Café guard
Turn it on before you step away from your Mac in a café or library. If someone picks the Mac up, the screen locks and an alert sounds at full volume. Turn it off when you're back.
How it works
- It can't tell who is lifting the Mac, so it also locks when you pick it up yourself. Keep it turned off while you're using your Mac.
- The screen locks first, then the alert plays on the lock screen.
- It runs once per pick-up, not continuously while the Mac is carried. If the Mac is set down and picked up again more than 10 seconds later, the alert sounds again.
- It sets the volume to 100% before the alert plays, and the volume stays at 100% afterwards.
- Setting the volume doesn't unmute your Mac. While sound is muted, the alert is silent.
- The alert plays on the current output device. If headphones or a Bluetooth speaker are connected, you'll hear it there, not from the MacBook.
- Requires
- A MacBook with an accelerometer: M1 Pro, or M2 and later
- Permissions
- None
- Tested on
- macOS 27.0.1
- Last tested
- October 6, 2026
- ChassisWatch version
- 1.2.0 or later
When
The Mac is picked up
RunsAny day, any time
Cooldown10 seconds between runs
Then
Lock the screen
Set the volume to 100%
Play the sound "Error"
The automation is added in a disabled state, and permissions are requested only when necessary (during testing or execution).
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