Face unlock for macOS Free for 14 days · no card

Open the lid.
That's it.

MacGaze recognises you through the built-in camera and signs you in before you've finished sitting down. One icon in the menu bar. Nothing else.

Download it and use everything for two weeks. No card, no account, nothing to cancel. Buy a licence only if you decide to keep it.

Apple silicon · macOS 26 or later · built-in camera

macOS will ask you to confirm the first time. Here is how →

Looking

This is the whole interface.

Try it · no download

It opens for you.
It doesn't for them.

Press either button and watch what the Mac does.

Your face matches the one MacGaze learned during setup, so it types your password and gets out of the way. The camera light is on for about a second, then it's off again.

Looking

Shown close up. On a real Mac the notch is much smaller.

Setup · about a minute

It learns your face from every angle.

A ring of marks surrounds the camera. You move your head slowly in a circle and each mark lights as it captures that angle. Twice around, and you're done.

Keep scrolling and the ring fills the way the real one does. Scroll back up and it unwinds.

0 of 12 angles

One unlock, start to finish

Faster than reaching
for the keyboard.

Every step, from the lid moving to your desktop appearing. The camera is on for about a second and then it stops.

0.00sYou open the lid
0.05smacOS wakes the display
0.20sThe camera comes on, and its green light with it, always
0.45sYour face is found and measured
0.60sIt's you. The notch opens to meet you
0.75sYour password is typed for you
1.10sCamera off. Back to your desktop

“The camera light comes on every single time. If it's on and you didn't open your lid, something is wrong, and we'd rather you could see that.”

Privacy

Your face never leaves your Mac.

Not "we don't sell it". There is nowhere for it to go. No account, no server, no face analytics. This website uses limited analytics for traffic and checkout measurement.

Your Mac
camera frames your faceprint your password your settings

All of it stays inside this box, encrypted, on your machine. Camera frames are never written to disk at all. They exist in memory for a moment, and then they are gone.

1 request, ever

The only thing that ever leaves: your licence key, checked once when you type it in. Never while unlocking, so a dropped connection can't lock you out.

A faceprint is not a photograph

MacGaze stores a set of measurements, not an image. There is no picture of you to find, and the measurements can't be turned back into one.

One click deletes everything

“Forget my face” removes your faceprints and your saved password immediately. There's nothing to request from us, because we never had it.

Site analytics, clearly stated

The site uses Google Analytics for page views, traffic sources and checkout measurement. It never receives camera frames, faceprints or your macOS password.

Specifications · including the unflattering ones

What it is, and what it isn't.

If any of this rules it out for you, please don't buy it. We'd rather tell you here than have you find out later.

Not Face ID
Your Mac's webcam has no infrared depth sensor, so MacGaze cannot measure depth the way an iPhone does. A printed photo won't get in. A good video of you on a phone screen might. Apple's hardware solves this; a webcam can't.
Convenience, not security
MacGaze doesn't make your Mac harder to break into. It makes getting into it faster for you. Treat it as a convenience and it will never disappoint you.
Password storage
It stores your macOS login password on your Mac, encrypted, in your Keychain, because that is how it types it for you. It never leaves the machine, but it is on the machine, and you should know that before deciding.
Recognition is statistical
It may occasionally not recognise you in unusual light. Face recognition also doesn't perform identically for everyone. Lock your Mac and open it a few times during the trial before you rely on it.
Your password always works
MacGaze doesn't change how your Mac signs you in. It just types for you. If it fails, or you quit it, you log in exactly as you always did. It cannot lock you out of your own machine.
Requirements
An Apple silicon Mac running macOS 26 or later, with a built-in camera. Continuity Camera isn't used, because your iPhone won't be there when you're locked out.
Price

Buy it once.

Try it free for two weeks first. If you keep it, you buy it once. Not a subscription, nothing to cancel.

One Mac
A$14.99once

Two years of updates included. It keeps working afterwards either way.

Coming soon
Family · three Macs
A$24.99once

One licence across three Macs, for you or your household.

Coming soon

Buying isn't switched on yet while the payment provider is being sorted out. The 14 day trial is the full app with nothing held back, so download it and try it in the meantime.

One-time purchase No account