From Arkansas to New York, HonestWaves is riding the cell-phone crackdown in schools.
As more states enact bans on student phone use, principals are scrambling for solutions that go beyond confiscation and fabric pouches.
Enter Emily Smith, an entrepreneur whose high-tech lockers, already adopted by Arkansas’ Springdale Public Schools, let students voluntarily store their phones safely — and pick them up fully charged.
The result? Fewer distractions, happier teachers, and, perhaps most surprisingly, HonestWaves’s feedback indicates that students are actually on board.
Benzinga spoke with Smith, 35, about helping schools navigate the new cell-phone norm and what the future holds for HonestWaves.
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BZ: What are the “Bell to Bell, No Cell” laws?
Smith: States across the country are rolling out these new ‘Bell to Bell' laws, and while the rules vary — some ban phones entirely, others allow them between classes or by grade level — the goal is the same: cut down on distractions. Schools that have piloted these bans are already seeing better focus and fewer behavior issues. Everyone is making moves really quickly, and the states are almost not giving the schools enough time to transition — just a few months. So everyone’s kind of scrambling. That's where we come in.
BZ: How long has the company been around?
We’ve been around since the end of 2023. My partner and I had another company in the same space. We sold it a few years ago, and our non-compete clauses were up, and we’re like, “Hey, nobody’s doing a very good job with this. Let’s get back into it.” Between the two of us, we’ve got about 12 years of phone charging station experience.
BZ: Did you reach out to VCs?
No, we’re totally privately funded, just ourselves. We’re also cash flow positive, so we’re not taking any investors. We’re in a really great space that’s exploding, with all these different sectors trying to get in and implement new solutions. So, that’s where we’re at.
BZ: Are these high-tech lockers for other possessions?
We started out making phone-charging lockers. Over time, the space changed. Schools now need them for Chromebooks and warehouses use them for scanners and RF guns, among other things. So, anything that someone wants, we’ll custom-build it. You dream it, I’m going to make it.
BZ: What does the HonestWaves plan look like when you walk into a school like Springdale?
Springdale actually reached out to us in November 2024. We found the right solution for them, depending on where they plan to place it (i.e., in classrooms or common areas), and then we determined the optimal size. We build, produce, ship, and deploy it, and then it undergoes a district-wide rollout.
BZ: HonestWaves manufactures in China. Do you worry about tariffs?
Before all of this tariff circus happened, we had always been interested in moving everything stateside. There are government entities that will only have products made in the USA. We do some work in the USA (a warehouse in Long Beach, California), and we’ve discussed bringing everything stateside. And I think that is important to a lot of clients. We are currently happy with our manufacturing facilities, but we have discussed the possibility of a complete move over. But we haven’t fully decided.
BZ: Does building the lockers require any sort of outreach to Big Tech, such as Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) or Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)?
Not at all. We configure the charging capabilities. There’s no data transfer in any of our devices. So all of our cables have data blocking technology. Even if you wanted to transfer data, it’s blocked. It’s not even an option. We’re also creating a specific K-12 solution that caters precisely to what we’ve discussed with principals. I’ve visited school districts that are implementing these rollouts and met with their principals and teachers. Everything’s ADA-compliant for any of the students who need it. They’re also vandal-resistant, and they all have LED indicator lights. So administration can walk by and say, “Oh, bay number 32 is red. ‘Johnny’ didn’t put his phone in there. Let’s get it out of his backpack.” We’re building it so that students can access it with their ID cards. We’ve got timers on it where administration can lock it down so a student cannot retrieve it until the timer goes up at 3 p.m. when school’s out.
BZ: Say, for example, “Johnny” doesn’t want to hand over his phone. What was some of the feedback that you’ve received?
A lot of places started with those Yondr pouches. Administrators hate it. Students were bringing fake phones and locking them up while keeping their real ones hidden. With our lockers, LED indicators confirm a phone is actually inside and charging, so teachers don't have to play detective. Feedback from schools has been clear: teachers love it because it improves attention and behavior without the drama. Many districts now place lockers right at entry points, so phones are dropped off immediately and students head to class distraction-free.
BZ: Beyond schools, where is HonestWaves making waves?
We work with a wide range of government entities, ranging from jails to the IRS to courtrooms. We’re in a ton of hospitals. We offer UVC cleaning, which turns on automatically once you shut the door, disinfecting everything in the bays. This feature is popular in hospitals. We work with a ton of distribution centers, with our smart asset lockers, which is really big for us. We didn’t know we would be doing that in 2023 when we started, and now it’s a significant part of our business. We’re also in hospitality. We provide lockers for trade shows and conference centers, allowing you to rent and brand them. We also offer portable battery packs, where you can walk up to a kiosk, scan the QR code, and rent one. So, we kind of do it all.
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Images provided by HonestWaves
