ProximityLock takes your privacy as seriously as your security. This page explains our commitment to keeping your data private and your computer secure.
ProximityLock's privacy and security approach is simple:
Your security is ProximityLock's job. Your privacy is our promise.
We designed ProximityLock from the ground up with privacy in mind. Security software should protect you, not spy on you.
ProximityLock never transmits anything. Not a single byte of data ever leaves your computer.
There is no data collection, no analytics, no telemetry, no "phone home," no cloud services. Nothing. This isn't just a privacy policy promise. It's technically impossible for ProximityLock to transmit data because it doesn't use network APIs at all.
ProximityLock is completely passive. It simply listens to Bluetooth advertisements that your devices are already broadcasting to the world. ProximityLock doesn't connect to your devices, doesn't communicate with them, doesn't pair with them. It just listens.
Think of it like a radio receiver. It only receives signals, it never transmits. ProximityLock:
The data ProximityLock observes (signal strength readings) is used for exactly one purpose: determining when to lock your computer. That's it.
ProximityLock does not collect, store remotely, or transmit any data about you, your devices, or your usage patterns. Ever.
Specifically, ProximityLock never collects or transmits:
All signal analysis and decision-making happens locally on your computer. ProximityLock never communicates with external servers or cloud services because it has no network capabilities.
ProximityLock doesn't use internet connections or network services. It doesn't even request network access permissions from macOS. Your proximity monitoring works completely offline, and there's no way for ProximityLock to phone home even if it wanted to.
ProximityLock only requests the permissions it absolutely needs to function:
That's it. No access to your files, contacts, calendar, location, camera, microphone, or anything else.
ProximityLock runs in the macOS App Sandbox, which restricts what the application can access and do. This provides multiple security benefits:
The sandbox ensures that even if there were a bug or vulnerability in ProximityLock, the damage would be contained.
ProximityLock uses only public, documented macOS APIs. This means:
ProximityLock is digitally signed, which provides:
For complete transparency, here's what ProximityLock does access and why:
What: Bluetooth device names, identifiers, and signal strength (RSSI)
Why: To detect your selected device and monitor its proximity
Storage: Device selection is stored in user preferences; signal history exists only in memory while app runs
Why: To activate the screen saver (which locks your screen)
Usage: Only used when your device goes out of range or you use Test Lock
What: Your device selection, threshold, timeout, and monitoring state
Why: To remember your settings between app launches
Storage: Stored in standard macOS user preferences (~/Library/Preferences)
ProximityLock retains minimal data, and only what's necessary for operation:
Stored in user preferences:
Stored in memory while app runs, cleared when app quits:
ProximityLock uses standard macOS logging (OSLog) for debugging purposes, but:
While ProximityLock provides automatic locking, remember that it's one layer of security. For complete protection:
Enable Screen Lock Password: ProximityLock activates your screen saver, but you must configure macOS to require a password:
System Settings → Lock Screen → "Require password immediately after sleep or screen saver begins"
Without this, your screen saver can be dismissed without authentication.
ProximityLock does not integrate with any third-party services, analytics platforms, or advertising networks. There are no third parties that have access to any data because there is no data to access.
If you decide to uninstall ProximityLock, you can completely remove all traces:
After uninstalling, no ProximityLock data remains on your system.
If ProximityLock's privacy practices ever change, we'll update both the application and this help documentation. However, our commitment to privacy is fundamental to ProximityLock's design and purpose. We will never add tracking, analytics, or data collection.
If you have questions about privacy or security, or if you'd like to verify any of the claims made on this page, ProximityLock's behavior can be verified through:
ProximityLock could do more, but we chose not to, and here's why.
With historical data storage, ProximityLock could be smarter. We could analyze days or weeks of your device's signal patterns, use statistical models to predict when you're actually leaving versus just shifting in your chair, and automatically adjust thresholds based on your environment. The data requirements are minimal. Days of signal history would take up less storage than a single photo.
This would mean fewer false alarms, better accuracy, and less manual tuning. It's technically feasible and would genuinely improve the user experience.
Privacy. Pure and simple.
One of the core constraints we set for ProximityLock is this: the application stores nothing beyond a few configuration settings. No historical signal behaviors, no long-term tracking, no pattern analysis data. When you see that ProximityLock requests Bluetooth access, we want you to know with absolute certainty that we're not collecting or analyzing your data over time.
We wanted to be able to say (and mean it) that ProximityLock stores no information and processes nothing except what's needed in the moment to decide whether to lock your screen. That's it.
ProximityLock keeps signal history only in memory while the app runs (up to 200 readings or 10 minutes). When you quit the app, that data disappears. We use some dynamic signal management (simple math to scale the timeout based on how far the current signal is from your threshold), but it's deliberately basic. Just enough to catch lock events a bit earlier while avoiding false alarms from random interference in the noisy Bluetooth environment.
It's not as sophisticated as it could be, but it's honest. And that honesty matters when you're trusting an app with your security.
Yes, you might need to adjust your threshold and timeout settings to match your environment. Yes, you might experience an occasional false alarm or need to tune things after moving to a new workspace. That's the price of privacy-first design.
We think it's worth it. When security software asks for system access, you should be able to trust it completely. ProximityLock's simplicity is intentional. It's easier to trust software that does less, stores nothing, and can prove it.
© 2025-2026 - Michael Sinz