New FaceLock 0.2 · now with a 5-level Safe
FaceLock locks your laptop the moment the lid opens, and puts any app, file, folder or photo behind your face. Real encryption, not hidden folders. Everything runs on your device.
Also for macOS · Also for Windows · 7-day free trial, no card · about 10 MB (Mac 16 MB) · Install steps
FaceLock is for Windows & Mac laptops.Send yourself the link and install it on your laptop.
Email me the linkWhat’s new
What changed lately, and what’s on the way. Anything not out yet says so.
Available now
A big round of fixes after we used FaceLock the way you do. Setup, the lock screen, the Vault, app locking, the Safe, Settings and updates are smoother and safer. Two-factor codes from any authenticator now come out right, and FaceLock never throws away a file while it re-locks an opened folder. Already installed? FaceLock offers the update itself.
Coming soon
Lock your web tabs with your face, with no desktop app needed. Tabs lock when you step away or press Ctrl+Shift+L (⌘+Shift+L on a Mac), and a recovery key always gets you back in. Your face stays on your computer. It covers ordinary web tabs, not Chrome’s own settings pages. 7 days free, then $15 a year for one browser profile (charged as ₹1,299). Email me when it’s ready.
For organisations
Companies, accountants, IT teams, software products and government bodies can add a FaceLock sign-in to their own tools, with named users managed in one place. From $5 per named user a year, for at least 100 users. See FaceLock for businesses and for government.
New
FaceLock now shows its yearly price in the money where you are, as a round figure. Every payment is still charged in Indian rupees, ₹1,299, and your bank converts it.
What it locks
FaceLock steps in at the moments that matter: when the laptop wakes, when an app opens, when a file opens. It checks it’s you first.
Open the lid, wake from sleep or unlock the screen, and FaceLock covers every display until it sees you. It sits on top of your normal sign-in.
Pick any app: chat, mail, banking, notes. When it opens, FaceLock pauses it and covers it until it’s you. Cancel, and the app closes.
Locking encrypts the file itself, name included. photo.jpg becomes photo.jpg.flk: unreadable on a copied disk, in a backup, on any other computer. Lock a folder and everything inside it is encrypted.
Crash-safe by design: the original is deleted only after the encrypted copy has been checked.
Two wrong tries and FaceLock takes a photo, encrypts it, and shows you the timeline when you next unlock. It’s on from the start; you can switch it off.
On by defaultStep away and the camera notices. No face for a few seconds, and your laptop locks itself.
OptionalA second face appears behind you while a locked app is open? FaceLock will blur the app.
Coming soonCtrl Alt L (⌘ ⌥ L on Mac) locks everything FaceLock protects, instantly.
Your face is the fast way in, never the only way.
New in 0.2 · FaceLock Safe
Move your most private photos, videos, files and passwords into the Safe. It opens only after your face, a code from Google Authenticator, your password, your secret question and your three toys, in order. Miss any one and it stays shut.
Level 5 · Your three toys
Tap them in the order you chose. The grid is shuffled every time.
One or more answers are wrong.
That’s all FaceLock ever says. A wrong password, question, answer or toy gets the same message, so nobody learns which level they missed.
Items are moved into the Safe and encrypted, names included. Nothing in the Safe folder is readable on its own.
Add them by hand or import a CSV from your browser or password manager. FaceLock offers to delete the CSV once it’s imported.
Your password, question and toys go into one Argon2id key derivation (256 MiB of memory, about a second per try). There’s no separate check per level, so they can’t be guessed one at a time.
That key is also mixed with a 256-bit secret in this laptop’s keychain. A copied Safe folder or a stolen disk can’t even be attacked: every guess would need that secret too.
We won’t dress them up. They stop someone at your desk who doesn’t have your face or your phone. The encryption comes from levels 3 to 5.
Every mistake gets the same message. After 3 wrong tries FaceLock waits 30 seconds, then doubles the wait up to an hour, and can take an intruder photo each time.
While it’s open, the Safe window is hidden from screenshots and screen sharing where Windows and macOS allow it. It locks after 2 minutes idle, on minimise, sleep or the panic key.
At setup you get a 24-character recovery code and a kit file. Kit + code + a current authenticator code let you set all five levels again. Without them, nobody can open it, including HONCO.
Where it stops: someone technically skilled who is already inside your unlocked Windows or Mac session can read the keychain. Then only levels 3 to 5 stand, at about a second per guess, and your password carries most of that weight. A phone camera pointed at the screen isn’t stopped by anything. The Safe’s full security model
How it works
Download it (about 10 MB on Windows, 16 MB on Mac) and run the installer. The Mac app is signed and notarized by Apple; Windows shows a SmartScreen prompt once. FaceLock lives in your tray or menu bar and starts at login. Confirm your email address with a 6-digit code and your 7-day trial starts, no card needed.
Look at the camera and turn your head through seven angles. Set a PIN, then save your recovery key and recovery file somewhere other than this laptop.
Turn on lid lock, then add apps, files, folders or photos. From then on they open when FaceLock sees you.
Honest security
You can’t trust a security tool you can’t reason about. So here’s exactly what FaceLock does, and what it doesn’t.
A webcam is a convenience gate, not cryptography. We built FaceLock around that fact, and we give you stronger options for when it matters.
A blink check (plus a head turn, if you choose it) beats a printed photo and most phone screens. It doesn’t reliably beat a video replay or a mask. Now you know where the line is.
Make them the only everyday way in: in Settings › Protection, untick Face and PIN under “Offer these on the lock screen” (your recovery key still works). Windows Hello (IR face or fingerprint) and Touch ID are dedicated sensors built for exactly this job.
Files are encrypted with a random 256-bit vault key. Your face, Hello, Touch ID or PIN only decides whether FaceLock releases it.
FaceLock adds a lock on top of the Windows or macOS sign-in. Keep a strong account password. FaceLock is the second door, not the first.
Privacy
Face matching, encryption and every lock run on your device. There’s no password to create and no cloud for your data to sit in.
This website doesn’t track you either: no cookies, no analytics, no third-party scripts or fonts.
Coming soon · Android & iPhone
A private Safe on your phone that doesn’t look like one.
$15 a year per phone (charged as ₹1,299). A separate licence from the laptop one.
There’s no release date yet, and we won’t guess one. Drop us a line and we’ll tell you when it’s out.
Pricing
Try every feature free for 7 days, no card needed. Then it’s one simple yearly price for each laptop.
Charged as ₹1,299 in Indian rupees; your bank converts it.
FaceLock is for Windows & Mac laptops.Send yourself the link to start the trial on your laptop.
Email me the linkAlready have a key? Renew it here.
Laptop licence
$15 / year per laptop (charged as ₹1,299)
Windows or Mac · includes the Safe · Available now
Phone licence
$15 / year per phone (charged as ₹1,299)
Android or iPhone · Coming soon
Browser licence
$15 / year per browser profile (charged as ₹1,299)
Chrome · Coming soon
They’re separate licences: a laptop licence doesn’t cover a phone or a browser, and a phone or browser licence won’t cover a laptop. More about the phone version
How it compares
Most tools do one of these jobs. FaceLock does them together, on both Windows and Mac.
Swipe the table sideways to see every column →
| Capability | FaceLock | Typical folder lockers | Typical app-lock utilities | Typical face-login tools |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Windows and macOS | Often one OS | Often one OS | Often one OS | |
| Locks the laptop on lid-open and wake | ||||
| Locks individual apps | ||||
| Encrypts files, folders and photos | Often hides only | |||
| A vault that needs five things: face, authenticator code, password, question and toys | Usually one password | |||
| Built-in password manager with browser import | ||||
| Face unlock | Sometimes | |||
| Hello / Touch ID, PIN and recovery key fallbacks | Varies | Varies | Varies | |
| Intruder photo | Sometimes | Sometimes | ||
| Walk-away lock | Sometimes | |||
| Runs on-device, no cloud | Varies | Varies | Varies |
The other columns describe what tools in each category commonly offer. Individual products vary, so check any tool you’re considering against this list.
FAQ
Use your recovery kit. At Safe setup FaceLock shows you a 24-character recovery code once and saves a kit file. The kit, the code and a current code from your authenticator app let you set all five levels again. Keep the code and the kit apart and offline.
Without them, nobody can open your Safe, including HONCO. Its files live only on your laptop, and we have no copy of any key. That’s the point, and it’s also why the recovery code matters.
Locking a file encrypts it where it is and opens it with one look. The Safe is a separate place your things are moved into, plus a password manager, and it asks for all five levels every time. Use file lock for everyday privacy and the Safe for what must never be seen. More about the Safe.
No, and that’s deliberate. Replacing the sign-in screen means installing a Windows Credential Provider or a macOS SecurityAgent plugin. Those are deep system components where one bug can lock you out of your own computer.
FaceLock sits on top instead. After you wake or unlock your laptop, it covers every display until it sees you. Keep your account password strong: FaceLock is an extra lock, not a replacement.
If the camera can’t see you, use Windows Hello or Touch ID, your PIN, or your recovery key, the 24-character key FaceLock shows you once at setup. It opens your vault on this laptop, also after a reinstall. On a new laptop, or wherever FaceLock no longer finds its recovery data, you need it together with your recovery kit file: setup offers it as Save recovery file…, and you keep it yourself. Keep both somewhere safe, away from the laptop. We don’t have a copy.
You can try everything free for 7 days, with no card: just an email address you confirm with a code. After that FaceLock costs $15 a year (charged as ₹1,299) for one laptop. Buy a licence whenever you’re ready.
Protection pauses: lid lock, app lock, walk-away lock and locking new items switch off until you renew. Your files always open. Everything you’ve already locked can still be unlocked with your face, Hello / Touch ID, PIN or recovery key, and your Safe still opens and exports everything; only adding new items stops. Your data is never held hostage.
Renew any time and everything switches back on straight away. Renewing early adds a year to your current expiry date, so you don’t lose any days.
Yes. One licence covers one laptop at a time. Moving it to a new laptop switches it off on the old one, and you can do that yourself up to three times a year. For more moves, email [email protected].
A printed photo or most phone screens won’t work, because FaceLock checks for a blink (and a head turn too, if you choose “Blink + turn” in Settings › Face). A video replay or a realistic mask can fool any ordinary webcam, though. If that’s in your threat model, make Windows Hello or Touch ID your only everyday way in: in Settings › Protection, untick Face and PIN under “Offer these on the lock screen” (your recovery key still works). More on the security model.
Any built-in or USB webcam. If your laptop has Windows Hello or Touch ID, you can use those too, or require them.
They stay encrypted as .flk files. Unlock them before you uninstall if you can. After a reinstall on the same laptop your recovery key opens them, even if the uninstaller deleted FaceLock’s data (on Windows, its “Delete the application data” option): FaceLock keeps a copy of its recovery data in your system’s keychain. On a new laptop, or if FaceLock no longer finds that recovery data, you need your recovery key and your recovery kit file.
FaceLock is about 10 MB on Windows and 16 MB on Mac, and sits quietly in the tray or menu bar. The camera only runs while FaceLock is checking it’s you, or, if you turn them on, for walk-away lock (about one frame a second).
FaceLock for phones is coming soon for Android and iPhone: a calculator disguise, its own face lock and the same five-level Safe, at $15 a year per phone, separate from the laptop licence. There’s no release date yet. Email us and we’ll tell you when it’s out.
A Linux build is planned too.
7 days free, then $15 a year per laptop (charged as ₹1,299). About 10 MB on Windows, 16 MB on Mac. Windows 10/11 and macOS 11+.
Also for macOS · Also for Windows · 7-day free trial, no card · about 10 MB (Mac 16 MB) · Install steps
FaceLock is for Windows & Mac laptops.Send yourself the link and install it on your laptop.
Email me the link
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