Your school uses LockedIn. Here’s exactly what that means.
LockedIn keeps phones locked during the hours your school sets, so class is phone-free. It’s free for families, it can’t see what’s on your child’s phone, and your child can always call you or 911.
Have questions about LockedIn?
A school day, from your child’s side
Before school
The phone works normally
LockedIn only matters on campus, during the hours your school sets.
Arriving
The lock starts
Once the phone is on campus during school hours, the apps your school blocks lock by themselves at most schools. At schools that use Guided Access, LockedIn reminds your child to lock in.
During the day
Distractions stay locked
The apps your school blocks stay locked. If the lock is switched off or your child steps out early, the school sees it, and what happens next is up to the school.
After the bell
The phone is theirs again
When the school day ends, the phone is your child’s again, and LockedIn collects no location after school.
Set it up once. After that, there’s almost nothing to do.
This part is for students. Parents, it’s what your child will see.
- 01
Download LockedIn and sign in with your school email
Or open lockedinapp.co/download on the phone.
- 02
Turn on what your school needs
Location, set to Always, so the phone notices when it gets to campus. Notifications, so LockedIn can tell you if a setting needs fixing. On iPhone, Screen Time or Guided Access, depending on your school. The app walks you through only the steps your school needs. Step-by-step help
- 03
Go to school
At most schools, the apps your school blocks lock on their own when you get to campus and unlock when the school day ends, with nothing to tap. If your school uses Guided Access, you lock in when you arrive: a triple-click of the side button, or a tap on Android.
Every step, with troubleshooting: read the family setup guide
What LockedIn can see, and what it never can.
LockedIn needs to know one thing: whether a phone is locked while its owner is at school. Everything it collects serves that.
What your school’s dashboard shows
- Your child’s name, school email and the phone they registered
- When the phone locked in and unlocked during school hours
- On campus or off campus during school hours, never a spot on a map
- Whether the permissions LockedIn needs are switched on
- Signs the lock was dodged, like a deleted app, a second phone or a faked location
What LockedIn never collects
- Texts, calls or call history
- The photo library or microphone audio
- Browsing history or searches
- Social media accounts or activity
- Contacts, calendars, notes or files
- Which apps your child has or opens
- Anything your child types
- Location after school, or a trail of where they went
- One exception: a declared emergency
- While your school’s Emergency Mode is on, the app shares the location of students on campus, and of any student who asks for help, with school staff. It stops when the emergency ends, and every access is logged.
- No control of the phone
- There’s no device-management profile, so the school never takes control of your child’s phone.
- Deleted on a schedule
- Activity records are deleted automatically after 90 days.
Can my child reach me? Always.
Calls to you and to 911 always work
Depending on how your school set LockedIn up, the Phone app stays available, or your child can step out of LockedIn at any time. The school just sees that they did.
In an emergency, every phone unlocks
Your school can unlock every phone on campus with one tap. Your child’s phone then shows two buttons: I’m safe, or I need help. A help request goes straight to school staff with where your child is, and they can chat. Phones lock again when the emergency ends.
Everyday messages go through the front office
The way they always have. Your school decides whether students can text during the day.
Your family’s data, your call.
Ask your school’s administrator, or write to privacy@lockedinapp.co.
- See what we hold
- Ask for a copy of your child’s data. We answer within 45 days, sooner where state law says so.
- Fix it
- Ask us to correct anything that’s wrong.
- Delete it
- Ask us to delete your child’s data at any time.
The questions families ask us most.
Yes. Your child can always call you or 911. Depending on how your school set LockedIn up, the Phone app stays available, or your child can step out of LockedIn at any time; the school just sees that they did. For everyday messages, the front office works the way it always has.
Your school can unlock every phone on campus with one tap from its dashboard, and phones lock again when the emergency ends. Every phone shows two buttons: I’m safe, or I need help. A help request goes straight to school staff, and they can chat with your child. While Emergency Mode is on, the app shares the location of students who are on campus, and of any student who asks for help, with school staff so they can account for everyone. That location is erased when the emergency ends, and every access is logged.
No. During school hours the phone checks for itself whether it is inside the campus boundary, and LockedIn keeps only on campus or off campus and roughly how far from the line, never coordinates or a trail of where your child went. It collects no location after school. The one exception is an emergency your school declares.
No. LockedIn never collects texts, calls or call logs, the photo library or microphone audio, browsing or searches, social media, contacts or files, or which apps your child opens.
No. Once the school day ends, the phone is your child’s again. At most schools it unlocks on its own; at others your child unlocks it the same way they locked in, and nobody is notified.
Yes. Students install the app on their own phone and sign in with their school email. There is no device-management profile, so the school never takes control of the phone.
It uses some battery during school hours, because it checks in to confirm the phone is locked. Keeping the app updated helps. If the drain looks unusual, tell your school’s LockedIn contact so we can look into it.
No. Your school pays for LockedIn, and the app will never ask a student or parent for payment details.
Talk to your school. At most schools it can put your child on a 504 plan in LockedIn, which blocks only social media, games and entertainment, so a glucose monitor or another medical app keeps working. At schools that use Guided Access, it can exempt your child from a single rule instead, such as keeping Bluetooth on for a glucose monitor or hearing aid.
Research says it can. A London School of Economics study found phone bans improved test scores by 6.4% of a standard deviation, about five extra days of school a year, with the biggest gains among the lowest-performing students. Research from the University of Texas at Austin found the mere presence of a phone reduces available cognitive capacity, and a Norwegian study found smartphone bans reduced bullying.
Start with your school: it sets the hours, the rules and the consequences. For a technical problem, write to support@lockedinapp.co. For a question about your child’s data, write to privacy@lockedinapp.co.
Stuck on setup?
Your school’s LockedIn contact can help, and so can the step-by-step guides. Something not working? Tell us directly. We read every message.