There are over 2 million applications available for the iPhone. One of the most popular ones is called 'Locket,' and it's a ton of fun to use.

Locket quickly rose to be one of the most popular iPhone applications on the market — but what exactly is the app, and should you bother using it? The landscape for smartphone apps has changed pretty dramatically over the years. During the days of early iPhones and Android phones, the most popular apps were flashlight applications, Angry Birds, and ones that turned your phone into a lightsaber.

Fast forward to 2022, and the apps we use today are dramatically different. They're more capable, better-designed, and much more connected. Just take a look at the top free apps on the App Store. On any given day, users are bound to find TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat — apps that are all meant to be social in one way or another.

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As such, it shouldn't be much of a surprise that a new app called 'Locket' shot up as the #1 free iPhone app in January 2022. The app launched on December 30, 2021, and was created by developer Matthew Moss. The idea behind Locket is pretty simple. It's a free app that allows users to add photos to their friends' home screens. Just download the app, add the Locket widget, and friends/family you've chosen can add pictures to your home screen whenever they want. In an interview with TechCrunch, Moss says he originally developed the app as a more intimate way to stay in touch with his long-distance girlfriend. After adding it to the App Store and it gaining incredible popularity on TikTok, however, Locket's now one of the biggest applications for the iPhone.

To start using Locket, open the App Store on your iPhone, search for 'Locket' and download the app (it's called 'Locket Widget' and is a yellow icon with a heart in the middle). It's 100 percent free to download and doesn't have any in-app purchases or subscriptions — a rarity among iPhone apps these days. Open Locket once it's downloaded, tap 'Set up my locket,' enter your phone number, and confirm the verification code once you receive it. After verifying your number and entering your first/last name, it's time to add some contacts.

Adding contacts is incredibly easy. Tap 'Enable contacts' to allow the app to access your contacts list, then tap the 'Add' button next to a contact to invite them. Locket currently supports adding up to five contacts with no way to go beyond that number, so large friend groups may need to make some tough decisions. Once all your friends are added, tap 'Continue,' go home, add the Locket widget to your home screen, go back to the app, tap 'I've enabled the widget,' tap 'Finish,' and you're done.

From there, using Locket is a piece of cake. Tap on the widget, take a picture, and it's instantly sent to the Locket widget on your contacts' home screens. As your friends start taking pictures, those will appear on your Locket widget. Tapping the widget reveals a few settings (such as editing contacts or seeing a history of photos), but that's really all there is to it. Compared to other photo-sharing apps like Instagram and Snapchat, Locket's pretty unique in that users can only share photos with a very limited number of people. Plus, seeing those pictures directly on your home screen makes the whole experience feel more personal. Whether Locket remains the biggest iPhone app is yet to be seen, but if you want to try it for yourself, now you know how.

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Joe has been actively writing and talking about consumer tech since 2012. His biggest passion lies with smartphones, but he's happy to talk your ear off about just about anything with a CPU. He lives in Kalamazoo, MI with his wife, two cats, and pit bull/boxer mix.