It looks like someone may have finally done the smart door right. Doma Home, a new company from the creators of the August smart lock, has announced its first product: the Doma Intelligent Door. A motorized smart door that automatically opens as you approach and closes after you enter, the Doma door also features built-in sensors, a video doorbell, a keypad, a smart lock, and a smart home control panel.
Doma founders Jason Johnson and Yves Béhar have designed their own doors and partnered with manufacturers to integrate the Doma technology platform into standard doors. Everything is made to order, and pricing varies by door type. You can sign up on Doma’s website to be notified when they’re available, which should be next summer.
The Doma Home platform uses ultra-wideband (UWB) tech and stereoscopic IR facial recognition to automatically unlock and open the door when an authorized user approaches using an integrated open / close mechanism — a first for a residential door. Embedded mmWave sensors track the exact location of people or pets as they pass through, helping ensure the door doesn’t close at the wrong time. It also features a clutch safety mechanism that stops it from moving if it senses resistance.
A circular external touchscreen includes sensors for facial recognition, a 4K video doorbell, and an LED status light. It can also display a welcome message and double as a keypad for the integrated lock, which can be an electronic deadbolt or European-style multipoint lock, and either keyed or keyless.
Inside, a second, larger touchscreen serves as the main control panel for the Doma system and also doubles as a view screen for the video doorbell. The door is designed to be hardwired and includes a built-in 21,000mAh backup battery for the motorized opener, lock, doorbell, and control panels. It supports power over Ethernet (PoE) via a built-in RJ45 receptacle, as well as Wi-Fi.
In an interview with The Verge, Johnson says Doma made sure the door operates exactly like a standard door in every way; the technology is an enhancement, not a replacement. Johnson says all facial recognition data is stored and encrypted locally, and they “keep as much processing as possible inside your house” to support privacy, security, and integration with other systems, and to reduce latency.
Cloud connectivity is available for remote access, but the system doesn’t rely on it, and there are no monthly subscriptions. The doorbell can store 30 days of footage locally and will be a Matter-compatible camera, so it can integrate with Matter systems for storage.
Doma has partnered with door manufacturers, including Kolbe, GlassCraft, and MasterGrain, and Johnson says the company anticipates having 12 partners by the time the doors launch in the US and Canada this summer. The company says final pricing will depend on the exact door purchased, but “will be equivalent to a premium entry door, hardware, and electronics purchased separately.” Non-smart premium doors will cost you anywhere from a few thousand to $20,000, so you can expect a range. The unrelated Masonite M-PWR smart door, which launched in 2022 but has since been discontinued, started at around $4,000.
The next product from Doma will be Doma Intelligent Windows, coming in the fall of 2026. These will also feature motorized opening and closing and electronic lock and unlock. Built-in mmWave sensors will monitor occupancy, and the windows will open and close based on air quality, your HVAC system, and where people are in the home.
Combined with Doma doors, a full system would let you close and lock every entry point in your home with just a tap. All Doma tech is controlled by the Doma Home app, but Johnson says it is all compatible with Matter, so it will integrate with Apple Home, Google Home, Amazon Alexa, and more. Johnson says the company also plans to work with the Aliro smart lock standard when it launches. “We share the open philosophy we had with August; we want to work with everyone.”
Doma is also focused on repairability and upgradability. “We designed all of the components so that everything can be serviceable in the field; the door never needs to be removed. And if you want to upgrade, you can swap in new parts yourself,” says Johnson. “All components are accessible from the edges and removable with just a Phillips screwdriver.”
From smart locks to smart doors
After selling August Home in 2018, Johnson and Béhar were still interested in developing for the smart home. “We learned a lot making those products,” says Johnson. “We sold millions of smart locks and learned valuable lessons about relying on battery power and Wi-Fi. We knew we could do this better, make something more magical and more reliable.”
The duo quickly realized they wanted to move away from standalone devices and focus on products that both were integrated into the home and could also communicate with other connected devices.
“This was an opportunity to use new types of technologies and new types of sensors to create a fully integrated experience”
Design was another key factor; they wanted to get rid of clunky external hardware and hubs. August locks have always been among the nicest-designed smart locks, thanks to Béhar, an illustrious industrial designer and founder of Fuseproject, who is responsible for many good-looking tech products, including Samsung’s Frame TV.
So, why now? “Twelve years ago, when we launched August, if we’d gone to manufacturers and tried to integrate this type of tech, they would have pushed back,” says Johnson. “The smart home has come a long way.”
“We felt like this was an opportunity to use new types of technologies, new types of sensors, to create a fully integrated experience focused around health, wellness, safety, and security,” says Béhar.
Doma’s ambitions go well beyond doors and windows. Johnson says the system is designed to be an intelligence layer for your home, combining sensing technology with AI. With tech embedded directly into your home’s surfaces, Doma can track occupants without intrusive cameras or wall-wart sensors, apply AI to understand who is in the home, where they are, and where they are not, and respond appropriately. “The smart home shouldn’t require you to do a lot of programming; it should be responsive to the occupants, know who they are and where they are in a way that is private and respectful,” says Johnson.
It’s an ambitious vision, and an expensive one for a homeowner. While I’ve not seen the door in action, from the details they’ve shared with me, the technology feels well thought-out. And the pedigree is here. August’s smart locks and its video doorbell line have always stood out from the crowd thanks to their focus on design, blended with usability and innovation. August was the first company to develop the auto-unlock feature, which is now an industry standard for smart locks. If you are in the market for new doors or windows, and Doma’s promises pan out, it could offer a significant upgrade compared to buying a premium door and adding individual smart devices.
The Doma platform’s open nature also means it should be able to integrate with products already in your home, from your smart thermostat to your smart lights. But what intrigues me most is the focus on ambient sensing technology. Where companies like Google and, reportedly, Apple are leaning into using cameras to deliver context to their smart home systems, Doma is taking the harder path with ambient-sensing technologies. Ultimately, I think this will be the smarter path, too.
Update, December 10th: Doma co-founder Jason Johnson says door pricing “will depend on the door that is purchased.” This article originally stated that a Doma door could start at around $6,000, based on an FAQ document provided by the company before publication, which Johnson says is incorrect.
