Nuki Keypad 2 NFC Adds Google Wallet Home Keys

Nuki has closed one of the most annoying gaps in the Android smart lock world. Announced on November 12, 2026, the Nuki Keypad 2 NFC now supports Google Wallet Home Keys, letting owners unlock their front door by simply holding any NFC-enabled Android phone against the keypad — no app to open, no brand restriction, no Samsung-only workaround.

For households running Google Home, it is a small update with an outsized payoff: the digital house key now lives in Google Wallet, right next to your bank cards, and works the way a house key should — tap, and the door opens.

What changed on November 12

Until now, Android users of the Keypad 2 NFC were split into haves and have-nots. Since the keypad launched in March 2026, Samsung phone owners could use the Samsung Digital Home Key, and iPhone owners had the Apple Home Key. Everyone else — Pixel, Xiaomi, OnePlus, and every other Android brand — had to fall back on Nuki’s app mode. That also worked over NFC, but it meant opening the Nuki app first, which defeats much of the point of a tap-to-unlock keypad.

Google Wallet Home Keys erase that divide. The key is created in the Google Home app and stored directly in Google Wallet. To unlock, you hold your phone up to the NFC symbol on the keypad and the lock opens — the phone does not even need to be unlocked in the way app mode required. Nuki co-founder and CEO Martin Pansy described the move as fulfilling the promise of “Tap to Unlock” across all platforms for all Android users, while Google product manager Jesse Stroh said the integration improves both convenience and security at the front door.

There is one catch for now: the feature is rolling out first as a preview. Only participants in the Google Home app’s Public Preview program can use it today. Nuki says a general release will follow shortly, but has not given a specific date. To join the preview, open the Google Home app, tap your profile picture, and select “Public Preview.”

Aliro: the standard behind the key

All three wallet keys — Apple Home Key, Samsung Digital Home Key, and now Google Wallet Home Key — rest on the same foundation. Aliro is a standard from the Connectivity Standards Alliance, the same body behind Matter, and it reached version 1.0 at the end of February 2026. Its goal is straightforward: let phones and locks from different manufacturers talk to each other directly and securely, instead of each brand building its own closed system.

Aliro supports both NFC and Ultra-Wideband. UWB would allow a door to unlock automatically as you approach, but the Keypad 2 NFC uses NFC only, according to a test by homeandsmart.de — so you still actively hold your phone to the keypad. Nuki says the Keypad 2 NFC was the first Aliro-certified keypad for residential entry doors.

The rollout has been slower than the announcements suggested. Google said back in 2025 that it would support Aliro in Google Wallet on Android and Wear OS, yet the feature took more than a year to reach a shipping product. As recently as this spring, Nuki noted in its own developer forum that Google had still not rolled out Aliro support in Wallet. That delay, rather than anything on Nuki’s side, is why the keypad’s headline feature is only landing eight months after the hardware went on sale.

What you need to use it

Google Wallet Home Keys do not work with every Nuki setup. Nuki lists four requirements for the feature’s Smart Home mode:

• A Matter-compatible Nuki Smart Lock — the Smart Lock Ultra, Smart Lock Pro (5th generation), Smart Lock Go, or Smart Lock (4th generation), each running the latest firmware.
• A compatible Matter/Thread hub from Google — the press release does not name exact models, but devices that act as Thread border routers for Google include the Nest Hub (2nd gen.), Nest Hub Max, Nest Wi-Fi Pro, and Google TV Streamer. Check compatibility before buying.
• An NFC-enabled Android smartphone with the Google Wallet and Google Home apps installed.
• The Keypad 2 NFC itself, mounted on the outside of the door.

If you already own a compatible Nuki lock, only the keypad needs to be added. The key is created through the Google Home app, which saves it to Google Wallet — there is no separate enrollment step in the Nuki app.

The hardware itself is unchanged. The Keypad 2 NFC builds on the Keypad 2.0 with its fingerprint sensor, adding an NFC reader beneath the keypad. It stores up to 20 fingerprints, up to 35 tap-to-unlock keys, and up to 200 access codes, and it comes in black or white. Nuki says the most recent addition is a theft detection feature. The keypad costs €179 at retail, and is sold through the Nuki Shop and Amazon. The version without NFC is €20 cheaper — worth considering if you have no plans to use wallet keys.

The limitations to know before you buy

The feature is not yet a clean fit for every household. The biggest wrinkle is the one-ecosystem rule: in Smart Home mode, tap-to-unlock only works with one ecosystem per lock at a time. Apple Home Keys and Samsung Digital Home Keys cannot be used simultaneously on the same smart lock, and Nuki has not explicitly said whether the same restriction applies to Google — but the assumption is that it does.

In practice, that means a mixed household will need a workaround. If one family member uses an iPhone and another uses Android, one of them will be using Google Wallet while the other falls back to the Nuki app, a fingerprint, or an access code. It is workable, but it is not the seamless multi-platform story the Aliro standard promises.

Several details are also still unclear. Nuki has not said which Android version is required, whether smartwatches running Wear OS are supported, or in which countries the preview is available. Those gaps matter, because a feature that only works in some regions or on recent phones is a narrower win than the announcement suggests.

Why this matters beyond Nuki

The Nuki announcement is a useful milestone for Aliro itself. More than eight months after the standard hit version 1.0, a Google Wallet key on shipping hardware shows the ecosystem is finally moving from specification to product — and it arrives shortly after Google added Matter and Aliro digital key support to Google Home more broadly. For Android users, it also removes one of the last practical reasons to prefer Samsung’s or Apple’s walled-garden key systems over an open standard.

The hurdles are still real: a Matter-compatible lock, a Google Thread hub, and a beta program signup is a lot to ask before you can tap your phone to open a door. But for households already running Google Home, the Nuki Keypad 2 NFC is now the obvious choice if you want to unlock your front door with your smartphone — and a sign that the digital house key is finally becoming a cross-brand reality rather than a demo.