Ring is jumping into the smart lock market with a device that has a different approach to solving the biggest problem with digital entry - what happens when the battery dies?

The Ring Smart Lock, which will go on sale next year, has a built-in power generator in its thumb-turn dial meaning that, if the rechargeable battery runs flat, you can turn the dial a few times to generate enough power to bring the lock back to life and get inside.

That is Ring’s answer to what founder Jamie Siminoff calls "smart lock anxiety" and it’s a problem smart lock makers have tackled in various ways.

Yale’s Assure Lock 2 and Schlage’s Control Smart Lock, for example, have emergency power terminals on the outside of the lock; you touch a 9V battery to them and you can bring the electronics back to life long enough to enter your PIN… but not everyone (anyone?) carries around a 9V battery with them.

Aqara’s smart locks tend to have a USB-C port that can temporarily power the lock if its batteries run flat, and SwitchBot’s Lock Vision Pro has a coin cell battery onboard that has enough juice for a few unlocks if the main pack runs out.

Ring’s solution is considerably more self-contained then as, rather than requiring a spare battery, a cable or even a physical key, the Ring Smart Lock generates its own emergency power.

Ring is also doing things differently to the rest of the industry’s direction with regards to connectivity.

It isn’t using Matter or Thread. Instead, the lock communicates using Sidewalk, Amazon’s low-power wireless network that can use compatible nearby Amazon devices to extend connectivity.

The good news is that means the lock doesn’t need to rely on your home’s Wi-Fi connection for things such as remote locking, status updates and PIN synchronization.

The bad news is that it won’t work seamlessly across other smart home ecosystems like Apple or Google Home, or SmartThings. The approach is very much an in-house affair.

It is designed to sit inside the existing Ring ecosystem, alongside Ring doorbells, cameras and alarms, while Alexa provides voice control through Echo and other compatible devices.

The lock itself offers four ways to get inside. There is a fingerprint reader, a backlit touchscreen keypad, the Ring app and Alexa voice control through compatible Echo devices.

You can also create multiple users and set access schedules, including temporary PINs that expire automatically.

It is designed to fit a standard single-cylinder deadbolt and doesn’t require additional wiring as it uses Ring’s replaceable Quick Release Ultra Battery Pack, with the emergency power generator built into the physical thumb-turn.

Ring says the Smart Lock will launch in the US in early 2027, subject to regulatory approval, in black, silver and brass finishes.

Ring has also taken the covers off a bunch of new cameras that expand its Retinal Vision 4K range, which went live this time last year .

There are new Outdoor, Spotlight and Floodlight models; with battery, solar, plug-in, hardwired and PoE installations available, along with a new Indoor Cam 4K with a 115-degree field of view, Wi-Fi 6 and a physical privacy shutter.

The Amazon-owned brand has also introduced the Pan-Tilt Indoor Cam 2K, which can rotate through 360 degrees and tilt through 175 degrees, and uses computer vision and intelligent tracking to follow movement around a room.

The new cameras are all available now.