5 ms·

Lock Your Mac with a Bluetooth Proximity Sensor

17 points by fintler 12y ago

seanhandley 12y ago
No Android support?
- davesmylie 12y ago
  It detects my android (S5) and gets readings from it. Doesn't seem to lock the screen though...
fintler 12y ago
I have no affiliation with the author of this thing -- I just found it today and started playing with it. It seems to work well after you mess with the sensitivity a bit.
alfred99 12y ago
This is a really cool idea. I looked online for alternatives since I have an android device, and while the best solution I found requires an additional device, it looks very polished. Does anyone have experience with this? https://atama.io/sesame2 https://atama.io/sesame2
- fellowniusmonk 12y ago
  Yes. It is terribly buggy. A guy I work with bought it and considers it a complete waste of money. I have personally seen the lock triggered while he was sitting right next to his computer talking to me.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
kolev 12y ago
Not exactly the same, but in the same space: http://www.knocktounlock.com/ http://www.knocktounlock.com/
- autism_hurts 12y ago
  Been using this for awhile. Deactivated it because it's a huge security risk at border crossings.
  - kolev 12y ago
    Agreed. I just mentioned it as it's similar, but I won't recommended either. I don't recall leaving an unlocked terminal in the past 10+ years. It's habit that's very easy to develop and follow strictly (I do this at home even when I'm alone). At one point, I was even tracing the keyboard cable when coming back to unlock to make sure there isn't something in-between although it's not hard to hack your keyboard internally as well. Laptops robbed me of this habit, unfortunately.
glitchinc 12y ago
Will this play nice with Handoff between iOS8 and OS X 10.10?
sgt 12y ago
Nice idea - but can't get it to work reliably. It locks when my phone's signal is weak despite being close to me.
rrggrr 12y ago
Nice and also available elsewhere. Namely: Token Lock - www.map-pin.com/tokenlock-home Proximity - https://code.google.com/p/reduxcomputing-proximity/ https://code.google.com/p/reduxcomputing-proximity/
tzs 12y ago
> As a result your screen will be locked until you move back in range of your Mac. At that point it will unlock on its own. Almost magical! That's asking for trouble. It's too easy to step away with something embarrassing or incriminating on your screen expecting to return alone, and end up returning to the computer with someone who should not see that screen. Unlocking should require (at least optionally) something more than your mere presence, such as a PIN. Unlocking should then work this way: • if the correct Bluetooth device is near, the PIN is necessary and sufficient, • if the correct Bluetooth device is not near, unlocking requires something more complex than a simple PIN, such as the logged in user's password.
angry_octet 12y ago
The fact that it uses its own screensaver instead of the system one is enough of a reason not to use it. The only thing it should do is trigger the system screensaver to activate, all unlocking should be standard.
peatmoss 12y ago
A few years ago I figured out how to make my Mac play a snippet of A-Team theme music when I would return to my desk. It lasted a very triumphant half day before I got tired of it.
hirenj 12y ago
Does anyone know of a simple script to get the signal strength of the bluetooth connection on OS X? I've been putting together pieces of this app functionality, but I'm stuck at a scriptable / command line bluetooth program. Right now I'm using a bunch of launch daemons to disable the requirement for a password when I'm on a particular wifi network, but bluetooth would be handy.

17 points by fintler 12y ago

seanhandley 12y ago

No Android support?

davesmylie 12y ago
It detects my android (S5) and gets readings from it. Doesn't seem to lock the screen though...

fintler 12y ago

I have no affiliation with the author of this thing -- I just found it today and started playing with it. It seems to work well after you mess with the sensitivity a bit.

alfred99 12y ago

This is a really cool idea. I looked online for alternatives since I have an android device, and while the best solution I found requires an additional device, it looks very polished. Does anyone have experience with this? https://atama.io/sesame2 https://atama.io/sesame2

fellowniusmonk 12y ago
Yes. It is terribly buggy. A guy I work with bought it and considers it a complete waste of money. I have personally seen the lock triggered while he was sitting right next to his computer talking to me.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

kolev 12y ago

Not exactly the same, but in the same space: http://www.knocktounlock.com/ http://www.knocktounlock.com/

autism_hurts 12y ago
Been using this for awhile. Deactivated it because it's a huge security risk at border crossings.
- kolev 12y ago
  Agreed. I just mentioned it as it's similar, but I won't recommended either. I don't recall leaving an unlocked terminal in the past 10+ years. It's habit that's very easy to develop and follow strictly (I do this at home even when I'm alone). At one point, I was even tracing the keyboard cable when coming back to unlock to make sure there isn't something in-between although it's not hard to hack your keyboard internally as well. Laptops robbed me of this habit, unfortunately.

glitchinc 12y ago

Will this play nice with Handoff between iOS8 and OS X 10.10?

sgt 12y ago

Nice idea - but can't get it to work reliably. It locks when my phone's signal is weak despite being close to me.

rrggrr 12y ago

Nice and also available elsewhere. Namely: Token Lock - www.map-pin.com/tokenlock-home Proximity - https://code.google.com/p/reduxcomputing-proximity/ https://code.google.com/p/reduxcomputing-proximity/

tzs 12y ago

> As a result your screen will be locked until you move back in range of your Mac. At that point it will unlock on its own. Almost magical! That's asking for trouble. It's too easy to step away with something embarrassing or incriminating on your screen expecting to return alone, and end up returning to the computer with someone who should not see that screen. Unlocking should require (at least optionally) something more than your mere presence, such as a PIN. Unlocking should then work this way: • if the correct Bluetooth device is near, the PIN is necessary and sufficient, • if the correct Bluetooth device is not near, unlocking requires something more complex than a simple PIN, such as the logged in user's password.

angry_octet 12y ago

The fact that it uses its own screensaver instead of the system one is enough of a reason not to use it. The only thing it should do is trigger the system screensaver to activate, all unlocking should be standard.

peatmoss 12y ago

A few years ago I figured out how to make my Mac play a snippet of A-Team theme music when I would return to my desk. It lasted a very triumphant half day before I got tired of it.

hirenj 12y ago

Does anyone know of a simple script to get the signal strength of the bluetooth connection on OS X? I've been putting together pieces of this app functionality, but I'm stuck at a scriptable / command line bluetooth program. Right now I'm using a bunch of launch daemons to disable the requirement for a password when I'm on a particular wifi network, but bluetooth would be handy.