Set up a kiosk on a computer
Turn a front-desk computer into a kiosk in its web browser, pair it with a code from the Console, keep it full screen, and know what it can and can't do next to the Kiosk apps.
Agoo is in early access. This page describes the feature as it ships to early-access organisations; screens are illustrative.
Many receptions already have a computer on the desk. Agoo Kiosk in a web browser turns that computer into a kiosk: visitors check in, show a pass and check out on it, and staff can clock in. There's nothing to install. You open your organisation's kiosk address in the browser and pair it with a code from the Console.
It sits beside the Agoo Kiosk apps for iPad, iPhone and Android, the Console's walk-in form and your check-in posters. It replaces none of them.
When to choose it
| Choose | When |
|---|---|
| A kiosk in a browser | You have a desktop, a laptop, a Chromebook or a tablet with a browser at the front desk, and a steady internet connection. |
| The Agoo Kiosk app | The network or the power is unreliable, the device is carried at a gate, staff clock in with badges or cards, you want the kiosk to read IDs itself, or you plan to print badges. |
| Both, at the same site | A computer at reception and a tablet or phone at the gate or the staff entrance. Each one is paired to its own entrance. |
It works online only
A kiosk in a browser needs a connection for everything it does. It keeps nothing to send later. If your network drops often, use the Agoo Kiosk app, which keeps working offline.
What you need
- A current browser: Chrome, Edge, Safari or Firefox, kept up to date.
- A steady connection: wired, or Wi-Fi that holds.
- A keyboard and mouse, or a touch screen. Signatures are drawn with the mouse or a finger.
- A webcam, only if you want it: for visitors' photos, photos of an ID or a document, scanning passes and clock-in selfies. Everything else works without one.
- The right date and time. Leave the computer's clock on automatic. A kiosk whose clock is more than a few minutes out can't reach Agoo.
- Room on your plan. A kiosk in a browser takes one of your plan's kiosks and devices, like a tablet. It's on every plan, at no extra price.
| Plan | Kiosks and devices | Extra devices |
|---|---|---|
| Free | 1 | No |
| Starter | 2 | No |
| Growth | 6 | GH₵79 a month each |
| Pro | 25 | GH₵59 a month each |
| Enterprise | Unlimited | Included |
Pair the computer
Create a pairing code in the Console
Go to Console → Devices → Pair a device. Under What is it?, choose A computer's browser, then:
| Option | Choose |
|---|---|
| Site | Where the computer is: "Ridge HQ". |
| Gate | Which entrance: "Lobby". |
| Mode | Kiosk mode for visitors to use themselves, or Clock-in only for staff clocking in. |
| Name | Something your team will recognise in alerts and reports: "Front desk computer". |
Select Create code. The Console shows a pairing code (such as V2YS-FT1T) and your organisation's kiosk address. The code works once and runs out after 10 minutes; if it does, select New code. A device waiting to pair already holds a place on your plan; cancel it from Console → Devices if you change your mind.
A code made for a computer's browser pairs only a browser, and a code made for the app pairs only the app.
Open the kiosk address on that computer
On the front-desk computer, open the address the Console shows. It's your organisation's own address with /k at the end, such as https://voltabank.agoo.ardent.africa/k, or your own domain with /k.
The page says this browser isn't paired yet and asks for the code. If the kiosk is a tablet's browser, scan the QR code the Console shows with the tablet instead: the page opens with the code filled in.
Type the code
Type the pairing code. Letters can be typed in lower case, and the dash is optional. The browser makes a key that it keeps for itself and can't hand over, and from then on Agoo only listens to that browser on that computer.
Your welcome screen appears, with your logo and colours as your plan allows, in light or dark to match the computer. In Console → Devices the computer shows as paired, with its browser and system, and as Online while Agoo hears from it.
Set a device PIN
Set a device PIN of 4 to 8 digits for the computer in Console → Devices, right after pairing or later. Staff need it to open the kiosk's staff menu. Don't use an easy PIN such as 1234 or 0000: Agoo won't accept it.
Make it a proper kiosk
A kiosk in a public place should show Agoo and nothing else. Agoo can't lock the computer itself: a web page can't stop someone closing the browser or switching to another program. The browser and the computer can, in these ways.
| Way | What it does |
|---|---|
| Full screen | Select the full-screen button on the welcome screen, or press F11 on most keyboards. The address bar and tabs go away. Good for a desk that staff keep an eye on; anyone can leave full screen with Esc or F11. |
| The browser's kiosk mode | Chrome and Edge can start in a locked full screen with no address bar or tabs: make a shortcut that starts the browser with --kiosk followed by your kiosk address, and put it in the computer's start-up programs so it opens when the computer starts. |
| A managed Chromebook | Your Chromebook administrator can set a Chromebook to open one web page in kiosk mode when it starts, with nothing else available. |
| A tablet's browser | Pin the browser to the screen the way you'd pin an app: Guided Access on an iPad, screen pinning on an Android tablet. The steps are in Pair a kiosk. |
| A separate account | Give the kiosk its own user account on the computer, with no access to your files and no saved passwords, and sign in to it only for the kiosk. |
Also worth doing:
- Stop the screen sleeping: set the display to stay on in the computer's power settings.
- Turn off pop-ups from other programs: updates and chat notifications shouldn't appear over a visitor's details.
- Don't clear the browser's data. The kiosk's identity lives in that browser's storage. If it's cleared, or the browser is set to clear everything when it closes, the kiosk has to be paired again.
Allow the camera
The first time a screen needs the camera, the kiosk says what it's for and the browser asks for permission. Choose Allow for this site, and choose to remember it if the browser offers. The browser asks once.
To change it later, select the icon beside the address in the address bar (a padlock or a settings icon) and set Camera to Allow, or look under the browser's settings for site permissions. In the browser's kiosk mode there's no address bar, so allow the camera before you lock the computer down.
Of your organisation's visitor pages, only the kiosk's page may use the camera.
| With a webcam | Without one |
|---|---|
| Visitors' photos, where your check-in rules ask for them | Check-in carries on without the photo when it's offered; a site that always takes one needs a webcam |
| A photo of an ID or a document, where a visitor type asks for one | The visitor still types the ID's number; the photo can't be taken |
| Scanning a pass's QR code | The visitor types the code under it, or finds their invitation by name |
| A selfie at staff clock-in, where you ask for one | Clock-in by name and PIN, where a selfie isn't required |
The staff menu
To open the staff menu, press and hold the kiosk's name at the foot of the screen for two seconds, or select Staff beside it, then enter the device PIN. Agoo checks the PIN, so the menu needs a connection. After five wrong tries it locks for 15 minutes, then longer.
The menu lets staff:
- turn full screen on or off;
- check the connection again;
- see the kiosk's version;
- unpair this browser, which asks for the PIN again.
What visitors can do
In kiosk mode, Check in is always on the welcome screen. Choose what else the kiosk offers in Console → Devices → (device), under Welcome screen, as for a tablet.
| On the screen | What happens |
|---|---|
| Check in | A walk-in enters their name, and their company and phone if they like; chooses what brings them in, from tiles with each visitor type's icon; says who they're here to see; answers the type's questions; agrees to or signs your documents; and has their photo taken if the site asks. |
| I have a pass | An invited visitor holds their pass's QR code up to the webcam, or types the code under it. The kiosk asks only for any document the visit still needs, then checks them in. A pass's days, hours and entrances apply; a pass that can't be used here is refused with "Please see reception". |
| I'm expected | A visitor without their pass to hand finds today's invitation by name. |
| Check out | A visitor finds their name among those inside and confirms. If the kiosk has a feedback survey, it asks it straight away. |
| Leave feedback | A feedback stand: anyone can rate their visit, when you've turned the button on and chosen a survey. |
| Staff clock-in | Staff find their name, enter their PIN and choose Clock in or Clock out. See Clock-in methods. |
Who a visitor is here to see follows the visitor type: one person, several people, a team, or no one in particular. See Who a visit is for.
After check-in the kiosk says Welcome, or Please take a seat when someone has to let the visitor in. It never says why: a host being asked, a security review and reception being needed all look the same.
Your watchlist, your site's walk-in rules, host approvals, visitor counting and the audit trail apply exactly as they do on a tablet.
When reception is closed, close the kiosk for now from Console → Devices: it says Closed for now, with your note.
Privacy at a public screen
A front-desk computer is shared and in plain view, so the kiosk is careful with what it shows and keeps.
- Names are short. Finding an invitation, checking out and staff clock-in show nothing until three letters are typed, then only a first name and an initial, such as "Ama O.".
- The screen forgets. After a minute or so untouched, the kiosk asks "Still there?" and, if nobody answers, clears everything and returns to the welcome screen.
- Nothing a visitor types is kept on the computer. Details, answers, signatures and photos go to Agoo and aren't saved in the browser. All the browser keeps is the kiosk's own identity and how it's displayed.
- The page isn't saved by the browser for reading back later.
What it can't do
Next to the Agoo Kiosk apps, a kiosk in a browser:
- works online only: nothing is saved to send later;
- has no guard mode: a gate device is the app, with each guard signed in;
- doesn't take staff badges, badges on phones or cards: staff clock in by name and PIN;
- doesn't read IDs or number plates itself: an ID's number is typed, and the ID photographed if you ask;
- doesn't print badges;
- has no deliveries button;
- can't lock the computer down: use the browser's kiosk mode or full screen.
If something goes wrong
| What you see | What to do |
|---|---|
| Please see reception, with "No connection" | The kiosk has lost its connection. It keeps trying by itself and comes back when the network does. Check the cable or Wi-Fi. Reception looks after visitors who arrive meanwhile. |
| Closed for now | Someone paused this kiosk in the Console or the Workspace app: open it again in Console → Devices. If you didn't pause it, check the status page. |
| A message that kiosks in a browser aren't in use | Your organisation has turned them off: see Turn browser kiosks off. |
| The pairing screen again | The browser's data was cleared, a different browser or user account was opened, or the kiosk was unpaired. Make a new code in Console → Devices and pair it again. Unpair the old entry there if it's still listed. |
| A message about the computer's clock | Set the computer's date and time to automatic, then reload the page. |
| The code isn't accepted | Check it's the newest code, made for A computer's browser, within its 10 minutes, and that the address is your own organisation's. |
| The camera doesn't start | Allow the camera for this site in the browser, and check no other program is using the webcam. |
Retire a kiosk
Open the computer in Console → Devices and select Unpair, or use Unpair this browser in the staff menu. The browser stops being a kiosk at once and its place on your plan is freed. Do this straight away if the computer is lost, stolen or passed on.
Turn browser kiosks off
Kiosks in a browser are allowed by default. Owners and Admins can turn them off for the whole organisation in Console → Settings → Security, under Kiosks in a browser, with the Allow kiosks in a browser switch. While it's off, no browser can be added or paired, and browsers already paired show that they aren't in use. The Agoo Kiosk apps aren't affected. The change is in the audit trail.
Android kiosk
Which Android tablets and phones run Agoo Kiosk, what the app does, how to set a device up, pinning it to the screen, staff cards over NFC, stands and power.
Badge printers
Supported badge and label printers (AirPrint, Brother QL, Zebra and ESC/POS receipt printers), label sizes, setup and troubleshooting.