Press
November 5, 2013— Knock lets you unlock your Mac without typing a password
Knock, which launches today, is an app that turns your iPhone into an incredibly secure password for your Mac.
Knock isn't like other apps. It's always ready, so you can use Knock even when your phone is in your pocket. Just knock twice, and your Mac unlocks. That's it. Knock uses Bluetooth Low Energy, which means your iPhone's battery won't feel a thing.
Knock is available for an introductory price of $3.99 in the App Store, and as a free Mac app at knocktounlock.com.
Knock began with a conversation between founders William Henderson and Jon Schlossberg. “We both locked our computers because our employers made us, but we did just about everything we could to avoid typing our password. Then we found this study of 32 million passwords where nearly 50% of people had terrible passwords like 123456 or qwerty,” says co-founder William Henderson.“That kind of blew our minds, but it makes total sense. If you create an unusable system, people will simply work around you. Right now security is annoying, so people are walking around with their data totally unprotected. We want to change that.”
Henderson and Schlossberg started Knock to bring user-centric design to security. Prior to founding Knock, William was working at Square where he created Square's Wallet product, which lets customers pay by simply saying their name. Jon led UX at Bonobos, where he directed the design of their award-winning online and in-store experience. They both left their jobs to found the company in early 2013. Thus far, they've built the company using entirely their own money. To talk to these chumps, email press@knocktounlock.com.
