A low power can for device wake up and unlock is disclosed. The low power scan can include one or more algorithms used to detect a sequence and/or one or more gestures to wake up a processor and unlock the device for user interaction. A sequence and/or one or more gestures can be determined by a microcontroller and/or by a separate hardware component. The microcontroller can send a notification or a wake signal to the processor and/or switch the device from an idle to an active state. By detecting a sequence and one or more gestures in the microcontroller before powering on or waking up the processor, the amount of power consumed can be reduced and the battery life extended.