Managed by the Connectivity Standards Alliance, Aliro is a smart lock/access control standard that works over NFC, Bluetooth LE, or UWB and is designed to be vendor-agnostic. While Matter is designed for Smart Home applications, Aliro specifically targets access control, and both aim to address market fragmentation.
It was brought to my attention when we wrote about the Nordic nRF54L15 Tag, but we had already mentioned it for chips from other vendors such as STMicro (ST64UWB) and Qualcomm (FastConnect 8800), as well as earlier wireless MCUs from Nordic Semi such as the nRF54LM20A and nRF54LM20B. It appears to be adopted across the industry, so let’s have a closer look.
Aliro 1.0 was first released in February 2026 with the following highlights:
- Leverages existing smartphones and wearables
- Framework utilizes asymmetric cryptography to ensure secure and trusted interactions between user devices and readers
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Integration with digital wallets from Apple, Google, Samsung, etc…
- Transport technologies
- Near Field Communication (NFC) for tap-to-access
- Bluetooth Low Energy (Bluetooth LE) for user-initiated long-range communication
- Bluetooth LE plus Ultra-Wideband (UWB) for a secured hands-free authentication method
- Certification program and supporting test suites managed through Authorized Test Labs.
Aliro 1.0 is not supported by a couple of companies, but CSA claims it’s a global collective of over 220 member companies from lock manufacturers to silicon vendors and mobile platform leaders. Member companies include Apple, Allegion, ASSA ABLOY, Aqara, Google, Infineon Technologies, Last Lock, Nordic Semiconductor, Samsung Electronics, NXP Semiconductors, Qorvo, STMicroelectronics, and many others.
Like Matter, the goal of Aliro is to provide a single standard enabling interoperability between vendors, but instead of Smart Home devices, it targets access control solutions. You can just use any compatible (wallet) app with an Aliro-compliant smart lock.
You can find a few more details on the CSA IoT website, and the Aliro 1.0 specification can be downloaded for free after entering your email address. It’s a 195-page technical document that covers the architecture, trust framework, access document, access protocol, and transport protocols like NFC, BLE, and UWB.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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