A system and method provide automatic access to applications or data. A portable physical device, referred to herein as a Personal Digital Key or “PDK”, stores one or more profiles in memory. In one embodiment, a biometric profile is acquired in a secure trusted process and uniquely associated with a user that is authorized to use and associated with the PDK. The PDK wirelessly transmits identification information including a unique PDK identification number, and optionally the biometric profile and a profile over a secure wireless channel to a reader. A computing device is coupled to the reader. An auto login server is coupled to the reader and the computing device and launches one or more applications associated with a user name identified by the received profile.