Comments on: Airlock: Lock Your Mac with Your iPhone or iPod touch via Bluetooth

By: Matt B

Matt B — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 14:37:50 +0000

Buyer beware. I used Airlock and the application would sometimes not recognize my phone instantly. I would enter my password to unlock the machine. Unfortunately in doing this it disables the screensaver completely! Left the office for the weekend and the screensaver never activated causing the image I had up to be burned into my LCD.

Bad product and I would not recommend it.

By: Lee

Lee — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 11:14:32 +0000

I think the only place I could use this is on a long distance train with few stops, locked doors & 'awfully trustworthy looking people' nearby. In all other places I just wouldn't leave a laptop sitting there.

It's a nice conversation piece, but there are already password lock options for screen or sleep.

By: Wilber Majerowski

Wilber Majerowski — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 15:58:26 +0000

I found your post comments while searching Google. Very relevant especially as this is not an issue which a lot of peaople are conversant with….

By: Matthew Laurie

Matthew Laurie — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 01:01:09 +0000

Wow, discovered your post on Ask.Glad I finally tested it out. Not sure if its my Opera browser,but sometimes when I visit your site, the fonts are really small? Anyway, love your site and will return.Bye

By: Aaron

Aaron — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:56:42 +0000

certainly a noble effort and amazingly beautiful interface, but the raw functionality of the underlying engine was so buggy, slow, and unreliable that I had to uninstall this from my machines.

best of luck getting this working. here were my problems:

1) didn't reliably recognize iPhone 2) would auto-lock unpredictably 3) wouldn't unlock regularly 4) wouldn't accept keyboard (non-bluetooth keyboard, hard wired and built-in keyboard, no results) 5) extreme slowness caused by app

By: PJ

PJ — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 23:42:25 +0000

When did $8 become too much to pay for a nice app? That’s a pack of smokes or a couple of starbucks lattes or a few gallons of gas or a glass of bourbon at the bar. People need some perspective.

By: Richard

Richard — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 19:07:11 +0000

@Marksy: try BtProx: http://btprox.sourceforge.net/

By: slb

slb — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 13:04:05 +0000

Overpriced and doesn’t work on my setup. Why? Dunno. For $8, it better work, and it didn’t. Cute, but no thanks.

By: Keith

Keith — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 07:18:20 +0000

It’s nice to see people innovating to create practical solutions for every day needs. This particular execution may not be perfect but it’s still refreshing to see something like this instead of another fart app.

By: icebike

icebike — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 04:30:39 +0000

This is really funny. Linux has this already and its free. http://www.automaticable.com/2008-09-20/lock-down-your-ubuntu-computer-with-a-bluetooth-cellphone-and-blueproximity/

Works with just about any bluetooth enabled computer, because it doesn’t actually have to connect to the phone at all, just sense its presence.

By: Jumal

Jumal — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 01:36:39 +0000

Sory Marksy it doesn’t work on Windows.. @chrstphr.ross: Good for you.. but do you know that you can also run other apps upon geting in or out the proximity range?..

The guys at Machoe.com want’s to use the Airlock as a Wife proximity detector, so they can stop flirting online when the Wife is in proximity. LOL what a perve

http://www.machoe.com/2594/airlock-proximity-lock-uses-your-ipod-touch-or-iphone-to-lock-your-mac.html

By: Marksy

Marksy — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 20:07:39 +0000

Does it work with windows XP?

By: Derek Buttineau

Derek Buttineau — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 19:02:37 +0000

I’ve been using Proximity (free) and DeskShade to have my machine auto unlock/lock based on the proximity of my phone. While that works well Airlock has the advantage of being able to hone in the distance away before the actions take place (i.e. more sensitive). Both Proximity and Airlock can be squirrely at times (like thinking you’re away from your computer when you’re not), but it’s nice to be able to walk up to the computer, sit down and have customizable actions fire when you go to or from your computer.

By: Dennis F Potten

Dennis F Potten — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:33:50 +0000

I purchased Airlock only to find that it doesn’t work properly with bluetooth based wireless keyboards nor wireless mice. It turns off bluetooth when activated and is a real challenge to deactivate without the aid of a keyboard or mouse. I brought this problem to the attention of Airlock’s owners and they refunded my money which was very nice of them and good business. I hope future versions fix this problem because I find the concept very appealing, even at $7+.

By: Rene Ritchie

Rene Ritchie — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:05:41 +0000

Almost got this until I saw a warning that it didn’t work with BT mice and keyboards.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 17:51:40 +0000

I’m with Chrstphr…..plus you have to have the battery draining bluetooth on all the time.

By: chrstphr.ross

chrstphr.ross — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 17:50:38 +0000

8 bucks? no thanks…i’ll just throw my mac to screen saver so it locks on it’s own.