A lot of people meet their first phone-free event at the door, when a staff member holds out a pouch and the line on the ticket suddenly makes sense. The questions that follow are practical ones: where the phone is going, whether you can get to it if the babysitter calls, and how long the line out of the building will be.
Yondr's pouches have been used at more than 10,000 events around the world and have secured more than 20 million devices, and the routine that answers those questions has barely changed from an arena tour to a wedding for 150. This guide goes through it once, then looks at how it bends to fit concerts, comedy, weddings, and launches.
The Routine, Door to Door
Arrival. Each guest's phone goes into a Yondr pouch on the way in, and so do smartwatches. If your ticket lives on your phone, staff are there to open the pouch so it can be scanned.
Inside. The pouch is locked once guests are in the phone-free area. From then on guests keep possession of their phone, which is never checked at a counter or collected by anyone.
If someone needs their phone. Venues set up designated Phone Use Areas for this. A guest steps in, the pouch is opened, and it's locked again before they head back to their seat.
Exit. A tap on an unlocking base opens the pouch. Bases and staff are placed at every exit, so the crowd leaves the way it normally would.
How It Changes by Event
Concerts and tours
Yondr works with artists, venues, promoters, and labels on phone-free shows and tours, anything from arena runs and residencies down to listening parties and private studio sessions. At tour scale, most of the planning goes into flow: enough staff and unlocking bases at each door that several thousand people keep moving at a normal pace. Jack White has talked about what it's like from the stage: "People absolutely love it. You immediately know that they are engaged."
Comedy
Comedians go phone-free so they can try out new jokes, and so a tour's worth of material stays protected until the special. The same setup scales down to a club. The Comedy Store in Los Angeles has run every show device-free with Yondr since December 2024, with Phone Use Areas in the building.
Weddings and private events
At weddings, birthdays, and private parties the hosts are after presence and privacy more than leak prevention, and a phone-free ceremony keeps raised screens out of the aisle and out of the official photos. One couple described their wedding afterward: "We lived in the moment. No one was worried about their phone or posts on social media."
Launches and brand events
Product reveals, album playbacks, and premieres go phone-free so that the first images out are the ones the brand or the artist releases. Pinterest took the same approach at its 2026 Coachella space, which was phone-free, with visitors handed Yondr pouches on the way in, Marketing Brew reported.
Film sets and tapings
On film sets, live tapings, and stage productions the pouch protects work that hasn't been released yet and keeps cast and crew focused. In Yondr's event numbers for this year, sets account for more guests pouched than any other category.
Yondr Events in 2026, by the Numbers
Most phone-free events are a good deal smaller than a tour. The table below covers the private and special events Yondr has supported in 2026 so far, counted through early October.
| Event Type | Events | Guests Pouched |
|---|---|---|
| Private events | 104 | 27,586 |
| Film, video, and photo sets | 99 | 50,611 |
| Music events and rehearsals | 45 | 16,910 |
| Listening and album release parties | 41 | 5,670 |
| Screenings and premieres | 35 | 7,663 |
| Weddings | 24 | 4,515 |
| Corporate events | 21 | 9,222 |
| Auto events | 20 | 23,095 |
| Fundraisers | 1 | 350 |
| Total | 391 | 145,722 |
With a quarter of the year still to go, 2026 has already passed the 2025 totals of 384 events and 124,715 guests.
Who Runs It on the Day
Yondr supports events at any scale, from stadium tours and comedy specials to corporate events and weddings, with on-site staffing or ship-to-venue options. A tour might want Yondr's own crew working the doors, while a wedding planner or a club owner may prefer to have the pouches and unlocking bases shipped and run things with their own people.
In neither case does Yondr ship a box of pouches and leave the organizer to figure it out. The planning covers how guests will be told in advance, where the pouching happens, where the Phone Use Areas go, and how the exits are staffed. Like a national park, a phone-free space is set aside on purpose so that what belongs inside it, performance and presence, can flourish.
Talk to Yondr about making your show, wedding, or launch phone-free.
FAQs
What if my ticket is on my phone?
You don't need to print it, though a printed ticket is the simplest option. Yondr staff at the entrance can open your pouch so you can show a mobile ticket, and then lock it again.
What if I am on call, or have a babysitter at home?
Set your phone to vibrate before it goes into the pouch. You'll feel a call or a text through the pouch, and you can step into a Phone Use Area whenever you need to open it and respond.
What happens in an emergency?
Venue staff and security carry phones and radios and are trained to run the venue's emergency procedures, and guests should follow their instructions. Yondr's guest FAQ states that its venue staff have handheld unlocking devices outside, at a safe distance from the venue.
Does it take long to get out afterward?
No. Staff and unlocking bases are placed at each exit, opening a pouch takes a moment, and Yondr reports that leaving a phone-free show is usually faster than leaving a regular one.
