Schools use Opal app to fight additive apps - a smarter phone policy for education.

2025 was a year I'll never forget.

We launched Opal for Schools with a simple premise: give schools the tools to help students focus, without making teachers play phone police.

The results exceeded everything we hoped for.

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What We Saw Happen

When schools implemented Opal, the changes were immediate and tangible:

• Students started talking to each other again. Hallway conversations came back. The silence of everyone scrolling was replaced by actual human interaction.
• Teachers stopped feeling like enforcers. Instead of constant battles over phones, they could focus on what they're actually trained to do: teach.
• Sleep improved. Students reported better sleep quality. When you're not doomscrolling until 2 AM, it turns out you wake up more rested.
• The campus atmosphere shifted. There's something different about a school where students are present. You can feel it when you walk through.

These aren't hypotheticals. This is what educators told us. This is what students experienced.

Why Schools Need Help

Let's be clear about what teachers are up against.

Apps like TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat were built by thousands of engineers whose sole job is to maximize engagement. They use sophisticated behavioral psychology, machine learning, and billions of dollars in resources.

Then we ask a teacher with 30 students to compete with that using willpower and classroom management.

It's not a fair fight. It was never meant to be.

Schools need tools that level the playing field. Tools that make the default environment conducive to learning, so teachers can teach and students can focus.

That's what Opal for Schools does.

What Students Actually Want

Here's something that might surprise you: students want this too.

When we surveyed young people, they told us they're tired of feeling controlled by their phones. They know they're spending too much time scrolling. They know it's affecting their grades, their sleep, their mental health.

What they lack isn't awareness — it's support.

Seventy percent of Opal users are students. They're not being forced to use a focus app. They're choosing to. Because they've done the math on what infinite scroll costs them.

Give young people the right education, clear boundaries, and effective tools, and they will rise to the occasion. They're smarter than we give them credit for.

2026 Will Be 100× Bigger

I'm not saying that as marketing hype. I'm saying it because I see what's coming.

More schools are reaching out every week. More districts are recognizing that phone addiction isn't a discipline problem — it's an environmental problem that requires environmental solutions.

More states are following California's lead on warning labels and phone-free school policies. The regulatory environment is shifting.

And most importantly, more students and teachers are demanding change. They've seen what's possible. They don't want to go back.

A Thank You

To every school administrator who took a chance on us.

To every teacher who implemented Opal and reported back what they observed.

To every student who chose to use the tools and discovered they could focus in ways they'd forgotten were possible.

Thank you.

This work matters. Not because it helps Opal as a company, but because it helps real kids have a better shot at the education they deserve.

We're just getting started.

Interested in bringing Opal to your school? Learn more about Opal for Schools and how we're helping students reclaim their focus.