Tap your iPhone to unlock your Mac • Hacker News Board

Re: Tap your iPhone to unlock your Mac

#161

Post by joshstrange » Wed, Nov 06, 2013, 3:44 AM UTC

wikyd wrote: post #158

joshstrange wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure I understand what you are saying or maybe you didn't understand me. I am saying the it doesn't use the built-in locking mechanism but instead it's own "screen lock" that looks similar.

Out of curiosity, how can you tell it's not the built-in locking mechanism? The lock screen looks the same, except for the glow around the avatar to me. It even shows the alerts in the top right corner. The screen locks in the same fashion as normal (using the hotkeys, waiting for it to time out, etc), too. What am I missing that makes you think it's not the built-in locking mechanism?

I'm not 100% sure but all signs point to this being the case. I have used multiple Bluetooth unlock proximity apps in the past and they all do the same thing. They throw up their own lockscreens in place of the real one. I am fairly certain that, as mentioned in this same comment "family", that this lockscreen is less secure than the system lockscreen. There was speculation that this might not engage all the security mechanisms like disk encryption. If I were one of the developers of this app I would be first in line to tell my visitors/customers that my product didn't compromise at all on security. Unfortunately, I don't recall any such claim on their site (if I'm wrong please let me know, I'm on my phone).

Re: Tap your iPhone to unlock your Mac

#162

Post by cloudwalking » Wed, Nov 06, 2013, 5:02 AM UTC

runjake wrote: post #30

cloudwalking wrote: post #20

How does this not drain the iPhone battery?

> How does this not drain the iPhone battery? This is answered right on the linked webpage: Bluetooth Low Energy.

But the app has to be running in memory AND watching the accelerator AT ALL TIMES.

Re: Tap your iPhone to unlock your Mac

#163

Post by cloudwalking » Wed, Nov 06, 2013, 5:02 AM UTC

lstamour wrote: post #27

cloudwalking wrote: post #20

How does this not drain the iPhone battery?

Bluetooth Low Energy. Unlike old bluetooth, this new service shuts down all the time to save power. In fact, apple recommends geofencing any bluetooth beacons you know will stay put, so it only starts scanning for nearby devices over bluetooth once you're within a certain radius. In this case, the app only looks for devices when you launch the app, though if you were willing to put up with a delay, you could do so on…

But the app has to be running in memory AND watching the accelerator AT ALL TIMES. How does that not drain the phone battery?

Re: Tap your iPhone to unlock your Mac

#164

Post by cloudwalking » Wed, Nov 06, 2013, 5:03 AM UTC

marcelftw wrote: post #22

cloudwalking wrote: post #20

How does this not drain the iPhone battery?

The iPhone 5S M7 coprocessor can be used all the time in background without draining the battery. [quote] The new M7 coprocessor is like a sidekick to the A7 chip. It’s designed specifically to measure motion data from the accelerometer, gyroscope, and compass — a task that would normally fall to the A7 chip. But M7 is much more efficient at it. Now fitness apps that track physical activity can access that data from…

But this app works with iPhone 4S and 5 too. Those devices don't have an M7.

Re: Tap your iPhone to unlock your Mac

#165

Post by stcredzero » Wed, Nov 06, 2013, 6:53 PM UTC

eddieroger wrote: post #117

stcredzero wrote: post #90

Here's a controversial position: This is not going to be popular amongst iOS devs (I am an iOS dev) but the best thing for iOS as a platform is for Apple to appropriate this. With the M7 coprocessor, iOS would be able to register a callback for a given "gesture," like two knocks. Then the phone could implement such functionality while staying in standby! Combined with a facility for securely determining proximity, yo…

How you reconcile which app gets which gesture then? Would two unlocks trigger both a machine unlock, a text to my mom, and to start playing my podcasts? Not to mention that it's like pulling teeth to get Apple to allow things to happen in the background. I was intrigued at how they did this from a locked phone, and it turns out they don't. You have to have the app launched before knocking, meaning at it's core, this…

> How you reconcile which app gets which gesture then?

The user decides. All of the callbacks get registered with a name and description, but the user picks which one is active.

Re: Tap your iPhone to unlock your Mac

#166

Post by fnbr » Wed, Nov 06, 2013, 11:13 PM UTC

Is it that it doesn't work with pre-2012 MBPs, or that it hasn't been tested on them?

Re: Tap your iPhone to unlock your Mac

#167

Post by holyjaw » Thu, Nov 07, 2013, 9:20 PM UTC

landakram wrote: post #41

I dropped the $3.99 on the iOS app only to find that the Mac app wasn't compatible with my computer. Looks cool, but I was pretty disappointed that I paid money and it didn't work with no warning.

You can request a refund through Knock. I saw a link on their twitter IIRC. @knocktounlock

Re: Tap your iPhone to unlock your Mac

#168

Post by wikyd » Sun, Nov 17, 2013, 5:48 AM UTC

joshstrange wrote: post #161

wikyd wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of curiosity, how can you tell it's not the built-in locking mechanism? The lock screen looks the same, except for the glow around the avatar to me. It even shows the alerts in the top right corner. The screen locks in the same fashion as normal (using the hotkeys, waiting for it to time out, etc), too. What am I missing that makes you think it's not the built-in locking mechanism?

I'm not 100% sure but all signs point to this being the case. I have used multiple Bluetooth unlock proximity apps in the past and they all do the same thing. They throw up their own lockscreens in place of the real one. I am fairly certain that, as mentioned in this same comment "family", that this lockscreen is less secure than the system lockscreen. There was speculation that this might not engage all the security…

Their FAQ has been updated. They do not use a proprietary lockscreen.

  Does Knock use its own proprietary lock screen?
  No. Knock uses Apple's built-in OS X lock screen with our UI on top.

http://www.knocktounlock.com/faq/

Re: Tap your iPhone to unlock your Mac

#169

Post by joshstrange » Sun, Nov 17, 2013, 7:05 PM UTC

wikyd wrote: post #168

joshstrange wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not 100% sure but all signs point to this being the case. I have used multiple Bluetooth unlock proximity apps in the past and they all do the same thing. They throw up their own lockscreens in place of the real one. I am fairly certain that, as mentioned in this same comment "family", that this lockscreen is less secure than the system lockscreen. There was speculation that this might not engage all the security…

Their FAQ has been updated. They do not use a proprietary lockscreen. Does Knock use its own proprietary lock screen? No. Knock uses Apple's built-in OS X lock screen with our UI on top. http://www.knocktounlock.com/faq/

Hmm, that is interesting. I still would like an addressing some of the other very valid concerns here that certain safeguards might not be engaged but if this is true then this is really cool. From elsewhere in this thread there are people saying it doesn't work with certain full-disk encryption setups but that's to be expected I guess. I have it installed, if not always running, and it is a cool app and from what they have said they have planned I will be following it. Thanks for the update!