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Contents
  1. The Problem
  2. How It Works
  3. Core Features
  4. The Vision: Beyond Consumers
  5. Financials (Projected)
  6. Technical Challenges Navigated
  7. The Team
  8. Key Milestones
  9. The Plan (Before Age 18)
  10. Product Philosophy
  11. See Also

LockIn

LockIn is an iOS productivity app built by Shaurya Bahl. Its core premise: stop doomscrolling by making your phone hard to use until you earn it back — with push-ups.

Bundle ID: get.lockin Status: Live on the Apple App Store (launched April 13, 2026) Team: Shaurya Bahl (founder/developer), Yash (business lead), Ansh Talrani (tech co-founder), with mentorship from Amir

The Problem

Social media apps are designed to capture and take away your time. There are many solutions in the market, but most rely on passwords or phone shakes to bypass — which are too easy to defeat. Shaurya built LockIn to solve his own problem: he was super distracted by social media and time used to fly.

"The push-up mechanic is intentionally inconvenient. That's the point."

How It Works

  1. Choose the apps that distract you
  2. Tap the LockIn NFC card/sticker to activate blocking
  3. Go far away from the LockIn product to stay focused
  4. To unblock: the only way is to tap the NFC card again — or do push-ups

When you've exceeded your screen time limit, LockIn blocks access using Apple's Screen Time / Family Controls framework. To unlock your phone, you physically do push-ups detected in real-time via Apple's Vision framework (body pose estimation).

Core Features

1. Screen Time Blocking

Uses Apple's FamilyControls and DeviceActivityMonitor frameworks to shield selected apps or app categories after a user-defined usage limit. The ShieldConfigurationExtension customises the block screen.

2. Push-Up Detection (Unlock Mechanic)

Uses Apple's Vision framework with body pose estimation to detect push-up reps in real-time via the front or rear camera. Includes anti-shake logic to reduce false positives from walking or other movement.

3. NFC Card Blocking

A physical NFC card/sticker that acts as the primary lock/unlock mechanism. Tap to block, tap to unblock. The physical requirement creates real friction — you can't just tap a button on your phone.

4. AlarmKit Integration (iOS 26)

Integrates with AlarmKit (introduced in iOS 26) to trigger lock-ins at scheduled times — e.g., a morning alarm that doesn't dismiss until you've done push-ups.

5. StoreKit 2 IAP

Monetised via in-app purchases using StoreKit 2. Includes a trial period before the paywall activates.

6. Live Activities

Uses Live Activities to show real-time push-up progress on the Dynamic Island and lock screen while a lock-in session is active.

7. CloudKit Leaderboard

A social/competitive layer where users can compare push-up counts and streaks with others, stored and synced via CloudKit.

8. Walking Detection

Separate logic to detect whether the user is walking (as opposed to doing push-ups), to prevent accidental rep counting.

The Vision: Beyond Consumers

LockIn's ambition goes far beyond a consumer app. Shaurya envisions it as "the Whoop for screen time" — a platform where you earn your screen time through proof of work.

B2B Opportunities

| Segment | Value Proposition | |---------|------------------| | Schools | Boost education with phone-free environments. Dashboard showing who is locked in. Better than Yondr pouches. | | Offices | Focus + proof of work. Employees who stay locked in longest get gift cards (YouGoTagift integration). | | Restaurants | People buy more when not on phones. Offer board games, discounts for locking in. | | RTA / Road Safety | NFC stickers in cars for driver safety. Dubai's RTA takes road safety seriously — LockIn tech in Nol cards and Salik stickers. | | Other | Any environment requiring no-phone zones. |

LockIn Health

Collect encrypted screen time data. Sell anonymized insights to hospitals and researchers. Make the data helpful for everyone.

LockIn Cafes

Physical cafes around the world where entry requires an app subscription. Choose distracting apps, tap to enter, block them. A work zone for networking and building. First location: Dubai.

Financials (Projected)

Consumer Pricing

  • $2 for 1 NFC tag + app access
  • $5 for 4 NFC tags + full features

Business Pricing

  • $99 base + per-tag cost

Projections (36-month)

  • Break even: Month 14
  • Gross margin: 82%
  • Startup cost: $15,000 (amortized $1,250/mo in Year 1)
  • CAC: $11.67
  • Day 1 return: 8x ($99 upfront vs $11 spend)

Technical Challenges Navigated

  • FamilyControls entitlement — requires special Apple approval; caused significant provisioning profile issues
  • ShieldConfigurationExtension and DeviceActivityMonitorExtension — required careful app group configuration and inter-extension communication
  • Vision body pose — tuning confidence thresholds and anti-shake logic for reliable rep counting
  • AlarmKit (iOS 26) — early-stage API with limited documentation
  • StoreKit 2 sandbox testing — navigating sandbox environment quirks
  • Xcode build errors — multiple dyld shared cache issues, provisioning mismatches, macOS storage constraints

The Team

LockIn isn't a solo project — it's Shaurya's first real team effort:

  • Yash — Business lead. Drives go-to-market strategy, pricing, and partnership outreach. Led the KHDA pitch.
  • Ansh Talrani — Tech co-founder. Handles architecture research, competitor analysis, and platform-level technical decisions.
  • Amir — Technical mentor from India. Helped with FamilyControls implementation, Apple certificates, and CI/CD setup.

The three co-founders — Shaurya, Yash, and Ansh — formed a group called "SCHOOLS NEED US" in February 2026 to drive the B2B school strategy.

Key Milestones

| Date | Milestone | |------|-----------| | Aug–Oct 2025 | Core development with Amir's mentorship | | Feb 16, 2026 | "SCHOOLS NEED US" group formed with Yash and Ansh | | Mar 5–6, 2026 | "Unlock the gold" strategy session at co/Build | | Mar 10, 2026 | Built KHDA pitch deck overnight using Claude | | Mar 11, 2026 | In-person meeting with KHDA (Knowledge and Human Development Authority) at Academic City | | Apr 13, 2026 | App Store launch — LockIn goes live |

The KHDA Meeting

The biggest validation moment: on March 11, 2026, the team pitched LockIn to KHDA — the regulatory body for schools in Dubai. Yash traveled from Ajman early in the morning, wore a suit, and presented at Academic City. The pitch positioned LockIn against Yondr pouches (physical phone pouches used in schools) — arguing that LockIn's digital, scalable, per-student approach is the future.

"tomorrow is going to be one hell of a morning... been long time i woke up that early man" — Yash

Competitors

Research by Ansh identified key competitors: Blok.so, GetBrick, and Bloom.inc — all B2C. LockIn's B2B focus on schools is a differentiated position.

The Plan (Before Age 18)

  1. Find people to guide and help build
  2. Get investment for people, money, and time (or crowdfunding)
  3. Build all tech for consumer, business, and health verticals
  4. Marketing — get users, collect feedback, build LockIn 2.0
  5. Land business clients (starting with RTA)
  6. Build brand recognition
  7. Open the first LockIn cafe in Dubai
  8. Globalize

All of this to fund flight school education at the Emirates Flight Training Academy.

Product Philosophy

LockIn is built on the idea that the cost of mindless scrolling should be made tangible. By tying phone access to physical effort, it reframes screen time as something you earn rather than something that's always available. It's designed for people who want to build better habits but know that willpower alone isn't enough — the friction has to be structural.

See Also

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