Phone lockers vs phone pouches: which suits your school?
Once a school decides phones must be away for the day, the next question is where they go. Here’s an honest comparison of phones in bags, lockers or office collection, and lockable pouches.
Side by side
| Phones in bags | Lockers or office collection | Lockable pouches | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upfront cost | None | Lockers, cabinets or storage | Pouches plus a few unlocking stations and tools |
| Space needed | None | Wall or room space | None: students carry the pouch |
| Daily staff time | Reminders every lesson | Collecting and returning phones | A quick lock at the start of the day |
| Start and end of day | No change | Queues to hand in and collect | Students tap to unlock as they leave |
| Who holds the phone | The student | The school | The student, locked |
| Consistency | Depends on each teacher | High | High: one visible routine |
| Hotspotting | Not addressed | Addressed while phones are stored away from students | Addressed with Signal Blocking pouches |
| Approved access | Easy | Needs a process | Access pouches for approved students |
When lockers or office collection make sense
Collection can suit smaller schools, campuses with existing secure storage, or year levels where only a few students bring phones. Plan for the time it takes to collect and return phones each day, and for the school’s responsibility for devices it is storing.
When pouches make sense
Pouches suit schools that want students to keep their own phone, avoid daily collection and give every teacher the same simple routine. They don’t need storage space and scale easily from one year level to the whole school.
What a pouch rollout needs: an example
For a secondary school of 500 students using PhoneLock:
| Item | Quantity |
|---|---|
| PhoneLock Secure pouches | 500 |
| Wall mounted unlocking stations | 4 |
| Portable release tools | 10 |
That’s a one off purchase with no subscription, and shipping is free on orders over $300. Adjust the number of stations to suit your exits, and add PhoneLock Access pouches for students with approved arrangements. Add these to your quote list to see the total for your school.
See PhoneLock pouches Request the sample pack
Questions
Are phone pouches cheaper than lockers?
It depends on your school, but pouches need no storage space or installation, and PhoneLock is a one off purchase with no subscription. Add pouches, stations and tools to a quote list to see the total for your school.
Who is responsible for the phone with pouches?
The student keeps their phone in a locked pouch, so the school isn’t storing devices.
How do students get their phone back at the end of the day?
They tap the pouch on a wall mounted unlocking station as they leave, or a staff member opens it with a release tool.
Try it before you roll it out
Request free samples of our cases and headphones, or the PhoneLock Sample Pack, or call us to talk through your rollout.