the install, it requires a bolt to be attached through the face of the inside portion of the lock that is covered with a silicone plug. I found it to be a tad tacky, but that was the only part that didn’t go smoothly.

Once it’s installed, you just open the Tapo app to pair it up with your phone. From there, you set up an administrator code and biometrics, and you can set up other users too. This is where things get a bit weird because while each user can have biometrics — palm vein reading and fingerprint — but not an entry code. You can set up separate entry codes in another area of the app, but it seems silly to separate those functions. It stands to reason that individual users might want individual codes and that also helps tracking movement in the log.

The Tapo DL130 is a deadbolt replacement only. Unfortunately, there are very few smart locks that will replace your door latch, and even fewer that will replace both. So, if you adopt this lock for your home, you’ll be leaving your door latch unlocked. Once installed, there are a few ways to enter. The first is the aforementioned Jedi Mind Trick method, where the door can read the veins in your palm.

You have to hold your hand upright and roughly parallel to the pad, so it can read accurately. It reads fast and if it fails, it’s usually just a matter of holding your hand straighter. The second method is a fingerprint reader which is also fast and accurate. Registering fingerprints is actually a lot nicer than registering a fingerprint for a phone.

You can also enter a PIN on a display that lights up with a tap. Tapo advertises that it will light up random numbers that you have to tap first before you enter your PIN — the idea here is to confuse what Tapo calls “smudge attacks” where an intruder will try to glean your code by looking at the smudges on the PIN pad. I much prefer Locky’s method of simply randomizing the numbers on the pad every time you enter it, but here we are.

Finally, you can use a key. It took a second to find the keyhole which is under a cover that blends in pretty well. That’s okay though, because this is a smart lock, and keys are boring.

Once you’re done installing the lock, there’s one last step. Tapo ships a magnetic sensor you need to attach to your door frame. It also includes a handy template to show you where to install it, which was very appreciated. This sensor tells the door when it’s closed so it can latch the door automatically. Speaking of which, every time the door latches and unlatches, it announces it with a voice through the speaker. This speaker is also used to sound the doorbell that’s integrated into the lock. 

On the inside, there’s a normal knob to turn the latch, and also the battery compartment. The battery is rated to last for one year. That seems consistent with my testing. During the course of a week, the battery lost one percent. Not to beat the same drum again, but Locky’s Visage door lock includes two batteries so one can power the lock while the other is charging. The battery itself charges with USB-C, so it’s universal with other chargers you’ll have in your home.

In addition to the door lock, Tapo’s app controls other Tapo smart devices. I have a smart plug and two smart light bulbs in my home. This is one of those platform lock-in instances where if you buy multiple devices from the same company, you can do interesting things. Tapo calls them “smart actions.” Basically, when you trigger one thing, you can get other devices to trigger as well. Open your door, and you can automatically turn on lights. If you use a motion sensor, the app can notify you if the door is open when it detects motion.

Of course this stuff only works when you have multiple Tapo devices, so that’s not the best. My Vivint home security system can do a similar thing, but it also integrates with Philips Hue, Nest Thermostat, and others to give you more options for smart home automations. I like that Tapo has these integrations, but it’d be better if they could work outside the Tapo ecosystem.

UPDATE: On that note — announced on July 9, 2026, and enacted as of August 1, 2026, TP-Link will be ending IFTTT services for this device (and all other Tapo and Kasa products).

The Tapo DL130 is available for sale on Amazon where it retails for $229.99, which is very pricey for a deadbolt (if you’re only thinking about the basic bolt part). By comparison, you can buy a basic-as-possible keyed deadbolt for around $20, so this definitely counts as a premium. But smart home tech is usually more expensive than its analog counterparts.

For instance, the latest version of the Schlage Encode Smart WiFi Deadbolt Lock costs approximately the same as the Tapo at $229. The Lockly Visage (mentioned above) will cost you around $350. Once your deadbolts get smart, they get costly. 

Overall, I really like this deadbolt. The palm vein reading is fun, and it has a fingerprint sensor as a backup, and a code as a backup for that. Aside from the vein reading, that’s pretty standard for what smart locks offer, but it’s on the pricey side for sure. I like the simplicity of the app, and all the functionality you’d look for is there, even if it is not well organized.

If you can pick this up on a deal, this would be a good buy, but at its current price, it’s a bit too much if you’re not in the market for the latest in “this is the coolest part of my security system” technology. There are certainly other smart locks out there that’ll cost less and do a lot of what this lock does, but this is the one you’re going to want if you’re looking to feel like Obi-Wan Kenobi.