Security
Two-factor authentication and App Lock — the PIN gate that keeps a signed-in Fokus private.
Security holds two independent things: two-factor authentication, which protects signing in, and App Lock, which protects a session that is already signed in.
App Lock
App Lock puts a 4-digit PIN in front of Fokus on a device you're already signed into. It's for the laptop you leave on a desk and the phone you hand to someone — not a replacement for your password.
Turn it on under Settings → Security on web and desktop, or Account → Security → App Lock on mobile. You'll choose a PIN, then pick how long Fokus waits before locking itself:
- After 1, 5, 15, or 30 minutes of inactivity. On desktop that's idle time; on mobile it's time spent away from the app.
- Fokus also locks immediately when your computer sleeps or its screen locks, and Lock now locks on demand.
- A locked app always starts locked — relaunching or reloading won't get you past it.
Your PIN stays on the device
App Lock is split in two:
- On/off and the timeout belong to your account. Turn App Lock on from your laptop and your phone knows about it too.
- The PIN belongs to the device. It never leaves it, so every device gets its own — and a device that doesn't have one yet asks you to set one the next time you sign in. Until you do, that device isn't locked.
That's also why two accounts can share a device safely: each keeps its own PIN, and switching between them leaves the other's untouched.
Signing out keeps your App Lock
App Lock survives signing out and survives your session expiring — sign back in and your PIN still works. Fokus won't ask for the PIN straight after you sign in, though: you've just proved who you are with your password. The lock re-arms on the next timeout.
Unlocking with biometrics
If your device supports it, you can unlock with Touch ID on a Mac (desktop app only) or Face ID / fingerprint on mobile, instead of tapping in the PIN. This is a per-device preference — enabling it on your phone doesn't change your Mac. The PIN pad always stays available as the fallback.
Android: strong biometrics only
On Android, Fokus accepts only biometrics the system rates as strong (Class 3) — typically a fingerprint sensor. A camera-only face unlock, the kind a photo can pass, doesn't count. On a phone with nothing stronger enrolled, the biometrics switch isn't offered and the PIN is your way in.
If you forget your PIN
Tap Forgot your PIN? on the lock screen. What happens next depends on the device:
- On mobile, your phone vouches for you. Confirm with Face ID or your fingerprint — or the phone's own passcode — and Fokus asks you to choose a new PIN right there, entered twice. You stay signed in and nothing else changes. Cancel the prompt and the lock screen stays exactly as it was. Only a phone with no passcode and no biometrics at all falls back to signing out.
- On web and desktop, Fokus signs you out — that's the reset. Sign back in and you'll be asked to choose a new PIN for the device; App Lock stays on for your account.
Too many wrong PINs
Five wrong PINs in a row close the PIN pad for a while.
- On web and desktop that's a 30-second cooldown, every time.
- On mobile the wait grows each time it happens: 30 seconds, then 1 minute, 5 minutes, 15 minutes, and an hour from then on. The lock screen counts it down for you. Unlocking — with the right PIN or with biometrics — puts it back to the start.
No way round the wait on mobile
Closing the app, restarting the phone or changing its clock doesn't shorten the wait, and biometric unlock is paused until it's over. Forgot your PIN? keeps working throughout, so a wait is never a dead end if the PIN really is gone.
What App Lock doesn't do
It's a privacy gate, not encryption. It stops someone picking up your unattended device and reading your day; it doesn't protect your data from someone with full access to the device's storage. For that, use your operating system's own disk encryption and screen lock.
On desktop
Everything above applies, with two additions.
The timeout pauses while you're using Fokus outside the main window. The floating timer bar, the meeting caption bar and the Quick Capture window are separate windows, so time spent in them is time spent in Fokus — the countdown waits, and picks up again once they're closed. Your computer sleeping or locking its screen still locks Fokus immediately.
Some things keep working while Fokus is locked. Quick Capture and the focus-session shortcut don't show you anything you've already got, so they stay available — you can capture a thought from another app without unlocking first. The windows that display your content don't: the floating timer bar and the meeting caption bar come down when the lock engages and return when you unlock, and Spotlight waits until you're back in.
On mobile
Everything above applies, with three additions.
Nothing shows around the lock. Fokus blanks its preview in the app switcher while App Lock is armed, and locking closes any open sheets so nothing shows above the lock screen.
A recording or a call is never cut off by the timeout. While you're recording a meeting, recording a voice message for Captain Fokus, or on a voice call with him, the timeout doesn't lock the app — even if you switch to another app for longer than it allows. Once the recording or the call ends, the countdown starts from that moment, so staying away past the timeout after it still locks.
The wait after wrong PINs gets longer, and a forgotten PIN is replaced without signing you out — see above.
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