Install the Lock Status Mac helper
The Lock Status Mac helper arrives as a DMG from this site rather than through the Mac App Store, which adds two steps an App Store install doesn't have: the prompt macOS shows the first time you open anything downloaded from the web, and making sure your Mac and iPhone are signed in to the same Apple Account. Both are below, along with what the menu-bar icon is telling you and how to remove the helper again.
What you'll need
- A Mac and an iPhone signed in to the same iCloud (Apple Account).
- The free Lock Status Mac helper — a tiny menu-bar app, signed and notarized by Apple.
- The Lock Status iPhone app — free to use, on the App Store.
There's no account to create and nothing to configure on a server, because there is no server.
Install it in three steps
1. Download the disk image and drag the app across
Download the helper. It comes as a .dmg disk image,
which is how most Mac apps are distributed outside the App Store. Double-click it and a window opens with
the Lock Status icon on one side and an Applications shortcut on the other; drag the icon onto the shortcut.
Then eject the disk image. Run the copy in Applications, not the one inside the image.
2. Open it once, and answer the first-open prompt
Anything you download from the web is quarantined, so the first time you open Lock Status from your Applications folder macOS asks whether you're sure. That's a confirmation rather than a block: the app is signed with our Apple Developer ID and notarized by Apple, so macOS has already checked it. Click Open and you won't be asked again.
If macOS refuses to open it instead of asking, go to System Settings › Privacy & Security, scroll down to the Security section, and click Open Anyway, then enter your login password. That button only appears for about an hour after you tried to open the app, so if you can't find it, double-click the app again first. The old Control-click (right-click) → Open trick no longer overrides Gatekeeper on current macOS. Privacy & Security is the only route.
On first launch the helper opens a short how-it-works window and puts its icon in the menu bar. It has no Dock icon and no main window; the menu-bar icon is the whole interface.
3. Check both devices are on the same Apple Account
The helper writes each change to your own private iCloud and the iPhone app reads it back, so the two only find each other when both devices are signed in to the same Apple Account. Check it on the Mac under System Settings › [your name] and on the iPhone under Settings › [your name]. Nothing passes through our servers — we don't have any — and there's no Lock Status login. If the Mac isn't signed in, the helper's menu says so outright rather than sitting there looking connected.
What the menu-bar icon shows
The icon is the current state: a closed padlock for Locked, an open padlock for Unlocked, a crescent moon for Asleep. Click it and the menu adds the detail — this Mac's name, whether iCloud is connected, whether the helper is set to start at login, and the time of the last heartbeat it sent. Two of those are worth a glance after installing. If Start at login is off, the helper stops reporting the moment you quit or restart. If iCloud is unavailable, nothing reaches your iPhone.
The helper reports three states — Unlocked, Locked, and Asleep — and every reading carries the time your Mac last checked in, so a reading that's minutes old shows its age instead of claiming to be current. Locked or asleep? takes the two apart in detail, including the point at which a reading stops counting as live.
Add a widget so you never open the app
With the optional Pro subscription you can place Lock Status on your Home Screen and Lock Screen. Then checking your Mac is as fast as glancing at your phone — no tapping, no unlocking. Widgets are part of Pro, along with usage insights and full history; they aren't in the free version.
Removing the helper
Click the menu-bar icon, turn Start at login off, choose Quit Lock Status, then drag Lock Status from Applications to the Trash. There's no installer package to undo and nothing left running in the background. The Mac simply stops reporting, and the readings your iPhone already has keep showing the time they were recorded, so it won't look like the Mac has been sitting unlocked ever since.
Common questions
Do I need to install the helper on every Mac?
Yes. The helper only reports the Mac it is running on, so a Mac without it doesn't appear at all. It's the same download on each machine, and they all show up together as long as they're signed in to the same Apple Account.
Do I need to keep the app open?
No. The Mac helper runs in the menu bar and keeps detecting lock, unlock, and sleep in the background, and on your iPhone the status (and the widgets) update on their own.
Does it work when I'm away from home?
Yes. Because it syncs through iCloud rather than your local network, you can check your Mac from anywhere your iPhone has a connection. If it hasn't heard from your Mac recently, it keeps showing the last state it did hear, with the time it heard it, rather than guessing.
Does the Mac helper cost anything?
No. It's a free download from this site. There's no payment, no serial number, and no account to create, and it isn't a trial that stops working.
Want the bigger picture first? See how Lock Status works.