Dreame built its reputation as a dominant force in the robotic vacuum cleaner market, pushing high-end hardware into homes around the world. However, the company is now making an aggressive pivot to become a broader smart home ecosystem player. Following a showcase of smart lighting and security gears at CES earlier this year, the company just launched its first Matter door lock into home access: the Dreame NAVO Smart Lock A10.
After spending some time testing the NAVO A10 on a heavily-connected Thread network, it is clear that the piece is great in connectivity, though the software integration still has a few rough edges. Here is a detailed look at how this new lock performs in daily use.
Dreame NAVO Smart Lock A10
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TL; DR
For
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Sleek industrial design
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Easy setup
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Stable Thread connectivity
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Fast unlocking
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Separate lock and handle design
Against
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Loud mechanical motor
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No extra configuration options exposed in Matter
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Lacks credential management via Matter
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Improbable user experience of the vendor app
Assembly and design
The Dreame NAVO Smart Lock A10 features a two-component design, separating the main deadbolt keypad from the door handle. The exterior keypad feels incredibly solid. It features a heavy metal frame, a matte black finish, and a minimal numeric layout that is less visible until you wake it up.
The lock carries a BHMA Grade 2 security rating, making it perfectly suitable for standard residential front doors. It also holds an IP65 weather resistance rating to handle rain and humidity without corroding the internal electronics. The bottom edge of the exterior unit hides a traditional keyhole and USB-C port for emergency direct access and battery charging. However, you will need to apply a bit of extra force to pry the cover open due to the thick waterproof rubber seal protecting it.
Inside the interior assembly sits a rechargeable battery pack, which you can easily top up using a standard USB-C cable. This is an alternative over those that force you to burn through disposable AA batteries every few months.
Dreame provides all the necessary parts clearly labeled in the box, alongside a physical paper template to help you drill the proper slots into your door if needed. The physical installation is overall very smooth, with one minor exception regarding a fixing screw.
The included screw is designed in two coupled parts to accommodate different door board thicknesses, but it is extremely hard to screw in due to a slightly mismeasured size. Dreame told Matter Alpha that the new production batch will fix this specific manufacturing issue. Considering the manual notes this specific screw is technically optional, I am okay to give it a pass. The other two major fixture screws are strong enough to hold the keypad firmly against the door.
If you open the Dreame mobile app before installing the hardware, it also provides a detailed visual guide to walk you through the entire process, right down to the deadbolt calibration and initial fingerprint inputs. However, the app experience itself is slightly glitchy. I found myself getting stuck on certain screens and having to force-close the app to restart the steps. The software currently lacks proper user experience design for basic navigation and fails to handle timeout errors gracefully during the setup process.
Diversified unlocking
The NAVO A10 provides a whole suite of unlocking methods, including Matter platform triggers, biometric fingerprint scanning, PIN codes, in-app Bluetooth control, physical keys, and NFC cards. This versatile combination makes it a highly competitive mid-tier smart lock.
The actual unlocking experience is incredibly smooth. I tried opening the door using all of the available methods, and the response time is consistently fast, largely thanks to the low-latency Thread connectivity. The fingerprint recognition sensor reads accurately on the first try, and tapping the included NFC cards against the pad unlocks the deadbolt almost instantly.
There is one notable hardware drawback: the mechanical unlocking sound is slightly louder than expected. While I do not mind the noise much during the middle of the day, the grinding sound of the motor could easily become annoying late at night in a quiet house. Unlike some competing smart locks, there is no option in the app to adjust the motor speed or switch to a quieter gear mode.
Setting up your access credentials in the vendor app is very straightforward. You can quickly add new fingerprints, bind NFC cards, and generate PINs. It also includes a useful security feature allowing you to set a specific duress credential. If you are forced to unlock the door under a threat, using this specific PIN or finger will quietly trigger an emergency message to your designated email inbox. You can also generate temporary visitor passwords tied to a specific effective period and daily schedule, which is great for dog walkers or house cleaners.
The lock does not feature UWB, meaning it does not support contactless unlocking. As a workaround, the Dreame app can track your smartphone location and automatically unlock the door when you enter within a 100-meter (minimal distance) radius of your home. However, running this constant background location check drains your phone and lock battery faster, so I prefer to stick with organic unlocking methods like the fingerprint scanner.
Limited Matter support
During testing, the door lock was added to Home Assistant and Apple Home simultaneously for a typical multi-admin Matter use case. It lives on a heavily populated Thread network consisting of roughly 70 devices and multiple border routers from different brands. Despite the messy network conditions, the lock stays connected most of the time and usually re-establishes its connection automatically after a network outage or border router reboot.
I also tried it with SmartThings and Google Home, both work well with basic control and history logs of the lock. And the onboading and sharing across ecosystems usually succeed within my first two attempts.
While the connectivity is fast, you need to be aware of the limitations in Matter. The door lock runs on the Matter 1.4.1 spec (upgraded to the latest firmware via vendor app). However, it currently does not support native credential management or advanced access control via Matter due to a lack of related attributes baked into the device firmware. This means you will not be able to issue guest PIN codes directly from Apple Home or Home Assistant. The Dreame vendor app remains the exclusive method for daily credential management.
And I did not see any advanced configuration options exposed to the Matter controllers. Features like retry limitations, auto-relock timers, and noise/speed levels are absent via Matter, even though the Matter spec supports these features natively. If you are a Home Assistant user who heavily relies on managing device configurations locally rather than relying on a vendor cloud, your only real option here is Remote Mode.
That is a significant setback you should weigh before purchasing.
When running strictly on Thread, the power efficiency of the lock itself is very good. Unfortunately, the device firmware does not currently pass battery percentage information over Matter. If you want to check your power levels or receive low battery alerts, you are forced to keep the Dreame app installed and active.
Final thoughts
The Dreame NAVO Smart Lock A10 is a solid first showing for a company trying to break into the complex smart home security space. The hardware itself is sleek, the physical installation is painless (almost), and the Thread radio provides fast, reliable remote access. It offers premium features like rechargeable batteries, IP65 weather resistance, and highly accurate fingerprint scanning.
However, the software experience leaves room for improvement. The inability to manage PIN codes or adjust auto-lock timers directly through Matter platforms holds the device back from being a true powerhouse for advanced users. The loud motor and slightly clunky vendor application also adds minor friction points.
If you are already a Dreame user and just want an affordable, fast, and reliable keypad lock that integrates easily with Apple Home or Google Home for basic remote control, the NAVO A10 is a great buy. But for users that rely on Matter platforms to manage and automate everything, hold it till Dreame releases new firmware to better support Matter.
Dreame NAVO Smart Lock A10 is now available at $169.99 on Amazon US. Dreame also offers a 30% off discount for Matter Alpha readers with the code “2TR24TFD”.
(Image: Matter Alpha/Ward Zhou)
