paniclock/paniclock: Instantly disable Touch ID and lock your Mac with one click or keyboard shortcut. · GitHub

PanicLock is macOS menu bar utility that instantly disables Touch ID and locks the screen with a single click or closing your laptop lid.

PanicLock fills a gap macOS leaves open: there is no built-in way to instantly disable Touch ID when it matters. Biometrics are convenient day-to-day, and sometimes preferable when you need speed or want to avoid your password being observed. But in sensitive situations, law enforcement and border agents in many countries can compel a biometric unlock in ways they cannot with a password. PanicLock gives you a one-click menu bar button, a customizable hotkey, or an automatic lock-on-lid-close option that immediately disables Touch ID and locks your screen, restoring password-only protection without killing your session or shutting down.

• One-click panic lock — Click the menu bar icon or press a hotkey to instantly lock
• Lock on Close — Optionally lock and disable Touch ID when you close the lid
• Temporarily disables Touch ID — Forces password-only unlock
• Auto-restore — Original Touch ID settings restored after unlock
• Keyboard shortcut — Configure a global hotkey (e.g., ⌃⌥⌘L)
• Launch at login — Start automatically when you log in

brew install paniclock/tap/paniclock

Download the latest DMG from the releases page.

• macOS 14.0 (Sonoma) or later
• Mac with Touch ID

When enabled in Preferences, closing your Mac’s lid will automatically disable Touch ID and lock your screen. Touch ID stays disabled until you re-login with your password. If your screen locks for other reasons (screensaver, display sleep, etc.), Touch ID will still work as normal.

On first use, you’ll be prompted for your admin password to install the privileged helper. This is a one-time setup.

1. Clone this repository
2. Open PanicLock.xcodeproj in Xcode
3. Set your Development Team in both targets (PanicLock and PanicLockHelper)
4. Update Team ID in Info.plist (SMPrivilegedExecutables) and Info-Helper.plist (SMAuthorizedClients)
5. Build and run

Homebrew:

From the app: Right-click → “Uninstall PanicLock…” → Enter admin password

Manual:

sudo launchctl bootout system/com.paniclock.helper
sudo rm -f /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.paniclock.helper
sudo rm -f /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.paniclock.helper.plist
rm -rf /Applications/PanicLock.app

PanicLock uses a privileged helper (installed via SMJobBless) to modify Touch ID timeout settings:

1. Reads current timeout via bioutil -r -s
2. Sets timeout to 1 second via bioutil -w -s -o 1
3. Locks screen via pmset displaysleepnow
4. Restores original timeout after ~2 seconds

• Minimal privileges — Helper only runs 3 hardcoded commands (bioutil, pmset)
• No command injection — Timeout parameter is a Swift Int, not a string
• Code-signed XPC — Helper verifies connecting app’s bundle ID + team ID + certificate
• No network activity — App is 100% offline, no telemetry or analytics
• No data collection — Only stores preferences (icon style, keyboard shortcut)
• Open source — Full code available for audit

The release script handles building, signing, notarizing, and packaging:

Features:

• Extracts version from Xcode project automatically
• Signs with Developer ID for distribution outside the App Store
• Submits to Apple for notarization (can take minutes to hours)
• Creates a notarized DMG for distribution
• Supports parallel notarizations — each version gets its own build/release// directory

Workflow:

1. Bump MARKETING_VERSION in Xcode
2. Run ./scripts/release.sh — builds and submits for notarization
3. Run again later to check status and continue when approved
4. Final output: build/release//PanicLock-.dmg

MIT License — See LICENSE for details.

Contributions welcome! Please open an issue or pull request.