Mate Smart Lock automatically locks and unlocks your Linux screen when your smartphone moves away. A modern, lightweight alternative to BlueProximity with no heavy dependencies.
Mate Smart Lock
Automatically lock and unlock your Linux screen using your smartphone as a proximity key.
I have been using Ubuntu MATE as my primary desktop for years. At some point, I looked for an app that would automatically lock the screen when I walk away from the computer, using my smartphone’s Bluetooth as a “proximity key.” Simple concept: if the phone is near, the screen is unlocked. If I walk away, it locks itself.
The only project that did this was called BlueProximity: abandoned for over a decade, incompatible with Python 3, and practically unusable on modern systems. No working alternative existed for the MATE desktop.
Finding nothing usable, I decided to build it from scratch. Mate Smart Lock is the result: a lightweight, modern, configurable GTK3 app that uses standard Linux tools (bluetoothctl, loginctl) without heavy dependencies or additional services.
Features
🔒 Auto-locks itself
When you leave home or step away from your desk, your phone disconnects and your screen locks. You don’t have to do anything.
🔓 Unlocks when you return
Come back, your phone reconnects, and your computer is already unlocked waiting for you. Optional, requires a small system configuration.
⏱ No false alarms
Bluetooth sometimes loses signal for a second – it happens. You can set a tolerance margin before the screen actually locks.
🖥 Always a click away
A system tray icon gives you quick access to settings and lets you lock or unlock manually with a single click.
⚙️ Your way
You are not forced to use the default commands. From the Advanced tab, you can replace them with any script or command you need.
🪶 Truly lightweight
No daemons installed, no network ports opened, no RAM wasted. It only uses tools already present on your system.
Screenshots
Installation
⚡ Snap Store (recommended)
Available on the Snap Store. Automatic updates included.
sudo snap install mate-smart-lock📦 Debian / Ubuntu (.deb)
Download the .deb package from the GitHub releases page and install it with:
sudo dpkg -i mate-smart-lock_0.1.0_all.deb
sudo apt-get install -fPrivacy & Security
No accounts, no internet connection, no data sent anywhere. The app runs entirely on your computer, only talks to Bluetooth and the session manager. Your settings stay in a local file – that’s it.
Open Source
The code is open, free, and on GitHub. Feel free to explore, contribute, or just see how it works.
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