A lock box that fits in your pocket.
The apps stay blocked for the hours you set, on every phone that joins, and nobody hands theirs over.
What is a phone jail?
A phone jail is a box or basket that holds everyone’s phones during dinner, a party or study time, sometimes behind a timer lock. It works while the phones stay in it. CoPact does a similar job on the phones themselves: every phone that joins keeps its apps blocked for the hours you set, wherever it goes.
A box, a basket and CoPact
As read on 2 October 2026.
| A timer lock box | A basket or phone jail | CoPact | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where the phone is | Locked in the box | In the basket, until someone takes it | With its owner, its apps blocked |
| What still works | Nothing, unless the box lets calls through | Everything, once it is back in a hand | The apps each person always allows, like Maps or messages |
| Someone leaves early | Their phone stays in the box until the timer ends | They take it, and every app is back | The phone goes with them, still blocked |
| Ending it early | Wait for the timer | Reach in | Strict: the timer, or more than half of the people still in it voting. Flexible: whoever started it |
| In an emergency | A release, if the box has one | Take it back | The Emergency Pass: every app for one hour, once a week |
| How many phones | As many as fit inside | As many as fit | Up to 20 people, each on their own iPhone |
| Where it works | Where the box is | Where the basket is | Wherever each phone goes |
| Cost | One purchase | Nothing extra | 7 days free, then $4.99 a month or $29.99 a year. Each person pays for their own |
The box and basket columns say what timer lock box listings state in general. No brand is named.
How to use CoPact as a phone lock box with a timer
- 1 Start a crew and send the link Everyone joins on their own iPhone with the link, the eight character code or the QR code.
- 2 Set the hours Start it now or plan it for later, from 5 minutes to 8 hours, and pick Flexible or Strict before it starts.
- 3 Keep the phones Every app but each person’s Always Allowed ones stays blocked until the time is up, with CoPact closed and after a restart. Anyone late can still join.
When a box is the better pick
- You want the whole phone out of reach.
- Not everyone at the table has an iPhone.
- You would rather pay once than every month.
When CoPact is the better pick
- People need Maps or their messages while everything else is blocked.
- Someone leaves early, and the block should go with them.
- You’re out at a restaurant or a party, with no box in sight.
- Every phone at the table should stay blocked at once, up to 20.
Questions.
Is there a phone lock box with a timer app?
Yes. CoPact’s Quick Block locks the apps you pick, or every app but your Always Allowed ones, for 5 minutes to 8 hours, and it keeps going with CoPact closed. With other people, everyone joins one block on their own iPhone.
Is a lock box stronger?
Yes. A phone in a locked box can’t be used at all, and on iPhone whoever holds the phone can always turn off Screen Time access in Settings. What CoPact gives you is a block that goes with each phone, and under Strict, no break and no early end inside the app.
Can I lock someone else’s phone with it?
Not without them. Each person joins the block on their own iPhone, and nobody can lock a phone that has not joined. CoPact is not a parental control.
What if someone needs their phone?
The apps on their own Always Allowed list stay open the whole time, Maps or messages say. Past those, the Emergency Pass opens every app for one hour, once a week.
What does it cost?
7 days free, then $4.99 a month or $29.99 a year. CoPact sends a notification two days before the first charge.
Better kept together.
