Run check-in on a kiosk tablet

Kiosk mode locks the Childcarious Staff app into a check-in station for the door. Parents enter their own four-digit PIN, see their children, and check them in or out themselves.

Before you start

Set a master PIN on the device. You need it to leave kiosk mode, and kiosk mode cannot be turned on without it.

1. Open the Profile tab.
2. Select Set PIN and enter a six-digit master PIN.

Turn on kiosk mode

1. In the Profile tab, select Enable Kiosk Mode.
2. Confirm with Enable.

The app switches to the PIN screen and stays there. Leave the tablet on this screen and plugged in.

Turning on kiosk mode switches off biometric sign-in on that device, because anyone at the door can reach the tablet. It stays off after you exit kiosk mode until you turn it back on yourself.

Screenshot pending: kiosk.check-in.pinThe kiosk PIN screen showing the facility name, four empty dots and a numeric keypad.

What a parent sees at the door.

What a parent does

1. They enter their four-digit check-in PIN. It submits as soon as the fourth digit is entered — there is no confirm button.
2. Their children appear, each with a current status such as Checked in at 8:42 AM or Not checked in.
3. They select Check In or Check Out on each child.
4. They select Done when finished.

The screen returns to the PIN prompt after 30 seconds of no activity, so one family’s children are never left on screen for the next family.

Every check-in records which adult’s PIN was used, along with the child, the classroom and the time. That is what appears in attendance records and reports.

Exit kiosk mode

Select Exit Kiosk Mode at the bottom of the PIN screen and enter the six-digit master PIN.

Troubleshooting

A parent’s PIN shows Invalid PIN. The PIN belongs to the parent, not the child, and each parent has their own. A parent can see and change theirs in the parent app under Check-In PIN. A PIN set up for a different facility will not work here.

Too many PIN attempts. Please wait a few minutes or ask a staff member for help. Repeated wrong PINs are throttled, per tablet and per facility, so the kiosk cannot be used to guess PINs. It clears by itself after a few minutes. Meanwhile, check the child in yourself from the classroom roster — the limit does not affect staff.

Check In is greyed out for a child. That child has no classroom assigned. Assign one in the web app, then have the parent enter their PIN again.

Statuses look out of date. The kiosk loads a family’s children when the PIN is entered. If someone checked a child in on another device in the meantime, select Done and re-enter the PIN to see the current status.

The tablet keeps returning to the PIN screen. That is the 30-second idle reset. It is expected.