How Can an App Lock a Phone at School?

There is no device-management (MDM) profile and no admin control of the phone. The school never takes control of it.

The short answer

• On iPhone, LockedIn uses Apple's Screen Time framework (the Screen Time API, also called Family Controls). It is Apple's official, permission-based way for an app to restrict other apps. The student approves Apple's prompt with their own passcode or Face ID.
• On Android, LockedIn uses an Accessibility setting the student turns on. It sees only which app is open, on the phone itself, so LockedIn can cover blocked apps with its lock screen. It never reads the screen, messages or what the student types.
• At some schools, students lock in themselves each morning with Guided Access on iPhone or screen pinning on Android. Both are built into the phone.
• After the school day, the phone is the student's again. At most schools LockedIn then takes no location reading and sends nothing about where the phone is. A declared emergency is the exception.

How it works on iPhone

Apple added the Screen Time API so apps can restrict other apps without controlling the whole device. The phone has to approve it: Apple shows its own prompt, and the student confirms with their passcode or Face ID. The iPhone needs iOS 16.2 or later and a passcode or Face ID set up.

Once it is on:

1. The school sets its campus boundary and school hours.
2. At most schools, when the phone is on campus during school hours, the app categories the school limits lock on their own. There's nothing to tap each day.
3. After school, they unlock on their own.

Apple keeps the details on the phone. The per-app selections a student makes (Apple calls them app tokens) never leave the phone, and LockedIn doesn't collect which apps a student has or opens. What LockedIn receives is coarse: whether the permission is on, whether the lock is applied, and, at schools that give a daily allowance for a category like games, a rough level such as "almost used up".

If a parent manages the iPhone with Screen Time through Family Sharing, setup may ask the parent to change a setting on their own iPhone. The app shows the exact steps. What each permission is for is in the help center.

How it works on Android

On Android, LockedIn uses standard Android settings, each switched on by the student in Settings:

• Accessibility (app blocking). LockedIn uses it only to see which app is open, on the phone itself, so it can cover blocked apps with the lock screen. It never reads the screen, messages or what the student types.
• Usage Access, only if the school asks for it. Only at schools that give a daily time allowance for some apps, like games. It counts that time on the phone. Exact minutes stay on the phone, and the school sees only rough levels.
• Notifications and Do Not Disturb. During the lock, LockedIn can clear notifications from blocked apps and keep the phone quiet, so they don't pull students back in. It doesn't keep or upload notification content.

The phone needs Android 10 or later. LockedIn is not a device administrator on the phone and installs no management profile.

Schools that lock in each morning: Guided Access and screen pinning

Some schools use a simpler setup. The student opens LockedIn when they arrive and starts the morning lock: a triple-click for Guided Access on iPhone, or screen pinning on Android. While it's on, the phone stays in LockedIn. The student can step out at any time, for example to make a call, and the school sees that they did. At these schools, the school can also require Bluetooth off and school Wi-Fi before a student locks in.

What the school controls

From its dashboard, the school sets:

• The campus boundary. Phones lock only inside it.
• School hours and the bell schedule.
• Which kinds of apps are limited. Apps the school allows keep working.
• 504 plans. At most schools, a student on a 504 plan has only social media, games and entertainment blocked, so a glucose monitor or another medical app keeps working. At Guided Access schools, the school exempts the student from one rule instead, such as keeping Bluetooth on for a hearing aid.
• Whether a new or second phone counts as the student's phone.
• Emergency Mode.

The dashboard flags workarounds by student name: a student who never installs the app, a phone that looks uninstalled, a faked location on Android, a second device, a required setting switched off, or time measured in apps that should be blocked.

What the school cannot see

In normal use, LockedIn knows two things: is the phone on campus, and is it locked. It never collects:

• Texts, calls or call logs
• The photo library or microphone audio
• Browsing or searches
• Social media
• Contacts, calendars or files
• Which apps a student opens

The phone checks its own location against the campus boundary and sends the answer. That answer is on campus or not, how far the reading was from the boundary (capped at 500 meters outside, so it cannot say where the student went), how accurate the reading was, and, when the phone arrives or leaves, when that crossing happened. On that check the coordinates stay on the phone, and the server stores no latitude or longitude. Activity records are deleted after 90 days, and LockedIn does not sell personal information. Full details are in the privacy policy and on the security page. Families can read the guide for parents and the parent FAQ.

What happens outside school hours

When the school day ends, the phone is the student's again. At most schools it unlocks on its own. At Guided Access and screen pinning schools, the student unlocks it the same way they locked in, and nobody is notified. After the last bell, and on a day with no school, LockedIn takes no location reading and sends nothing about where the phone is. If the phone's system notices a boundary crossing anyway, LockedIn does not send it. Before the first bell, from early morning (3:00 AM unless the school set a different start), the phone still checks and sends that same on-campus answer, so an early arrival is known by the start of school. On iPhone, while the app is open, that early check runs about once every five minutes instead of every 30 seconds. A boarding school, or a school that keeps campus status overnight, still receives the on-campus answer after hours, still with no coordinates. A declared emergency is separate: the phone checks again, and coordinates can leave the phone then.

Calls home and 911

Students can always call home or 911. At most schools the Phone app is never locked. At Guided Access and screen pinning schools, a student can step out of LockedIn at any time to make a call.

Emergency Mode: every phone at once

In a lockdown, evacuation, shelter in place or medical emergency, an administrator picks the type, adds a message, and one tap starts Emergency Mode on every phone on campus and shows it. Students can call 911 and family, and the school decides whether texting opens too. Every student answers "I'm safe" or "I need help". A help request goes straight to school staff, who can chat with the student, and a live map shows who has answered.

While Emergency Mode is on, a phone the app places on campus sends its coordinates, and the school sees them. A phone the app places off campus sends only that it is off campus, with no coordinates. On iPhone, a student who taps I need help also sends the phone's coordinates with that request, including from off campus. The Android help request does not send coordinates. Those coordinates are stored only for the emergency and erased when it ends. Every access is logged. Phones lock again when the emergency ends. Emergency Mode does not replace 911.

Schools comparing approaches can read the student phone management software guide and phone pouches versus phone apps.

Questions? Contact us.