FAQ

What is @home?

@home is a tiny convenience utility, that knows when you are at home (based on your wireless network name) and prevents your computer from locking the screen. When you are away from home, your normal locking idle times apply.

There are other tools that prevent my Mac from entering sleep mode. Why another one?

I wanted something that automatically decides to either allow locking or disallow it without manual user interaction. Other tools have slightly different goals, but they need to be triggered manually.

Does @home need access to my location?

No, @home simply uses your wireless network name to detect whether you are at home or not.

How does it interact with my Energy Settings in System Preferences?

For security reasons you can set a very low value for "Display Sleep", such as 5 minutes. At home you'll not be bothered to type your password over and over again. However, if you take your laptop out, you'll have the confidence that if you forget to lock it (e.g. in the office) it will lock itself after maximum 5 minutes.

How does it interact with my Screen Saver Settings?

The same applies as with the Energy Settings: you can set a very low idle time for the screensaver to kick in. @home makes sure that you don't have to login again. As soon as you take your laptop to work, it will respect your default screensaver idle time setting.

My computer never asks me for a password when it wakes up, why?

In System Preferences under "Security & Privacy" you need to tick the option "Require password immediately after sleep or screen saver begins".

If I plug or unplug my computer, the status bar icon does not reflect the change

It takes a few seconds until @home is notified about a change in power availability.

Can @home be started automatically?

Yes! Go to System Preferences, Users & Groups, Login Items and hit the + button. Then select the @home app (in /Applications/) and press Add.

Does @home send data over the internet?

@home does not send, nor receive any data over network connections. In fact, you can use it completely offline. The only reading it conducts is the name of the currently associated wireless network, to save you some typing.

Why did you create @home?

I like to have short lock times on my portables, for the rare case that I forget to manually lock my device when I'm out. At home it's rather a nuisance to retype my password over and over again. As long as I lock my apartment, I can be sure that no one will tamper with my portables. @home ensures that I am secure while on the road and at the same time enjoy more convenience at home.

What are the system requirements?

A Mac portable with macOS 10.10 (Yosemite) or newer.

I have a feature request or a question

Reach out to me on beatrupp at gmail dot com

Press

What are others saying about @home?

https://macmenubar.com/

Softpedia 4/5 stars

Ryo Matsufuji

macnews.tistory.com

Changelog

Version 1.3.0, Dec 6 2018

- Support macOS Mojave and Dark Mode.

Version 1.2.1, Dec 16 2016

- Option to activate @home only when plugged in
- Nicer icons, now supporting Retina displays

Version 1.1.0, Nov 12 2016

- @home is now only active when you are connected to power (this prevents draining your battery)
- Conveniently detect the name of the network you are connected to

Version 1.0.2, Nov 1 2016

Initial version