Mac × iPhone · Development preview
Walk up, it unlocks.Walk away, it guards.
Bring your iPhone close and your Mac unlocks. Get up and leave, and it locks.
If someone touches your Mac while you're away, your phone gets an alert with a photo.
Mac: macOS 26+ · iPhone: iOS 26+ · Both signed in to the same Apple ID
Likes, ratings & anonymous comments ↓Still in development and device validation. GitHub v0.2.0 is the BLE pairing and ranging milestone, not a public 1.0 feature-complete release. No Mac installer or TestFlight invitation is available on this page.
Twenty seconds for you, then your phone wakes up.
Activity detected, photo taken
Input in the 3 s after locking is ignored, so pressing the lock shortcut isn't mistaken for an intruder.
20-second grace period
Touch ID, or your phone coming back, cancels the event and deletes the photo.
Pushed to your iPhone
Delivered through your own iCloud private database, with the photo and two buttons: [Lock now] / [It's me].
You won't think about it. It's always there.
The following describes the intended product. Availability depends on the released version and device validation.
Sit down and it's open. Stand up and it's locked.
When your phone is near and its signature checks out, AetherGuard types your login password to unlock. A few seconds after you leave, it locks — unless you come back first.
Explore the details
- Your login password is verified by the system, then stored in this Mac's keychain. It never leaves the Mac.
- One-click calibration at your seat adapts the thresholds to your desk and where you keep your phone.
- Auto-unlock pauses itself after a failure, so it never keeps typing a wrong password.
Away, scheduled or manual — they stack
Guard turns on 30 s after you leave, always during scheduled hours (say, after work), or with one click. Auto-unlock is disabled during scheduled and manual guard.
Know the moment someone touches it
Keyboard, trackpad, lid reopened, USB plugged in — while guarding, AetherGuard takes a photo. If nobody proves it's you with Touch ID within 20 s, the photo goes to your iPhone.
Explore the details
- Act from the notification: [Lock now] locks and takes another photo; [It's me] marks it as confirmed.
- Photo history and outcomes are available on both Mac and iPhone.
Don't trust the signal. Trust the signature.
Bluetooth signals can be recorded and replayed. So every 2 seconds the Mac sends a one-time nonce; the iPhone measures signal strength and signs it with the nonce using its Secure Enclave key. The Mac verifies and consumes the nonce before judging distance.
Explore the details
- The private key is generated in the iPhone's Secure Enclave and can't be exported. Message types are covered by the signature too.
- Remote commands carry a time window and nonce. Forgery, tampering and replay are all covered by unit tests.
When can I download it?
There is no end-user download or public TestFlight invitation yet. Follow development milestones on GitHub; download links will appear here after publication.
What devices and OS do I need?
A Mac with Bluetooth and a camera on macOS 26 or later, and an iPhone on iOS 26 or later, both signed in to the same Apple ID. Touch ID confirmation needs a Mac or Magic Keyboard with Touch ID.
How is this different from Apple Watch unlock?
Apple Watch unlock needs a watch and only unlocks. AetherGuard uses the iPhone you already carry, and also locks when you leave, guards your Mac, and sends a photo alert if someone uses it.
What if my phone is lost or taken?
The signing key is only usable after that iPhone has been unlocked. You can unpair it from the Mac at any time, or turn on scheduled or manual guard — auto-unlock is disabled in both.
Does it drain the battery?
The iPhone keeps a single Bluetooth connection in the background and answers with a tiny signed report every 2 seconds. Measured battery figures will be published with the 1.0 release.
Why isn't the Mac app sandboxed?
Auto-unlock has to simulate keyboard input on the lock screen and read lock state, which sandboxed apps can't do. The trade-off is documented in an architecture decision record, and all code is public.
Is it free?
Yes — free and open source under the MIT license.
AetherGuard for Mac & iPhone
You're here, it opens. You leave, it watches.
Mac: macOS 26+ · iPhone: iOS 26+ · MIT open source · No third-party servers
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