Watertown High leads nation in testing phone-limiting app

As the school year begins, Watertown High School will debut a new technology that limits cellphone use in classrooms. 

According to a press release, the school will be the first public high school in the country to pilot the Doorman app. 

“It’s hard to compete with phones for attention,” Principal Joel Giacobozzi said in a statement. “Doorman allows us to pause a student’s phone use without the battle of physically taking or locking away their phone.”

The release said that the app uses VPN technology to temporarily “brick” or restrict smartphone usage by redirecting the phone’s web traffic through a restricted, encrypted server. It will also prevent students from texting and accessing “distracting” apps. 

A “DoorTag” will be located at the entrance of each classroom, on which students will tap their phones. The device will log the student’s attendance and restrict selected phone applications. 

Students will still be able to make and receive phone calls and use approved apps, such as Google Classroom. 

The Doorman app is synchronized with Watertown High School’s class schedule and will restore full phone functions once the class period is over. 

Teachers can access a dashboard that monitors whether students “tap in” or attempt to circumvent the app or the school’s cellphone policy. 

The app will go into effect during the second week of school, and the pilot will run through December. 

“It checks a lot of boxes of what we need in terms of balancing responsible phone use and trusting our students,” Giacobozzi said. “We hope this will be the solution we’ve been looking for.” 

The app’s use comes as the Legislature debates a statewide “bell-to-bell” cellphone ban.

At the beginning of August, the Senate overwhelmingly approved legislation to implement the ban, which is now in the House’s hands for consideration. 

The legislation is following in the footsteps of dozens of schools across the state already implementing locking pouches and updated cellphone polices to limit students’ access to their phones during class. 

Beth Treffeisen is a general assignment reporter for Boston.com, focusing on local news, crime, and business in the New England region.