A new app is motivating students to secure their cellphones during class and they get rewarded for doing so. The app, Pocket Points (available on Apple iOS 9.0 or later and Android Jelly Bean 4.1 or later), rewards students 15 points when it it downloaded, then one point every 20 minutes their phone stays locked during the school day.

These points accumulate over the school week, and can go toward some pretty awesome rewards. There are food discounts available for local restaurants and even online deals for clothes! I downloaded this app on Tuesday and immediately started to rack up points.

I am a very competitive person, so everything has to be a competition. The Pocket Points app has a school leaderboard and shows you who has earned the most points at your school that day and in total as well. For me, this is a huge motivation to put my phone away in class. This app really encourages and enforces City High’s new “secure your phone’s” policy. 

I know that many teachers do not send phones to “phone jail” that often, so people do not really feel the need the actually follow the new policy. With this app, I have noticed a lot more people actually securing their cellphones and being more attentive during class. The only thing that I would change about this app is the fact that you have to have the app open for it to count. I often forget about that so half of the school day, I am not earning points! I would love it if it was an automatic thing. If I were to rate this app, I would give it a 9/10!