Samsung is adding a new way to unlock your front door using certain Galaxy phones. The feature is called Digital Home Key and it works inside the Samsung Wallet app. It uses the Aliro smart home standard, which supports both near-field communication and ultra-wideband. With this setup, you can tap your phone to a compatible smart lock to open it, or in some cases unlock the door just by walking up to it with your phone on you.
The company first talked about Digital Home Key back in 2024 and said it would arrive in 2025, but that schedule did not happen. One main reason was that the Aliro standard from the Connectivity Standards Alliance only became available in February 2026. Aliro is meant to let many different phones talk to many different smart locks using the same basic tech. It uses near-field communication for tap to unlock, and it also supports ultra-wideband for hands-free unlocking when you get close to the door.
Samsung says Digital Home Key will start rolling out to Galaxy phones in select regions this month. Support for ultra-wideband based unlocking is planned for April. Right now, there are not many smart locks that work with Aliro. Aqara says its U400 lock is Aliro ready, so it may be one of the first products to work with Samsung’s system. The U400 already works with Apple’s Home Key feature for hands-free unlocking, so Aqara is treating it as ready for both major phone platforms once everything is fully supported.
To use Digital Home Key, you need a smart lock that works with Aliro and is set up through Samsung’s SmartThings platform using Matter. After that setup, you can add the Digital Home Key to Samsung Wallet on a supported phone. Not every Galaxy device can handle all parts of this feature. Only some phones that have both near-field communication and ultra-wideband support Digital Home Key with all options turned on. Samsung lists the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and newer, along with the Galaxy S22 Ultra and newer, as examples. The full set of supported models is posted on Samsung’s website.
Samsung is also adding another feature to its Wallet app at the same time. Users will be able to store American Airlines boarding passes in Samsung Wallet. That lets travelers keep their flight pass in the same app as payment cards, digital keys, and other passes. For people who already rely on Samsung Wallet at airports, this change means less app switching when they go through security or board a plane.
For now, the reach of Digital Home Key depends on three things: where Samsung has rolled it out, which Galaxy phones people own, and how many Aliro compatible smart locks are on the market. As more locks adopt Aliro and more phones include both near-field communication and ultra-wideband, the feature could become more common. For users who already have a recent Galaxy device and are willing to pick a supported lock, this gives another way to unlock the front door without a physical key.
View the original press release.
