AppOnChip is another level of protection added to Thales’s industry-leading Sentinel Envelope which wraps an application to provide robust IP protection against unauthorized use, distribution, tampering and reverse engineering. AppOnChip facilitates an inseparable binding of the Sentinel hardware key to the application. This fully automated process presents software vendors with a list of functions from their application that contain code blocks that are compatible with the AppOnChip feature. The protected code blocks, encrypted and signed, can then be loaded and executed on the hardware key itself. This additional security measure makes it the most secure software licensing implementation in the market. Moreover, this AppOnChip feature can be used to protect both 32-bit and 64-bit native binaries (EXE and DLL files).
Features and Benefits:
- Stronger Security – AppOnChip provides stronger protection from unauthorized software use by requiring the token to be present for the application to execute.
- Easy Implementation – The process of binding the software to the hardware key, analyzing which code can be executed on the token and converting code into token-executable form is entirely automated – no engineering efforts are required.
- Maximum Licensing Flexibility – The protected code blocks do not utilize any of the storage space of the hardware key, ensuring that the ISV has maximum memory available for license storage.
- No headaches for legitimate end users – AppOnChip functionality is transparent to the end users’ experience.
- No Operational Burden – No additional requirements to update the keys in the field if a new version of the software is released.
- Increase your operational efficiency, improve your customer satisfaction, gain business insights and capture more revenue opportunities today with our products.

Feature Brief - Sentinel LDK
Learn more about Sentinel LDK, Gemalto's out-of-the-box software protection, licensing, and entitlement management system.
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Sentinel LDK
Award-winning software protection and intuitive entitlement management features all in one out-of-the-box solutions! Leverage hardware or software-based license enforcement techniques to protect your revenue while Sentinel EMS helps you centralize all operational processes associated with licensing!
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Sentinel LDK Protection Types
Sentinel HL
HL Basic
HL Drive microSD
HL Max
HL Max-Chip
HL Max-Board
HL Max-Express Card
HL Max-Micro
HL Net
HL NetTime
HL Pro
HL Time
Sentinel SL
Sentinel LDK Features
Design Philosophy
Award-winning Security
Sentinel EMS for LDK
Sentinel Envelope
Sentinel Insight
LDK Cross-Locking
Sentinel LDK Trialware
Sentinel License Models
Software Activation
AppOnChip
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Protection and Execution
Protection
Once the AppOnChip feature is enabled within Sentinel LDK the unprotected application will get parsed by AppOnChip to analyze all the supported functions. Code blocks from all or several functions, based on ISV selection, get converted to a form that can then be executed on the key. These converted code blocks are encrypted and signed for security.
Execution
When an end user attempts to use the software the execution phase kicks in. The protected software executes normally until it reaches the function protected by the AppOnChip feature of Sentinel LDK. The code flow in the application transfers to the key. AppOnChip dynamically loads and then executes the protected code securely on the key. The results from the executed code are returned back to the application and normal flow continues.

Feature Brief - Sentinel LDK
Learn more about Sentinel LDK, Thales's out-of-the-box software protection, licensing, and entitlement management system.
Download the Feature Brief

Sentinel LDK
Award-winning software protection and intuitive entitlement management features all in one out-of-the-box solutions! Leverage hardware or software-based license enforcement techniques to protect your revenue while Sentinel EMS helps you centralize all operational processes associated with licensing!
Download Your FREE Trial
LEAP Newsletter
LEAP is your essential quarterly guide to software licensing, entitlement, and protection.
Read the Newsletter
AppOnChip support in LDK:
- Windows Only
- Requires Sentinel HL Driverless Keys
- 32-bit Native Binaries only (no support for .NET assemblies)
- 32-bit support for EXE and DLL files
Note: This feature comes at no additional cost for all Sentinel HL Max and higher models.
See all Sentinel LDK Technical Specifications now

Feature Brief - Sentinel LDK
Learn more about Sentinel LDK, Gemalto's out-of-the-box software protection, licensing, and entitlement management system.
Download the Feature Brief

Sentinel LDK
Award-winning software protection and intuitive entitlement management features all in one out-of-the-box solutions! Leverage hardware or software-based license enforcement techniques to protect your revenue while Sentinel EMS helps you centralize all operational processes associated with licensing!
Download Your FREE Trial
LEAP Newsletter
LEAP is your essential quarterly guide to software licensing, entitlement, and protection.
Read the Newsletter