When Kiosk Mode Earns Its Place
A kiosk is a dedicated tablet customers use to add themselves to the queue. It works best when:
- The customer is indoors when joining (so a wall-mounted or counter-stand tablet makes sense).
- The customer's first interaction with your business is the device, not your staff.
- Privacy or hygiene matters — patients in a clinic aren't writing names on a paper sign-in sheet that everyone else can see.
- A staff member is not always available at the door.
If your customers are mostly outside (drive-thru, food truck, restaurant patio), QR codes are usually a better choice — the device is in their pocket. See How People Get Into the Queue for the trade-off.
Initial Setup
From queue settings → Kiosk Mode:
- Toggle Kiosk Enabled to on. The kiosk URL becomes accessible at
/kiosk/{queue-id}. - Heading — the big text customers see. Default 'Welcome — join the queue here.' Keep it under 6 words.
- Subheading — the supporting line. 'Estimated wait: shown after you join.' Optional.
- Logo URL — your business logo. Square aspect ratio, transparent PNG works best.
- Accent color — used on the join button and progress indicators. Pick something with enough contrast to be tappable from 3 feet away.
- Background images — upload one or several. If you upload more than one, they slideshow on a 10-second cycle.
- Max party size — caps the dropdown. Restaurants typically 12, clinics 1, salons 4.
- Idle timeout — minutes of no input before the screen resets to the welcome view. Default 2 minutes.
- Require phone / require email — what's needed before the customer can join. Phone is the strong default.
Save. Open the kiosk URL on the tablet. Lock the tablet to that URL using your OS's kiosk/guided-access mode.
Locking the Tablet
A real kiosk needs to be unable to escape the kiosk URL. Three approaches:
- iPad: Guided Access. Settings → Accessibility → Guided Access. Triple-click the home button to lock. Customers can use the URL but can't navigate away.
- Android: kiosk-mode launcher. Several free options on the Play Store. Or use Android's built-in screen pinning (Settings → Security → Screen pinning).
- Browser-only kiosk OS. Some businesses use a Raspberry Pi or stick PC running a minimal browser-only OS. Higher complexity, lower per-device cost.
Whichever approach: confirm the customer cannot exit the URL, dim the screen, or open settings. If they can, they will.
What Customers See
Welcome screen → input form → confirmation. The whole flow takes 30-60 seconds:
- Branded welcome with your heading, subheading, and background.
- Tap to join. Input fields: name, phone (or email), party size, optional notes.
- Tap Join. The kiosk shows their position and estimated wait, then resets after a few seconds (or they can scan a QR to keep tracking on their own phone).
- Idle for 2 minutes (or your configured value) → resets to welcome.
The kiosk also has a Send Link option — a customer can give just their phone number and have a link to the public status page texted to them, in case they don't want to type their info on the public tablet. Useful for privacy-conscious operations.
Maintenance
Kiosks are physical devices in semi-public spaces. A short maintenance routine pays off:
- Clean the screen daily. Anti-bacterial wipe is fine. Avoid sprays directly on the screen.
- Charge or hardwire. A dead tablet at peak hour is the most preventable failure mode.
- Test the join flow weekly. It takes 90 seconds. You'll catch SMS sender drift, network outages, or a stuck pop-up.
- Lock the tablet to a stand or wall mount. Free-standing tablets walk away.
- Have a staff fallback. If the kiosk is down, your team can still add people via the Add tab.