Article

Smart Levers for Doors Without Deadbolts

Updated October 11, 2026

Side doors, garage entries, offices

Millions of doors have a keyed lever or knob and no deadbolt. Retrofit kits do not fit them — there is no deadbolt tailpiece to drive. The answer is a smart lever, not a retrofit kit.

The short list

• Yale Assure Lever (Wi-Fi) — keyed lever with Wi-Fi, the default pick.
• Kwikset 912 SmartCode Lever — Zigbee or Z-Wave, needs a hub.
• Schlage Encode Lever (FE789) — Wi-Fi, matches Encode deadbolts on the same door.

Security honesty

A lever — smart or not — is not a deadbolt. It latches; it does not throw a 1 inch bolt into the frame. For any entry that matters, add a deadbolt above and check the pair with the fit checker. Score the result in the security checker; a smart lever alone will score low, correctly.