LockedIn vs NIX: Phone Left at Home vs Phone Locked on Campus (2026)

NIX takes a different route from both pouches and lock apps: the phone isn’t supposed to come into school at all. Students leave it at home or in the car, staff scan each student’s ID badge at the door with the NIX app, and the NIX app on the student’s phone confirms through a campus geofence that the phone isn’t with them. NIX doesn’t lock or block anything on the phone. LockedIn assumes the phone comes to school, and locks the apps the school blocks while it is on campus during school hours.

How NIX works

From NIX’s own how-it-works, pricing and FAQ pages:

• • A scan at the door. Staff signed in to the NIX app scan the barcode on the student ID at each entrance. There are no pouches or new hardware.
• • A geofence check. The student’s NIX app, with background location allowed, checks whether the phone is inside the campus boundary from 45 minutes before the school day to 30 minutes after. NIX keeps that answer and one latest reading, with no location history. A phone that comes onto campus during the day is flagged for administrators, unless it is in a phone zone the school marks for students such as bus riders.
• • Rewarded events. Schools can run phone-free games and dances where students earn a reward the school chooses. During an event window, 90 minutes before to 30 minutes after, the check runs wherever the phone is.
• • A console shows who scanned in, who was absent or late, and how many arrived phone-free.
• • Who and how much. The school day is for high schools (grades 9–12). Pricing is one subscription per school per year, sized by enrollment and quoted, with no setup fees; NIX says setup takes about an hour.

How LockedIn works

• • The phone comes to school and the blocked apps lock. At Screen Time schools the blocked apps lock when the phone is on campus during school hours and unlock after the last bell; at Guided Access schools the student starts the lock each morning with a triple-click on iPhone, or screen pinning on Android.
• • Calls home and 911 always work, and apps the school allows keep working.
• • Workarounds are flagged by student name: a new or second device until an administrator approves it, a phone that may have deleted the app, a faked or switched-off location, time in blocked apps, and a student who never installed the app.
• • Emergency Mode unlocks every phone on campus with one tap, and each student answers “I’m safe” or “I need help” on a live map.

The differences that matter

• • Where the phone is. NIX works when students can leave the phone at home or in the car, and its phone zone covers students who can’t. LockedIn works when the phone is in the student’s pocket, which is where it is at most schools.
• • When a phone shows up anyway. NIX flags it for administrators and the phone stays fully usable; what happens next is the school’s policy. LockedIn locks the apps the school blocks, so the phone in the pocket can’t open them.
• • Staff time each morning. NIX needs someone scanning IDs at each entrance every school day. A LockedIn Screen Time school has no daily routine; at a Guided Access school students lock in themselves.
• • Emergencies. Under NIX the phone is usually not with the student, so emergencies run on the school’s existing procedures. With LockedIn the phone is there, calls are open, and Emergency Mode adds a roll call.
• • Location. Both check only whether the phone is inside the campus during school hours, and neither keeps a location history. NIX’s event windows also check the phone wherever it is, including at home. LockedIn collects no location after school hours unless an administrator turns on Emergency Mode.
• • Rewards. NIX rewards students for phone-free events, which LockedIn doesn’t do.
• • Grades and price. NIX’s school day is for high schools and is priced per school; LockedIn is for K-12 and is quoted per student, per year. Neither publishes a list price; see LockedIn pricing.

Which one fits your school

NIX fits a high school whose policy is that phones stay home, with staff at the doors every morning, and that likes rewarding phone-free events. LockedIn fits a school where students will bring their phones regardless, that wants the blocked apps locked rather than a phone flagged, and that wants calls home available all day.

See also

• • LockedIn vs Yondr: the pouch program both NIX and LockedIn are compared with
• • LockedIn vs Pocket Points: another rewards-based approach
• • Phone pouches vs phone apps: the broader category overview

More LockedIn vs competitor comparisons

Searching for a phone-free school, school phone management, or K-12 phone ban alternative? Each guide below targets the competitor by name so you can compare LockedIn to the product families administrators evaluate alongside district policy.

• → LockedIn vs Bark for Schools — content monitoring vs OS phone lock
• → LockedIn vs Brick — Brick phone / Brick Mode vs district enforcement
• → LockedIn vs CLocked — classroom launcher vs OS phone lock
• → LockedIn vs Doorman — classroom tap-in vs campus-wide phone lock
• → LockedIn vs GoGuardian — Chromebook filters vs student phone lock
• → LockedIn vs LanSchool — classroom management vs campus phone lock
• → LockedIn vs Mobile Guardian — MDM vs BYOD student phones
• → LockedIn vs NutKase Phone Pouches — Velcro pouch vs OS lock
• → LockedIn vs Off The Device — airplane mode nudges vs OS lock
• → LockedIn vs Phone-Free School App — manual School Mode vs geofenced lock
• → LockedIn vs Pinwheel — kid-safe phones vs lock any student phone
• → LockedIn vs Pocket Points — rewards app vs mandatory enforcement
• → LockedIn vs Securly — web filter vs OS-level student phone lock
• → LockedIn vs Taplock — geofenced app limits vs OS phone lock
• → LockedIn vs The Commons App — distraction-free app vs OS phone lock
• → LockedIn vs TRUCE Family — MDM app block vs OS lock (no MDM)