Locket, a private social networking app for friends, has been well-received by Alpha generation users after the release of its latest feature, Rollcall.
The app, which lets friends share photos and display them in a widget on the home screen, first rose to the top of the App Store charts in early 2022 by leveraging Apple’s widget system to form the basis of a social network. Instead of updates being sent via push notifications, a widget in the app updates to show newly posted photos by your friends. This brings engagement back to the app and encourages users to share their photos instead.
Locket’s Rollcall feature takes a similar approach by turning Apple platform functionality into a social networking tool, explains CEO Matt Moss. Moss, a former Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) student scholarship recipient, understands that new formats can help attract users and drive traffic.
Roll Call prompts users to share their favorite photos from the past week and leverages an iOS feature called Live Activities. This allows your app to leverage the iPhone’s lock screen to grab the user’s attention. Live Activities, introduced in iOS 18, allows iOS apps to provide frequent updates of information in at-a-glance locations such as the lock screen and dynamic island (the black bar at the top of the screen).
Apple originally envisioned Live Activity as a way for apps to provide real-time information to users. For example, information about your Uber arrival or pizza delivery. However, some apps use the technology in unique ways, like adding a frolicking virtual pet on a dynamic island or displaying real-time lyrics for the song you’re listening to on your lock screen.
However, in the case of Locket, live activity is the modern version of push notifications.
“Every Sunday, we’ll take over your lock screen and show you this cool live activity on your iPhone’s home page,” Moss said. “This is similar to a widget (out of the box) that allows you to use Apple technology to get in front of people and share moments that they otherwise wouldn’t have shared,” he told TechCrunch in an interview in the halls of the TechCrunch Disrupt conference last week.
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Using this technology has already proven successful for Locket, with over 91 million lifetime installs on iOS and Android, according to Appfigures estimates. The company says this feature helped Locket get more than 1 million shares in Rollcall’s first week.
Additionally, Moss said that well over 25% of the app’s active users currently post weekly roll calls.
“Live activities draw people in even more,” Moss said. “And it’s so much fun when friends share it because it feels like we’re all doing it together.”
Approximately 80% of Rollcall’s initial active users fell into the alpha generation.
The founders pointed out that there are some differences between how Gen Alpha and Gen Z use Locket.
“I think the big difference is… it’s a companion piece and a primary piece. We have so many users now, and for them, Locket is like their primary way to connect with their friends, by sending them photos directly,” Moss explained. Share the photo with 10 or 20 of your best friends. I think that made a big difference for us,” he added.
As Rollcall quickly gains traction, the company is now exploring ways to use the feature as a springboard for other experiences beyond photography. For example, Moss said adding video support is an obvious next step, but he’s also thinking about how to incorporate things like music, favorite places he’s visited, and prompts designed to help him remember what happened that week.
Locket has no plans to support AI-generated photos and videos like Sora or Meta AI, but it is looking at how AI can be used in other ways, such as creating collages and compiling photographic memories.
“Even though those things may consume a lot of your attention, there’s something so basic and fundamental about communicating and connecting with real people around the world. There’s always going to be a role for that, and there’s always going to be a demand for it,” Moss said of AI apps.
The company is also looking at how Locket can translate virtual connections between users and friends into more real-world touchpoints. Even if it’s something as simple as reminding users to call or text a friend.
“I think for us, it’s always been a lot more about how we can use those things to actually truly help people connect, rather than just kind of a short-term fun experience. And, you know, that can actually be a huge strength in the long run, being a place where only people that you actually know come together,” Moss said.
Locket currently makes money through subscriptions and says it has more than 100,000 subscribers. As a result, the 15-employee company has been profitable since last year.
