Wireless Has Overtaken Wired: What It Means for Locksmiths

By Jordan Harrold, Director, H Harrold & Sons

For over a decade, wired access control has been the default choice for organisations serious about security. That's started to change. According to ASSA ABLOY's 2025 Wireless Access Control Report, wireless access control has overtaken wired systems for the first time among organisations that manage access digitally, with wireless locks now accounting for 42% of deployments – up from 39% just two years ago.

This is a milestone, and it's one our profession needs to respond to properly rather than treat as background noise.

The Pace of Change

The headline figure only tells part of the story. 17% of organisations now run fully mobile access environments – no cards, no fobs, nothing to lose or clone – up from around 5% two years ago. Meanwhile, only 19% of organisations now say mobile access simply isn't right for them, down from 31%.

Some in the locksmithing trade will read those numbers and hear a threat. We don't see it that way. We see an expansion.

Not the End of the Key

Rated cylinders, compliant locks, properly fitted doors and physical keys remain essential across the market, and they will continue to be for a long time yet. Mechanical security isn't being retired – it's being repositioned. A key is increasingly one layer within a broader, smarter access strategy, rather than the whole strategy on its own.

That's not a new pattern for our trade. We've adapted before – from warded locks to cylinders, from master key suites to electronic access. Wireless is simply the next adaptation, and it plays to the strengths locksmiths have always had: understanding a building and a customer's needs, and recommending what's right for them.

The Job Doesn't End at Installation

A traditional mechanical lock, fitted correctly, asks very little of anyone once the job's done. A wireless, cloud-managed system is a different proposition entirely. It comes with credential management, firmware and software updates, permission changes as staff join and leave, system health monitoring, and a level of cybersecurity awareness that simply wasn't part of this trade a decade ago.

A customer moving to modern access control isn't just buying hardware – they're taking on an ongoing operational commitment. For us, that's an opportunity to build a relationship rather than simply fit and forget. For customers, it's a responsibility that needs budgeting for properly, not bolted on as an afterthought.

Biometrics raise a similar duty of care. The same report found 91% of organisations see biometric technology as useful for access or authentication, and more than half already use it in some form. That's a strong vote of confidence – but biometric data is a fundamentally different category of information from a lost fob, and it comes with legal and ethical obligations around consent, proportionality and data protection that installers need to understand properly, not just technically.

Cloud platforms carry the same weight. Over half of organisations now manage access control through the cloud, meaning software literacy and data protection awareness are now core to the job, not optional extras.

Treat It as a Living System

The businesses that get the most out of modern access control are the ones that treat it as a living system rather than a one-off purchase. That's true of the technology, and it's true of the relationship with whoever installs and maintains it.

For locksmiths, the message is straightforward: this isn't a threat to the trade, it's a widening of it. The core skill – helping a customer choose the right fit for their needs and making sure it's properly maintained – hasn't changed at all. What's changed is the range of tools we now need to do that job well, and the depth of the relationship customers should expect from us once the installation is done.

If you'd like to talk through the right access control solution for you, explore the services here on our website or give us a ring on 0114 272 4742.