Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Tap your iPhone to unlock your Mac

knocktounlock.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 169 posts

Re: Tap your iPhone to unlock your Mac

#11

Post by colmvp »

codezero wrote: post #9

This is pretty clever, but is this much better than the existing Bluetooth proximity unlock utilities? The iPhone app that this pairs with costs $3.99 by the way. If you use Mac OS, Proximity is similar to BlueProximity, there are probably other solutions that don't require an iOS app and accomplish the same thing without the magical novelty, all the same, I think it's neat and if the app weren't $4 I would try it ou…

I think you underestimate how much delight it gives people. Search on Twitter and behold how many people are blown away by this 'magic.'

Not to mention I wouldn't be surprised if they extended their app to work with other devices.

Re: Tap your iPhone to unlock your Mac

#12

Post by dmak »

gfunk911 wrote: post #2

This seems insecure. If I leave my phone by my computer, or if my bag gets stolen with my phone and computer in it, I'm in trouble. That said, it's pretty cool, and I like the website design.

Install prey project. I create a guest account on my Mac so if I lose it, people will actually try to use it and connect it to WiFi.

Re: Tap your iPhone to unlock your Mac

#14

Post by alimbada »

guptaneil wrote: post #7
gfunk911 wrote: post #2

This seems insecure. If I leave my phone by my computer, or if my bag gets stolen with my phone and computer in it, I'm in trouble. That said, it's pretty cool, and I like the website design.

You could use iCloud to remotely wipe your phone if that happens.

How do you do that before the thief is able to get into your Mac and steal all your data when you've just lost all your devices?

Re: Tap your iPhone to unlock your Mac

#15

Post by alimbada »

dmak wrote: post #12
gfunk911 wrote: post #2

This seems insecure. If I leave my phone by my computer, or if my bag gets stolen with my phone and computer in it, I'm in trouble. That said, it's pretty cool, and I like the website design.

Install prey project. I create a guest account on my Mac so if I lose it, people will actually try to use it and connect it to WiFi.

They won't need the guest account with this product.

Re: Tap your iPhone to unlock your Mac

#16

Post by iamben »

dmak wrote: post #12
gfunk911 wrote: post #2

This seems insecure. If I leave my phone by my computer, or if my bag gets stolen with my phone and computer in it, I'm in trouble. That said, it's pretty cool, and I like the website design.

Install prey project. I create a guest account on my Mac so if I lose it, people will actually try to use it and connect it to WiFi.

If you're using Filevault for full disk encryption you can't have Prey installed and use it on an open guest account. You can have a guest account and use the iCloud 'Find My Mac' though.

But that's exactly what I did on my last Mac (which wasn't using Filevault).

Re: Tap your iPhone to unlock your Mac

#17

Post by oilytheotter »

This looks really cool, but it's pretty annoying that you allowed me to download and install on my Mac without telling me the iPhone app costs $3.99. In fact, I can't find anything on the website that says this thing does or does not cost money. Maybe you are hoping that people will assume it's free, download from the website, and then buy it on the app store because they already got that far. If so, it seems a bit dishonest.

Re: Tap your iPhone to unlock your Mac

#18

Post by iamben »

alimbada wrote: post #15
dmak wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Install prey project. I create a guest account on my Mac so if I lose it, people will actually try to use it and connect it to WiFi.

They won't need the guest account with this product.

You use the guest account as a honeypot so they open the Mac and use it for long enough (without wiping it) for you to get a wifi connection and can get the location with Prey :-)

Re: Tap your iPhone to unlock your Mac

#19

Post by king_magic »

I find this... useful. But I'm not sure why. I spent the $3.99, and it sort of feels like a novelty app... but I can see myself actually using it for it's intended purpose, so.. is it really a novelty at that point?

I don't know, but I like how well it works.

Post reply on HN