Locket, a private social networking app for friends, has scored a win with Gen Alpha users following the launch of its latest feature, Rollcall.

The app, which lets friends share photos that then appear in home screen widgets, first hit the top of the App Store’s charts in early 2022 by taking advantage of Apple’s widget system to form the basis of its social network. Instead of updates sent via push notifications, the app’s widget would update to show your friends’ newly posted photos. This, in turn, would drive engagement back in the app, prompting users to share their own photos in return.

Locket’s Rollcall feature takes a similar approach by turning Apple platform features into social networking tools, CEO Matt Moss explains. A former Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) student scholarship winner, Moss understands that new formats can help attract users and draw people in.

Rollcall prompts users to share their favorite photos from the past week, and it leverages an iOS feature called Live Activities. This allows the app to utilize the iPhone Lock Screen to capture users’ attention. Introduced in iOS 18, Live Activities allow iOS apps to offer frequent information updates in glanceable locations like the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island (the black bar at the top of the screen).

Apple originally envisioned Live Activities as a way for apps with real-time information to update their users — for instance, with information about their Uber arriving or pizza delivery. However, some apps have used the technology in unique ways, like adding a virtual pet that frolics in the Dynamic Island, or displaying the real-time lyrics for the song you’re listening to right on your Lock Screen.

For Locket, however, Live Activities becomes the modern-day version of the push notification.

“Every Sunday, we’ll take over your Lock Screen and you’ll get this nice Live Activity that pops up right on the homepage of the iPhone,” said Moss. “It’s similar to the widget [as it’s