I am a gadget lover. I have to admit that. And that usually mean that I only review stuff I like, or stuff I want to like. I know that is a bit biased, but it helps me to stay away from stuff I don´t care about.
Those of you who follow me on Twitter, know that I love my MacBook 13 Pro, just as much as I love my iPhone 3Gs. The iPhone is with me everywhere I go, and the MacBook seems to be very close at hand most of the times too. So when I got tipped of the AirLock software by Guy Kawasaki a few weeks ago, I instantly knew I would love it.
If it works.
AirLock is a security software that uses Bluetooth to lock the MacBook if you (actually your iPhone) are no longer around. Just like an RFID chip would open a door for you, or a SmartCard could be inserted to your PC to grant access.
Download and installation
To download the AirLock, just point your browser to http://themha.com. Once downloaded, mount the .dmg file, drag the file to the application folder and voila. You will have to close down the System Preferences and reopen it before it works.
No need to say so, but I simply love the ease of installation on MacOS X. So intuitive.
Setup
To set up your iPhone, you need to enable BlueTooth on both your Mac and your iPhone and pair them. Easy done.
Then head for the System Preferences, open the AirLock tool.
A screen like this will welcome you (this is after I have set up my iPhone). Click the Select iPhone button, follow the easy to use instructions, and voila! Your phone will show up as a light dot on the radar, and the Range indicator lamp will turn green.
You may need to experiment a bit with the range slider to make the tool work as you require.
Next, click on the Actions tab.
Enable the “When iPhone goes out-of-range/in-to-range Lock/unlock screen selector. I strongly suggest that you also enable the “Enable manual login” selector too. This enable you to use your password to login to your Mac in the event you should have forgotten your iPhone, or worse - AirLock does not find your iPhone even it it lays right next to it. More on this later.
Click on the Advanced tab.
The Advanced tab has two sliders that you may want to play with. The current version 1.1.0 comes with two sliders, and that is a huge benefit compared to the first version.
As you see on the image, these settings works fine for me.
First run experience
When I first downloaded the AirLock, it was in version 1.0. I loved the idea, and accepted to be interrupted by this screen:
all the time. Yes, all the time. Every few minutes, it would pop up in my face, and I had to shake my iPhone, take it off screen saver and other physical activities.
Until I just turned off the automatic screensaver on the iPhone all together. Now I could write for longer periods of time before the AirLock messed around and locked me out.
I had to manually push the Lock button on my iPhone to lock the screen and save power with the autolock turned off. I could live with that.
Then I took notice of the battery usage. AirLock uses Bluetooth to determine the proximity of the iPhone. It checked very often, resulting in the iPhone running low on power way too fast for my taste. After all, I do use my phone for calling, so I do need some power on it. And plugging it in when working kind of takes away some of the thrill of using a wireless (Bluetooth) proximity technology IMO.
Another thing that bugged me was the slow rate that AirLock would find my iPhone with. I could come back to the Mac, and have to wait for a long long time for the MacBook to come out of locking. And you may say many things about me, but being patient is not one of them. Thus, I quite often found myself using the small Lock symbol in the bottom-right corner of the lock screen, then typing my password, hitting Return twice - first for the password, then a second time to dismiss an Alert box telling me that AirLock would turn itself back on when it felt the proximity of my iPhone again.
The hassles quickly out weighted the benefits I saw. And after a few days, I actually turned AirLock off.
The update
Some time later, received notice of an updated version of AirLock. The 1.1.0 version. I thought I´d give it another go, and voila, here I am, still using it.
The new version adds one very important thing - the Sliders on the Advanced tab (se image). Using these two sliders, you can adjust the way AirLock looks for your device, and how long it should look before determining that the device is no longer around.
The first slider - how often it will look for your iPhone - helps greatly to keep your iPhone battery from depleting. I made it look roughly every 2 minutes, and that works wonders.
The second slider is about how long it will wait for an answer. I made this a long period, so I do not have to see the lock screen for a short while when I am working (or playing).
This simple update have turned AirLock from a fun looking tool into a valuable lock screen for me.
Experience
Considering the first version´s glitches, I have found AirLock to work wonderful. It is now applied and works without me thinking about it at all. It resides on the background, and simply does it´s job without bothering me at all.
This is not an enterprise security tool at all. It lack important features like central management, remote administration and encryption to really offer security on an enterprise level. It is not even connected to the log on credentials of the computer, so it will not help in verifying users, gain access to the network and so forth.
I would claim that this is not even a security tool in the respect that it does not encrypt anything, and it would be quite easy for a cunning person to intercept and fake the Bluetooth signals to gain access to the computer.
So what is AirLock, then? AirLock is a great security addition to Mac users who need some kind of a screen lock when they are away from the computer for lunch, meetings, or just when fetching a cup of coffee. Many Mac people are not computer savvy, they have no clue of information security principles like Clean Desktop, and locking the computer when not around.
Most importantly, most Mac users are used to things being simple, easy to deal with. They would never accept the security devices PC users have to use - like two-factor authentication, policies that tell you to lock your PC when you fetch that cup of coffee and other boring, time wasting stuff that is not the slightest sexy.
The AirLock programmers know this. They use this knowledge to create a tool that all Mac users will love, and then use. And the focus is on usability, a focus I personally think is vital to get people to use security tools in the first place. Make it easy, intuitive, and let them use stuff (like the iPhone) they already have and are familiar with.
Add to it some coolness like the Radar screen, and voila - you have a winning product!
Roer.com verdict
The AirLock 1.1.0 (and possibly later versions) is a great tool for Mac & iPhone users. It enables automatic lock of the computer screen when the user (actually the iPhone) moves away from the computer - i.e. a proximity tool.
The downside is that AirLock is does not offer automatic log-on, encryption and enterprise security. The upside is the ease of use and the coolness. I would believe that every Mac user has an iPhone. And they love it. Using AirLock makes perfect sense for them.
AirLock is a great addition to any Mac, and a must have for SMEs who struggle to implement policy based Lock Screen security. Add AirLock, and all users will love it!
Thumbs up!
I thought that Mac provides