Tether is a pair of apps: one for your Mac, and one for your iPhone. In tandem they offer a hassle-free solution that secures your Mac automatically, as soon as you move away from it. Perfect for office work and studio environments, studying on campus or even keeping your Mac safe from prying eyes at home.
If you use a Mac and own an iPhone, absolutely! Here are some of the hassle-free benefits we identified from using Tether.
You have your iPhone with you all the time. So why not utilise this typical behaviour to automatically ensure your Mac's digital files and private data are kept safe whenever you’re called away.
As soon as you return, Tether will automatically enter your password and unlock your Mac allowing you to continue from where you left off. No password entry, just rock on up and you're in!
Bluetooth Low Energy allows Tether to seamlessly link your iPhone and Mac whilst drawing very little power. Which means you don’t have to worry about Tether draining your iPhone’s battery.
Tether is a pair of apps: one for your Mac, and one for your iPhone. Both apps are totally free to download and use, simply grab each one separately from the device links below. All we ask is that you help us spread the word by sharing Tether with your colleagues and friends.
We've answered some popular questions below, that may help you get going with Tether.
Tether is compatible with Macs that are equipped with Bluetooth 4.0 (BT LE). If your Mac is one of the following then chances are Tether will work!
Tether app for Mac currently supports OS X Yosemite 10.10.1 or newer.
Tether app for iPhone requires iOS 8.0 or newer on a model 6, 6 Plus, 5S, 5C, 5 or 4S.
We recommend you unlink the lost or stolen iPhone from Tether on your Mac. This will cancel the iPhone's link and ability to unlock your Mac.
Simply click the Tether icon in your Mac status bar and select Unlink iPhone from the menu.
Sounds like Gatekeeper on your Mac is blocking the install and launch of apps which are not downloaded directly from the Mac App store.
You can either change this in your Security & Privacy preferences, or we recommend you simply bypass it by Right-clicking or Control-clicking the Tether app icon and choosing Open, followed by a confirming option.
Follow these steps on your Mac:
Nothing, other than use it to unlock your Mac for you automatically! We securely save your password to the Mac OS X Keychain which is Apple’s preferred method of storing sensitive data.
The Tether App doesn’t interact with any other Apps on your Mac, nor does it send any information over the internet, and your password is never shared over wifi or bluetooth either so you can rest assured that your password is kept safe.
Click the Tether icon in your Mac status bar and select Update password from the menu. Then enter your new password so Tether can continue to unlock your Mac for you automatically.
Your Mac prevents applications from running when you log out of it. While Tether is unable to run, your iPhone can't connect or attempt to unlock your Mac.
Normally, restarting Bluetooth on your Mac or iPhone solves a lot of the communication issues, but if you have a particular issue with Tether that you can’t resolve then please get in touch with us via Twitter or Facebook and we’ll try to help.
We're FiaFo, a UK based digital innovation studio. While we were working R&D for our Bluetooth Smart projects, we uncovered this cool feature and started trialling it amongst ourselves at home and in the office. We had some spare time just before Xmas 2014 and decided to make our internal tool available for others to use.
Now that Tether is production ready, we've plans to explore bigger ideas. So stay tuned for additional features to be added this year (2015). In the meantime, please let us know how you get on using Tether ~ the wireless leash to your Mac.
Please let us know how you're getting on using Tether. Your feedback, good or bad will help us plan how it can improve and develop. You can reach us on Twitter or by posting on the Tether Facebook page. Cheers!