An optical finger navigation system with object detection is provided for preventing cursor movement if a user's finger has been lifted from the navigation surface. The optical finger navigation system may include a light source, an image sensor and an object detection engine. The object detection engine may be operatively coupled with the image sensor and the light source to selectively report motion data upon determining the presence of an object by comparing a scaled-up pixel value with a threshold value. The lift detection engine may be incorporated in a microcontroller, wherein the microcontroller may be added to a navigation system to provide an additional object detection feature.