A phone locker alternative with no check-in line.
With LockedIn, students keep their own phones, and the phones lock on campus during school hours. There are no lockers or caddies to install, no line at the door, and no family’s phone in the school’s keeping.
No hardware. Live within a week. Pilots for one grade or one campus.
What’s the alternative to phone lockers at school?
Lockers and caddies work when you have the space, staff for a check-in line twice a day, and families comfortable with the school holding their child’s phone. If any of those is missing, LockedIn keeps the phone with the student instead: the apps your school blocks lock on campus during school hours, students can always call home or 911, and there’s nothing to install at the door. A small school with one entrance may be fine with lockers; across a larger campus, LockedIn is less daily work.
Updated .
Keep the phone with the student. Lock it anyway.
Lockers decide where the phone goes, and make your staff its keeper twice a day. LockedIn leaves the phone where it is and locks it.
Class starts on time
No check-in at the door, no line at dismissal, and no disputes over whose phone is in which slot. Phones lock as students arrive.No phones in your keeping
A wall of lockers full of phones is the school holding family property all day. With LockedIn the phone never leaves its owner, so nothing is lost or broken in storage.A full slot isn’t compliance
A slot can’t tell a dummy phone from a real one. LockedIn runs on the student’s registered phone and flags a decoy phone until you approve it.Hallways and lunch count too
Lockers protect the classroom and stop at its door. LockedIn applies anywhere on campus during the hours you set, including lunch and passing periods unless you mark them as free.
LockedIn and phone lockers, side by side.
The questions a principal, a business office and a risk manager each ask.
| Question | LockedIn | Lockers and caddies |
|---|---|---|
| Who enforces it | The phone, with alerts to a dean | Staff at the door, twice a day |
| Class time | Phones lock as students arrive | Check-in and check-out take the first and last minutes |
| A decoy phone | Flagged until you approve it | A dummy phone fills the slot unnoticed |
| Outside the classroom | Anywhere on campus, during the hours you set | Hallways, lunch and restrooms aren’t covered |
| Liability | The phone stays with its owner | The school holds family phones all day |
| In an emergency | Students have their phones, and one tap unlocks every one on campus | Phones are in a locker, away from students |
| What it collects | Whether the phone is on campus and locked, during school hours. Never messages, photos or browsing. | Nothing |
| What you pay for | A per-student license, quoted for your enrollment | Lockers or caddies, installation, and more when enrollment grows |
Who enforces it
- LockedIn
- The phone, with alerts to a dean
- Lockers and caddies
- Staff at the door, twice a day
Class time
- LockedIn
- Phones lock as students arrive
- Lockers and caddies
- Check-in and check-out take the first and last minutes
A decoy phone
- LockedIn
- Flagged until you approve it
- Lockers and caddies
- A dummy phone fills the slot unnoticed
Outside the classroom
- LockedIn
- Anywhere on campus, during the hours you set
- Lockers and caddies
- Hallways, lunch and restrooms aren’t covered
Liability
- LockedIn
- The phone stays with its owner
- Lockers and caddies
- The school holds family phones all day
In an emergency
- LockedIn
- Students have their phones, and one tap unlocks every one on campus
- Lockers and caddies
- Phones are in a locker, away from students
What it collects
- LockedIn
- Whether the phone is on campus and locked, during school hours. Never messages, photos or browsing.
- Lockers and caddies
- Nothing
What you pay for
- LockedIn
- A per-student license, quoted for your enrollment
- Lockers and caddies
- Lockers or caddies, installation, and more when enrollment grows
Students will test it. Your dean will know.
Every phone policy gets tested in its first week. These are the workarounds schools ask us about most, and what the dashboard shows when a student tries one.
Signing in on a decoy phone
Dashboard alert: Fake DeviceA phone flagged as a decoy doesn’t count as the student’s until you approve it. Until then, the dashboard marks it.
Deleting the app
Dashboard alert: Possible UninstallA phone that stops checking in for about two school days is flagged as a possible uninstall. A confirmed removal shows up as App Uninstalled.
Never installing it
Dashboard alert: Never InstalledA student on your roster without the app gets a reminder email every school day. From your launch date, each school day without it is filed as a violation.
Faking or switching off location
Dashboard alert: Location IssuesTurning off the app’s location access is flagged as Location Issues, and so is an iPhone with Location Services off. On Android, a faked GPS position is flagged as Mock Location.
Each flag carries the student’s name, so the follow-up is a conversation with facts in it.
Questions schools ask us.
Yes. LockedIn enforces the policy your board adopts: which hours, which apps stay available, and what happens after a violation. It doesn’t write the policy for you, though our free policy generator can start one. Start a policy
Students can always call home or 911. At most schools the Phone app is never locked; at schools that use Guided Access or screen pinning, a student can step out of LockedIn at any time, and the dean sees that they did. In an emergency, one tap on the dashboard unlocks every phone on campus, and each phone shows two buttons: I’m safe, or I need help. Phones lock again when the emergency ends.
Yes. LockedIn applies wherever a student is inside your campus boundary during the hours you set, not room by room. If lunch or a passing period should be phone-free, it is; mark it as a free period and phones unlock for it.
Device-management (MDM) software is built for devices the school owns, like laptops and Chromebooks. LockedIn is for the phones families own: students install an app and sign in, and no management profile goes on the phone. MDM vs. app-based phone solutions
Further reading
- Phone-free school solutions for 2026, comparedHow app-based locking compares with pouches, lockers, and honor policies for schools.
- Superintendent’s guide to going phone-free district-wideBoard case, phased rollout and success metrics for a district-wide standard.
- Cell phone policy template for schoolsThe sections a policy needs, including practices, games and field trips.
- Phone-free school laws by stateWhat your state requires during the school day, with links to the statute or order.
- California’s phone-free school law (AB 3216)What the Phone-Free School Act asks of districts, with a link to the bill.
- Yondr pouch cost: is it worth it?What a pouch program costs per student, before replacements and staff time.
Yondr alternativePhone-free campusSchool phone policyAll guides