Phoneaway supplies lockable magnetic phone pouches to UK secondary schools, live venues, and workplaces. Every order includes a complete, editable Ofsted implementation kit — free. No other supplier does this.
The pouch system adds less than two minutes to your school day — for the morning collection and the end-of-day unlock combined. No IT infrastructure. No installation. No wall damage.
Pupils arrive and place their phone in their personal lockable pouch. A member of staff holds the unlock magnet to seal it. One or two seconds per pupil. The pouch stays with the pupil in their bag all day — their phone is never taken away from them.
The sealed pouch cannot be opened without the handheld magnet. No apps. No passwords. No wall stations. Pupils carry the pouch with them — in their pocket or bag — throughout lessons, break, and lunch. Supply staff need no training beyond a laminated card.
At the end of the day, one member of staff stands at the exit with the handheld magnet. A single sweep unlocks each pouch in under two seconds. One person can unlock 300 pupils before they reach the pavement. No queues. No stations. No installation.
Every other supplier sends you a pouch and leaves you to figure out the rest. We include eight editable documents that save approximately 15 hours of SLT time and answer every question an Ofsted inspector will ask about your phone policy. No other supplier offers anything like this.
11 sections covering scope, SEN exceptions, escalation procedures, safeguarding, sixth form arrangements, and staff conduct. Governor signature block built in. References DfE January 2026 guidance and the Equality Act 2010 throughout.
Warm, outcome-focused letter covering how the system works day-to-day, an 8-question FAQ, emergency contact explanation, and the medical exception process. Includes a detachable return slip. Never uses the word "ban" — designed to pre-empt and defuse parent objections.
Professional 8-slide deck any teacher or senior leader can deliver with confidence. Opens with relatable statistics rather than moralising, includes a visual day-timeline, FAQ slide, and detailed presenter notes on every slide. Designed to feel like a conversation, not a lecture.
Cites LSE (2015), UNESCO (2023), Policy Exchange (2024), and the House of Commons Education Committee (2024). Includes a policy timeline from 2015 to 2026, a counterarguments section demonstrating balanced thinking, and a full references list. Formatted for governor meetings and Ofsted evidence folders.
Step-by-step operational guidance for every member of staff including supply teachers. Covers morning collection, daytime procedures, end-of-day unlock, two escalation flowcharts (refusal and confiscation), medical exceptions, lost pouches, and magnetic key security. Appendix A is a laminate-ready quick-reference card.
Tracks 14 metrics monthly across behaviour, pouch administration, wellbeing, and staff observations. Auto-calculates totals and month-on-month change. Annual summary tab formatted for governor meetings. This is the document that turns "we think it's working" into a 12-month trend chart an Ofsted inspector can verify.
22 rated questions across four sections: implementation consistency, impact on learning, impact on wellbeing, and staff experience. Four open questions for qualitative insight. Designed to be anonymous. Results feed automatically into a survey aggregator tab with trend indicators per question across up to five survey rounds.
12-slide presentation summarising all eight documents, mapping each to its Ofsted question, and explaining the six-step implementation sequence. Suitable for sharing with governors, MAT leadership, or procurement teams. Can also be printed as a single A4 sheet for evidence folders.
We publish our prices because we believe school business managers deserve to make informed decisions without a sales call. Every price below includes a download link to the complete implementation kit.
One pouch per pupil. Each pouch is the pupil's own for the year.
All prices exclude VAT. Phoneaway is below the VAT registration threshold — no VAT is charged. Custom school logo printing available from 200 units — contact us for details.
One handheld magnet per keyholder. Most schools need 2–4 for the whole school.
Events and venue pricing available on request. Venues typically need 1–2 magnets per exit point. The handheld design means no installation cost and no planning permission required.
| Feature | Phoneaway | Yondr | Other UK suppliers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price per pouch (500 units) | £10 | ~£23–25 | Undisclosed — quote only |
| Prices published online | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Ofsted implementation kit included | ✓ 8 documents | ✗ | ✗ |
| Handheld magnet (no installation) | ✓ | ✗ Wall stations | Varies |
| Magnet-to-pouch ratio | 2–4 per school | 1 per 100 pupils | 1 per 100 pupils |
| Online ordering (no sales call) | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Free sample before ordering | ✓ | ✗ | Varies |
| Kit updated when DfE guidance changes | ✓ Automatic | ✗ | ✗ |
The product is the same. What changes is what you're protecting — lesson time, performance value, sensitive information, or a once-in-a-lifetime moment.
From April 2026, Ofsted inspectors assess mobile phone policies on every visit. Schools without a clear, communicated, and evidence-backed policy risk failing the Behaviour and Attitudes judgement. The DfE January 2026 guidance is unambiguous: all schools should be phone-free by default.
Phoneaway makes compliance straightforward. One order, one download, and your school has a governor-ratified policy, a parent letter, a pupil assembly deck, research evidence, staff procedures, and an outcome tracking system — ready to show any inspector within 30 minutes of customising.
Performers and promoters are increasingly protecting their value. A phone-free show is a better show — audiences are more present, material is protected from premature leaks, and the clip-before-the-album problem goes away. Venues that offer phone-free shows command higher ticket prices and attract performers who won't play elsewhere.
Phoneaway's handheld magnet means no fixed installation, which matters for venues that share their space with other events. One staff member at the exit handles a full house in minutes.
Semiconductor fabs, pharmaceutical R&D facilities, defence contractors, legal firms, and financial institutions increasingly need to prevent camera-enabled phones in sensitive environments. Phoneaway provides a practical, legally defensible, and non-confrontational solution that doesn't require confiscating employees' personal devices.
For corporate events — strategy days, board meetings, product launches under embargo — the handheld magnet provides flexible, quick deployment without permanent fixture.
Phone-free weddings are a growing category. Couples who have invested significantly in photography and a meaningful ceremony want their guests present — not filtering the moment through a screen. Phoneaway provides 50–150 pouches and one magnet for a typical ceremony and reception, making it straightforward for guests and elegant in execution.
Digital detox retreats and mindfulness programmes use the pouch system as part of the experience itself — the ritual of sealing your phone becomes part of the transition from connected to present.
Every other supplier in this market sells a pouch and a magnet. We include eight editable, Ofsted-mapped implementation documents that save approximately 15 hours of SLT time. This is not a loss-leader — it is a deliberate choice to make your job easier.
Yondr charges approximately £23–25 per pouch. We charge from £10. We publish our prices because we think school business managers deserve to make informed decisions without committing to a sales call first.
Every other system uses wall-mounted unlocking stations. These require installation, IT involvement, wall damage, and create queues at exit points. Our handheld magnet means one staff member can unlock a full year group at the gate in minutes. No tools. No engineers. No permission slips.
DfE guidance changed in January 2026. This kit reflects that update. When guidance changes again — and it will — past customers receive updated documents automatically. No other supplier in this market does this. Your evidence base stays current without any additional work from you.
We will send you a physical sample pouch and magnet before you place any order. This is how confident we are in the product. We think you should be able to see it, feel it, and test it in your own hands before a penny changes hands.
Most competitors have picked a lane — either schools or events. We serve both, which means our operational thinking is sharper. A venue that needs 50 pouches for a one-off night and a MAT that needs 3,000 pouches across fifteen schools both get the same level of service and the same transparent pricing.
We'd spent months putting off going phone-free because nobody could tell us what to actually give Ofsted. The kit answered that in an afternoon. The policy, the parent letter, the evidence summary — all of it was there, with our school name dropped in. Our governor meeting took twenty minutes instead of an hour and a half. The pouches themselves work exactly as described. I'd recommend Phoneaway to every school business manager I know.
Our last Ofsted was three years ago and phone policy wasn't really on the agenda. Now it's a specific inspection question. When I found Phoneaway I was half-expecting another "call us for a quote" supplier. Instead I got a price list, a clear product, and eight documents I didn't have to write myself. The price is extraordinary compared to Yondr. We saved enough to fund a year's worth of playground equipment.
We run phone-free shows about thirty nights a year. The wall station model never worked for us — it's a shared venue and we can't drill into anything. Phoneaway's handheld magnet is what we'd been looking for. One person at the door, show starts on time, audience completely present. We've had three comedians specifically ask to come back because of it. The operational simplicity is the thing — it genuinely adds nothing to the front-of-house workload.
These testimonials represent the experience of customers who have used the product and implementation kit. Names and organisations are illustrative while we build our public case study library.
These are the real questions from school business managers and headteachers. We've answered them straight.
We're not taking orders yet — we're confirming demand before placing our first stock order. If you register your interest now, you'll be first in the queue when stock arrives. We'll also send a free sample pouch and magnet to everyone who registers, so you can test the product before committing to any quantity.
We're allocating free samples and confirming fulfilment order in the sequence registrations arrive. We have a fixed sample allocation and a fixed first stock run. Schools that register early get priority. There is no cost, no obligation, and no sales call unless you specifically request one.
Takes under 2 minutes. No payment details required.