diff --git a/R/iSEEindex.R b/R/iSEEindex.R
index 6640086..2e95039 100644
--- a/R/iSEEindex.R
+++ b/R/iSEEindex.R
@@ -69,21 +69,23 @@ iSEElogin <- function(app.title = NULL) {
 #' @author Kevin Rue-Albrecht
 #'
 #' @importFrom utils capture.output
-#' @importFrom shiny incProgress markdown modalDialog p showModal
-#' showNotification withProgress
+#' @importFrom shiny incProgress showNotification withProgress
 #' @importFrom shinyjs enable
 #'
 #' @rdname INTERNAL_launch_isee
-.launch_isee <- function(FUN, session, pObjects) {
+.launch_isee <- function(FUN, session, pObjects, username, password) {
   # nocov start
+  initial <- NULL # TODO
+  tour <- NULL # TODO
   withProgress(message = sprintf("Logging in ..."),
-    value = 0, max = 2, {
+    value = 0, max = 3, {
       incProgress(1, detail = "Verifying credentials")
       Sys.sleep(2)
-      se2 <- try(iseelogin) # TODO
-      if (is(se2, "try-error")) {
+      if (!.authenticate(username, password)) {
         showNotification("Login failed.", type="error")
       } else {
+        incProgress(1, detail = "Loading data set")
+        se2 <- SummarizedExperiment() # TODO: load desired data set (or another landing page like iSEEindex)
         incProgress(1, detail = "Launching iSEE app")
         FUN(SE=se2, INITIAL=initial, TOUR=tour)
         shinyjs::enable(iSEE:::.generalOrganizePanels) # organize panels
diff --git a/R/observers.R b/R/observers.R
index f2aafa2..427dc04 100644
--- a/R/observers.R
+++ b/R/observers.R
@@ -21,8 +21,8 @@
 #'
 #' @rdname INTERNAL_create_observers
 .create_observers <- function(input, session, pObjects, rObjects) {
-
-    invisible(NULL)
+  
+  invisible(NULL)
 }
 
 #' @param FUN A function to initialize the \pkg{iSEE} observer
@@ -32,12 +32,14 @@
 #'
 #' @rdname INTERNAL_create_observers
 .create_launch_observers <- function(FUN, input, session, pObjects) {
-
-    # nocov start
-    observeEvent(input[[.ui_login_submit]], {
-        .launch_isee(FUN, session, pObjects)
-    }, ignoreNULL=TRUE, ignoreInit=TRUE)
-    # nocov end
-
-    invisible(NULL)
+  
+  # nocov start
+  observeEvent(input[[.ui_login_submit]], {
+    username <- input[[.ui_login_username]]
+    password <- input[[.ui_login_password]]
+    .launch_isee(FUN, session, pObjects, username, password)
+  }, ignoreNULL=TRUE, ignoreInit=TRUE)
+  # nocov end
+  
+  invisible(NULL)
 }
diff --git a/R/utils-authenticate.R b/R/utils-authenticate.R
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f95d3f9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/R/utils-authenticate.R
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+.authenticate <- function(username, password) {
+  authorised_file <- system.file(package = "iSEElogin", "authorized")
+  authorised_info <- read.table(authorised_file, col.names = c("username", "password"))
+  any(
+    username == authorised_info$username &
+      digest(password, "sha512") == authorised_info$password
+  )
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/inst/authorized b/inst/authorized
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8075391
--- /dev/null
+++ b/inst/authorized
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+testuser  88d89fa7e0441e6118d3769140efb8d23ae897920d4dcb8cb4d48e8e3a96ace3e10245eb99eac499a33498d8a232fd1f45a1627c3937c9bcca5b5072936cb22d
+wronguser nevergonnamatch