A new way to lock your computers: just walk away

http://www.nearlock.me/

by duvnjak99 • 12 years ago

45 72 12 years ago

nearlock.me

HugoDias• 12 years ago

Nice. Looking forward for someone that does the same thing working on android :/

Recoil42• 12 years ago

Android already does this. It's called Smart Lock. Just set your computer as a trusted device:

https://support.google.com/nexus/answer/6093922?hl=en-CA

AdmiralAsshat• 12 years ago

This feature is only available within Android 5.0, however, and the pool of devices running Lollipop at the moment is pretty much limited to the Nexus line.

smellf2• 12 years ago

It looks like the Lollipop Smart Lock can unlock your phone when it's in proximity to your PC, whereas nearlock will unlock your PC when it's in proximity to your phone.

pathikrit• 12 years ago

No it doesn't. You can't unlock your Mac with your Android whereas there are plenty of apps that can do that from your iPhone:

http://macid.co/

http://www.knocktounlock.com/

http://www.fingerkeyapp.com/

http://www.appuous.com/products/mac/keycard.html

malloreon• 12 years ago

I have a password on my lock screen, and a hotspot set up in the bottom left corner to engage the lock screen.

After a couple weeks, it became automatic to always move the mouse to the hotspot before I stand up.

a3_nm• 12 years ago

Similar experience here, but I guess the main selling point is to save the effort of typing your password when you return.

shoowack3• 12 years ago

Exactly!

nasalgoat2• 12 years ago

I'd rather be forced to type my password than just be in proximity to unlock.

Similar to how using a fingerprint for access is a bad idea.

leesalminen• 12 years ago

Can't wait to buy a new MBP so that I can use this app!

Interface is very slick.

Congrats!

scotchmi_st• 12 years ago

I've seen things similar to this before, but they tended to be unreliable. Has anyone actually used this yet? Does it work reliably?

Also, how does the authentication work exactly? What's to stop someone from blasting out the same signal that your phone emits, preventing it from sleeping as you walk away?

harlanlewis2• 12 years ago

How does this compare with Knock?http://www.knocktounlock.com/

What are the others?

fluder2• 12 years ago

Knock is crap, MacID better https://translate.google.com.ua/translate?sl=ru&tl=en&js=y&p...

joshstrange4• 12 years ago

I've used Knock before and while ultimately I settled on using Alfred (app launcher+) to lock my computer it worked leaps and bounds over this app.

joshstrange4• 12 years ago

This is EXTREMELY unreliable, not only is it's distance measurement way off (to be expected, BT wasn't designed as sonnar) but the app "forgets" your computer after being away for ~5 minutes. YES, I paid for pro and YES, I allowed it to run in the background. When I come back to my computer not only does it not unlock but the phone apps wants to walk me through pairing again.

Do not waste your time/money on this app. It may have a nice UI but it simply doesn't work!

duvnjak996• 12 years ago

You are right for the distance, it uses bluetooth signal strength for the distance estimation with an optimization algorithm and it can not provide the exact value, only an estimation. The app should NOT forget your computer at all. We have experienced that before but managed to fix it in the last release. Please send an email to support@nearlock.me with your exact configuration (iPhone, software, Mac, software) and we'll try to reproduce the bug.

colmvp• 12 years ago

Isn't this similar to KnockToUnlock?

http://www.knocktounlock.com/

sgt2• 12 years ago

I just purchased Knock to Unlock. Comments so far;

Locking the Mac requires me to go to the Knock menu bar and clicking "Lock" with my mouse. I suppose this can be remedied by setting up an applescript shortcut and running it quickly via Spotlight Search.

Secondly, when it locks it - the screen goes black. I don't necessarily want this, as I don't want to "wake up" the computer when I return first using my keyboard. It takes a split second or so before I get to the password prompt (I have to tap a key on the keyboard or move the mouse) at which point I can knock on the phone twice to get in.

Thirdly, this is not the fault of the app - but I can type my 8 character long password faster than I'm able to (on average) locate my phone and tap it twice.

Interesting - but I am not sure if I'll end up using this app.

sgt2• 12 years ago

I also tried Near Lock - seems it's a much better option for me.

eMerzh• 12 years ago

I already use proximity to do this ... it's little less user firendly ... but it works well :)

relaunched• 12 years ago

Is that website made from a template? I'm looking to put up a landing page for my new app and would be very interested in using that layout.

nhayden• 12 years ago

Doesn't look like it, but it's very simple to recreate.

eps• 12 years ago

If it's in fact an original design, then the word you are looking for is "rip", not "recreate".

(edit) Ethics, not everyone's cup o'tea. Got it.

shoowack3• 12 years ago

It's not a template ;)

aardvark179• 12 years ago

Shift-Control-Eject/Power. Very quick to just hit those keys as you get up from your desk, and your mac is locked.

And Command-Option-Eject/Power will pout your Mac to sleep.

chroma• 12 years ago

Useful advice, but the MacBook Air and Retina MacBook Pro don't have an eject key (⏏).

Edit: Ah, I see now. Eject or Power depending on the model. Thanks.

recampbell• 12 years ago

Ctrl-Shift-Power on MacBook Pro (which is what he meant by Eject/Power).

stronglikedan4• 12 years ago

Win+L in windows, which can be difficult with an ergonomic keyboard with only a left Win key, because you have to use two hands (or be very lanky and limber).

Does anyone know of an easier way?

ivraatiems• 12 years ago

My first thought would be to re-map Win+L with AutoHotKey or similar. Or, just press start, and arrow up and over to lock (lots more keypresses though).

avree• 12 years ago

Don't you generally type with two hands? How often are you locking that this is a problem?

smellf2• 12 years ago

You ought to retrain yourself, using the off hand modifier key is the correct way to type anyway.

Even if you don't type "correctly", it still doesn't seem like a big deal. I can't imagine anything easier than Meta-L.

kchung• 12 years ago

Checkout OSX hot corners to start your screensaver, it's easy to just toss your mouse to a corner and your screen is locked.

nasalgoat2• 12 years ago

This is what I do. I just jump the cursor to the corner when I get up. Super easy.

aerique• 12 years ago

I run Linux but use the iMac keyboard and have also mapped locking to shift-eject. I didn't know it was so close to the OSX bindings. Very easy to hit, yet hard to hit accidentally.

leftnode• 12 years ago

I set up hot corners so moving the mouse to the bottom right corner locks the computer.

NovaS1X• 12 years ago

Don't know if this is different in 10.10.1 (Just switched to OSX a month ago so I have no prior experience with OSX)but this key-combo doesn't lock the screen, it starts the screen-saver.

If you want it to lock the screen you need to change your preferences in security and change the screen lockout time to "immediately" for it to act as a lock.

lshevtsov• 12 years ago

And if you have a MacBook, you can just shut the lid.

Zelphyr• 12 years ago

In my experience this is one of the things Apple still has yet to perfect. I frequently have a problem of my mid-2012 MBP not wanting to wake up when I open the lid no matter how many times I close/open it. Often I have to do a hard reboot.

To Apple's credit, this is also still a problem with PC laptops from what I hear.

shoowack3• 12 years ago

But you still need to type in your password every time you wake up your mac, with this app you don't have to

jkot• 12 years ago

I have seen similar script for Linux 8 years ago.

runejuhl• 12 years ago

Possibly this one: http://www.gentoo-wiki.info/TIP_Bluetooth_Proximity_Monitor

I remember using it at The Party in Sweden, circa 2006. A bit newer then :)

kavrick• 12 years ago

For the Mac & Non iPhone crowd there is also HandyLock (http://www.netputing.com/applications/handylock/) which is Donationware. Works great with my MBP and Nexus 5.

kolev3• 12 years ago

Nice, although not nearly as polished.

duvnjak996• 12 years ago

Handylock is really cool and free but does not use the bluetooth LE. It will cost your battery..

justinph• 12 years ago

What's sad is that you could do this with iSync and any phone with bluetooth back in 2003. The feature disappeared along with iSync.

callesgg• 12 years ago

Had something that worked like this a few years ago, it had the problem that it forced the blue-tooth to suck the battery clean very quickly.

It seamed like a use-full thing, but when i used it it was actually more of a annoyance than i helpful thing. Leaving the phone next to the computer becomes a no no.

corobo• 12 years ago

Was coming in here to chime in on it not really being new with the same complaint. On an ancient phone (my first smart phone however long ago that was these days) this was one of the features the bluetooth dongle's driver came with.

Every time I got an SMS it must have knocked the bluetooth off for a moment because my computer would lock. Really annoying after the first few times, didn't last long!

sacheendra• 12 years ago

This functionality is supported by the software supplied with the broadcom driver for any bluetooth enabled phone (on Windows). No need for an app on the phone. Such functionality is also on linux in the bluez package. Don't know about Macs. It is really sad that previously ubiquitous software is now being made into "apps".

Xylakant• 12 years ago

A lot of ubiquitous software requires fiddling to get it installed since somebody made a proof of concept but stopped there. The value of prepackaged apps is the polish and the user support around that - that's worth a couple of bucks for people like me that don't want to spend time for the polish.

joshstrange4• 12 years ago

Downloaded it, set it up, paid for backgrounding, tested walking away and coming back and it all worked perfectly. Went to go get lunch came back and wouldn't unlock, had to enter password manually. I then had to unpair my phone (from the desktop app) and re-pair to get it to work again. Hopefully the second time is a charm... Also the app asked me to pay again for "Pro" though didn't charge me...

joshstrange4• 12 years ago

I can't edit my above message so I will reply.

DO NOT BUY THIS APP. I have a MBPr (late 2013) and an iPhone 6+, I might understand if I was using older hardware but I'm not. EVERY time I walk away for more than 5 minutes or so the app "forgets" the computer and will not unlock it. If you open the app it wants to walk you through pairing again. I am very disappointed as I paid for pro as well and this does not work as advertised.

duvnjak996• 12 years ago

Sorry that you think so. You can ask apple for your money back if you dont like the app. The scenario that you say was fixed and tested in the last update. The app should NOT forget the Mac. Might be that somehow it doesnt work for a certain setup. What system do you have on your Mac? We can try to fix it.

duvnjak996• 12 years ago

The asking for the pro mode will definitely be fixed in the next release. Let us know if the app doesn't work when you come closer after a longer period of time. This was fixed and tested in the last update. Might be some minor glitches left for certain devices..

kolev3• 12 years ago

Why all these apps assume that MacBook users all have iPhones?!

pwenzel• 12 years ago

If you are having problems getting bluetooth-based options to work consistently on your Mac, here is my alternate technique that locks your machine when your put your mouse in the bottom right corner:

* Go to Preferences...Desktop & Screen Saver...Hot Corners

* Set bottom-right corner to "Put Display to Sleep"

* Then in Preferences...Security & Privacy enable "Require Password after sleep or screen saver begins"

vladgur• 12 years ago

Is anyone concerned that you are providing your admin/filevault/etc password to an app that knows when you are away from the screen?

mcculley2• 12 years ago

I just installed this and it seems to work great. My only complaint is that, like many UIs, there is a switch to enable it and it isn't clear which way is "on" and which is "off".

S_A_P• 12 years ago

Just installed/upgraded. My thoughts are that it has a very generous idea of what 1.0m is I was easily 2-3 meters away for ~20 seconds before it locked. Im using a MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014) and iPhone 6+.

Additionally, while typing this, it locked and unlocked my computer while the phone was in my pocket. Looks like the distance finder needs to be dialed in somewhat. With my phone literally 3" away on the same desk, it says between .5 and .7 meters. I get that this is all a big tight rope and you have to balance battery, distance, time, and sensitivity. I have set up my upper left hot corner to lock my computer so that is a pretty strong habit right now. This, however seems to be a pretty good option in the cases that I miss or forget to do so.

krazydad• 12 years ago

Seems like you are getting a minor convenience in exchange for risk of major annoyance (when it breaks).

mcculley2• 12 years ago

One thing about these "daemon" type apps that only need to respond to background Bluetooth events (e.g., Automatic, the UniKey app), is that, at least on iOS, they clutter up the multitasking view and it's not obvious if they will work if killed. This is something that needs to evolve in iOS as we get more background agents like this.

duvnjak996• 12 years ago

There are also a couple of cool features. With Near Lock you can use the iPhone settings to set that your Mac only locks when you walk away, or that it only unlocks your Mac when you approach it, or both of those things. If you guys have any suggestions or bug reports, just shoot us an email.

Domenic_S• 12 years ago

What about pairing more than one computer? I have a couple macs at my desk.

duvnjak996• 12 years ago

The feature to add multiple devices is definitely on our list and should be in one of the next updates.

mdekkers• 12 years ago

Not new - I implemented this for a bank's trading floor in 1999, using the Java Ring http://www.javaworld.com/article/2076641/learn-java/an-intro... - we also did a few other interesting things with this device, but one of them was "walk away from your desk and your machine locks"

A new way to lock your computers: just walk away

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