A Near Lock Alternative with nothing to carry
Near Lock turns your iPhone into a Bluetooth key: walk away and the Mac locks, come back and it unlocks, with Touch ID, knock or Apple Watch options, Wi-Fi unlock and failed-login photos. It is free with a $3.99 Pro Mode and needs an M1 or later Mac. Its App Store reviews praise the idea and flag connection reliability. Notchy's Face Unlock skips the radio link entirely — the camera sees you and the Mac opens.
Looking for Near Lock itself? It lives on the App Store.
- Near Lock price
- Free; Pro Mode $3.99 in-app purchase
- Near Lock requires
- macOS 11 or later (Apple M1 or later) with an iPhone on iOS 9+
- Notchy price
- $24.99 one-time, 7-day free trial
Why use Notchy instead of Near Lock?
- No phone, no Bluetooth link
Proximity unlock depends on a Bluetooth signal that can drop or misjudge distance. Face Unlock only needs you in front of the camera.
- One app, no Pro Mode
Near Lock is free with a $3.99 Pro Mode. Notchy is one $24.99 purchase, with no tiers on top.
- Intel Macs welcome
Near Lock lists an Apple M1 or later Mac. Notchy runs from macOS 13 on Intel or Apple silicon.
- Where Near Lock does more
Auto-lock when you walk away, Wi-Fi-based unlock, failed-login photos, and a shared clipboard with your iPhone. Notchy's Face Unlock unlocks; it does not lock the Mac as you leave.
Everything Notchy does, in one app
- Fluid Dynamic Island animations on the Mac notch
- Command palette (⌃⌥K) — every action one keystroke away
- Knock — double-tap a modifier key to open the notch
- AI usage tracker (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Copilot)
- Detach any tab into a menu-bar popover
- Now Playing music controls (Apple Music & Spotify)
- Time-synced karaoke lyrics under the notch
- Mac clipboard history shelf (password-manager safe)
- Searchable clipboard — filter by text, file name, or OCR'd words
- On-device OCR — copy a screenshot, get its text (Apple Vision)
- Window snapping — drag a window to the notch to tile it
- App Launcher — pin apps to the notch, open with one tap
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- Text snippets — TextExpander-style pastes from the ⌘K palette
- One-tap screen capture to clipboard + shelf
- Color eyedropper — sample any pixel, hex auto-copied
- System-wide mic mute for every meeting app at once
- Keystroke HUD for demos & screencasts (secure-input safe)
- Keyboard cleaning lock with countdown island (⌘⎋ unlocks)
- Menu-bar icon hiding — Bartender-style separator & chevron
- Live CPU / memory / network stats flyout
- Custom islands through the local developer API (off by default)
- iPhone-style call island — Answer/Decline FaceTime on the notch
- Notch Terminal — real VT100/xterm shell in a PTY, its own tab
- Camera Guard — alert (or block) when any app opens your camera
- Caps Lock HUD — brief island on every toggle
- Full Charge island with adjustable threshold + low-battery sound
- Alt HUD styles — edge-pinned bar or circular gauge off the notch
- Audio-reactive Now Playing visualizer (real FFT of system audio)
- Custom closed-notch idle animation — drop in your own Lottie JSON
- Drag-and-drop file drop shelf — persists across relaunches
- Zip & unzip files right from the shelf
- Image converter (HEIC, PNG, JPEG, TIFF, PDF) + video → GIF
- Run Apple Shortcuts with one tap
- Screenshots auto-staged on the shelf, ready to drag
- Download finished alerts with Reveal in Finder
- USB drive mount island with one-tap Eject
- Apple Reminders quick capture & due list
- macOS Pomodoro notch timer & stopwatch — streaks + 7-day chart
- Resizable expanded panel (width & height, live preview)
- System HUDs (volume, brightness, battery)
- Audio output switcher (speakers, AirPods, monitor)
- AirPods connection manager & battery
- Magic Mouse, Keyboard & Trackpad battery + low-battery alerts
- Quick notes & Calendar widgets
- Camera Mirror (check your appearance)
- Keep Awake (caffeine toggle)
- Teleprompter (Cuely) for Zoom calls
- Focus-aware alerts & native haptic feedback
- Lock screen widgets & hide-the-notch mode
- 134 languages, fully localized
- Native SwiftUI, tuned for Apple silicon
The honest verdict on Near Lock
Choose Near Lock if walk-away auto-lock is the point. If you just want the Mac to open when you sit down, without a phone in the loop, Notchy's Face Unlock is simpler.
Near Lock alternative — FAQ
Is Near Lock free?
Free to download, with a Pro Mode in-app purchase at $3.99, per its App Store listing.
Does Near Lock work on Intel Macs?
Its listing requires a Mac with an Apple M1 chip or later on macOS 11+. Notchy supports Intel Macs from macOS 13.
Can I unlock my Mac without my iPhone?
Yes — with Notchy's Face Unlock, which uses the Mac's camera instead, or with Touch ID or an Apple Watch if your hardware supports them.
Does Notchy lock the Mac when I walk away?
No. That proximity auto-lock is a Near Lock feature Notchy doesn't have.
Is Notchy free?
No. Notchy is a one-time $24.99 purchase for one Mac with a 7-day free trial — no subscription or in-app purchase.