Lockup began in my dorm bedroom as part of a weekly meetup that Cillian, Carlos, and I called "Coding Thursdays", where we tried to build a full product in one night and ship it. Lockup took longer. We are still working on it three months later.
Lockup is an iOS and Android app that gives schools a way to regulate phone use. When students arrive, they check in and their apps lock. Phones unlock automatically at the end of the day. Teachers can monitor compliance, grant temporary breaks, and permanently unlock devices when needed.
Much of our approach is proprietary, and the space is competitive, so I cannot go into too much detail. Most of our development happened at the Alpine Valley accelerator in Austria, which we joined in summer 2026. We are an AI-native company and, as a small team, we use AI agents heavily during testing to keep the experience smooth for customers.
Lockup is due to roll out to over 400 students across two Irish schools next term. If any of the above interests you, please get in touch.
