Dashboard Update - Profile Locking (February 2025)
The Tech Lockdown dashboard was recently updated to improve on the profile locking feature, with some new additions like Auto Locking and Unlock Delay timers.
The main purpose of profile locking is for assisted self-control. When your profile is locked, reducing restrictions will be prevented while you can still add to your restrictions.
For example, if your profile is locked, and you attempt to turn off the option to prevent uninstall of supervised iOS config profiles , you'll be prompted to unlock your profile first.
This feature is a core part of the Tech Lockdown dashboard, so we decided to improve on it based on suggestions from our community .
New Changes to Profile Locking
While your profile is locked, you can increase the strictness. For example, increase the random text count or unlock delay. You'll be prevented from reducing strictness while your profile is locked.
When you lock your profile, you'll see a summary of the profile unlocking steps. You can also quickly customize the unlock delay for when you eventually unlock your profile again.
Once you unlock your profile, you can specify an Auto Lock timer so that your profile automatically re-locks itself (just in case you forget).
Recipes for Auto Locking
Auto locking isn't meant to make reducing restrictions impossible, but to add significant friction. It's important that you are able to unlock your profile to make a change. Here are some recommended approaches.
Locking Preferences for Accountability Partners
If you have a trusted accountability partner, you can add their email address as a secondary email on your account.
Then you can optionally enable the Email Pin unlock step, where a pin must be entered to finish unlocking your profile. This random pin is sent to your accountability partner.
Additionally, you can choose to enable email notifications. Your accountability partner will be notified when you lock or unlock your profile.
Some people might decide that an email notification is enough friction, since it will likely prompt a conversation with your accountability partner. Enabling the email pin unlock step is optional.
Self-Restriction approach
If you want to slow yourself down from unlocking your profile, there are a few options you can use in addition to the accountability partner approach.
The random text unlock method can slow you down and require effort on your part to finish the unlock process. You can specify up to 1000 characters of random text, depending on how tedious you want to make this process.
You can also specify a passcode and use your own techniques for securing this passcode. See our guide on recommendations for gating access to this passcode .
In addition to the unlock steps, you can specify an unlock delay before your profile will be unlocked. This allows you to add anywhere between 5 minutes and 1 hour after the unlock steps have been completed.
With all of these combined approaches, unlocking your profile could be as tedious and annoying as you want to make it. Or it could just add a few extra minutes of friction to slow yourself down.
You might decide that an accountability approach is enough friction and opt out of self-restrictions entirely. The choice is yours!
Discussion
Check out our Reddit thread about this update if you want to discuss it.