Pairing a Kiosk Device

Summary

A kiosk device is a shared tablet (typically near the workshop door) that staff use to clock in and out for the day. Pairing turns a fresh tablet into a kiosk - point it at the workshop’s QR code and it logs in to the kiosk account, ready to use. Pairing is a one-off step you do once per tablet. After that the tablet stays signed in and goes straight to the time clock.

Prerequisites

• A tablet or laptop with a camera and a modern browser (the camera is optional - manual code entry is supported as a fallback).
• The tablet is on the same internet connection it will use day-to-day.
• A manager or owner with the kiosk.manage capability is on hand to generate the QR code.
• The garage’s kiosk device record has been created in settings (or you are about to create one).

Steps

Manager step: create the kiosk device record

1. On a normal staff browser (not the tablet), sign in as an owner or manager.
2. Open Settings then Kiosk Devices.
3. Click Add Kiosk Device, give it a name (e.g. “Reception tablet” or “Workshop floor”), and save. The device appears in the list as Active.

Manager step: generate the QR code

1. On the new device’s row, click the Generate QR Code button (the QR icon).
2. A dialog opens showing a QR code and an expiry timestamp.
3. The QR code is single-use and expires after 5 minutes. Generate it just before you bring the tablet over.

Tablet step: open the kiosk setup page

1. On the tablet, open the browser and navigate to /kiosk-setup on your Torqueflow URL (e.g. https://your-garage.torqueflow.app/kiosk-setup).
2. The Kiosk Setup screen appears with two big buttons: Scan QR Code and Enter Code.

Pairing by QR code (recommended)

1. Make sure Scan QR Code is selected.
2. Tap Start Scanning. The browser asks for camera permission - tap Allow.
3. The tablet’s back camera turns on and shows a viewfinder with corner markers and a moving scan line.
4. Hold the tablet so the manager’s QR code fills the marked square.
5. When the code is detected, a green “QR Code Detected!” overlay appears, then the tablet automatically navigates to the time clock at /time-clock and stays signed in.

Pairing by code (fallback)

1. If the camera is broken or denied, tap Enter Code at the top of the setup page.
2. Ask the manager to read out the authentication code (the token portion of the QR-code URL).
3. Type or paste the code into the Authentication Code field.
4. Tap Connect Device. A green “Code Accepted!” overlay appears, then the tablet navigates to the time clock.

After pairing

1. The tablet is now signed in as the kiosk user for your garage. It will land on the time clock every time it opens.
2. Set the browser to launch the time-clock URL on startup or pin the page to the home screen for quick access.
3. The tablet stays paired indefinitely. You only need to repeat pairing if the tablet is reset, the kiosk device record is deactivated, or the browser cookies are cleared.

Expected Outcome

• The QR-code dialog on the manager’s screen pairs successfully on the first attempt.
• The tablet redirects to /time-clock within a second or two of detecting the code.
• The kiosk device list shows the device as Active and reflects the most recent activity (last seen).
• Staff can immediately start tapping their cards on the kiosk to clock in.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Cause	Fix
The tablet asks for camera permission and I tap Block	The browser remembers the choice.	Open the browser site settings, find the kiosk URL, and reset camera access. Then refresh /kiosk-setup and tap Allow this time. Or use Enter Code instead.
”QR code has expired” message after scanning	The QR was generated more than 5 minutes ago.	Ask the manager to click Refresh QR Code in the dialog and try again.
”QR code already used” message	A previous tablet has already paired with this code.	Generate a new QR code for the new tablet - codes are single-use by design.
”Invalid QR code” message	The tablet scanned something that was not a Torqueflow kiosk QR.	Make sure you are scanning the QR shown in Settings - Kiosk Devices, not a saved screenshot or print-out.
”This kiosk device has been deactivated”	The device record was disabled in settings.	Ask the manager to reactivate it from the kiosk devices list, or create a new device record.
Camera viewfinder is dark/black	The camera is in use by another app, or the browser does not have permission.	Close other apps using the camera, refresh the page, and grant camera permission again. If it persists, use Enter Code.
The QR code dialog will not load on the manager’s screen	A network problem stopped the token generation.	Close the dialog and click Generate QR Code again. Check the manager has the kiosk.manage capability.

Notes

• Pairing is per-device, not per-user. Anyone holding a paired tablet can clock staff in and out, so keep the tablet on a fixed mount or a known location to avoid confusion.
• The kiosk device record can be renamed, deactivated, or deleted from Settings - Kiosk Devices at any time. Deactivating a device immediately signs it out the next time it tries to load the time clock.
• If you have multiple sites or multiple workshops, create one kiosk device record per location so you can name them clearly and manage them independently.
• The pairing flow uses a single-use 5-minute token to stop screenshots of QR codes being reused later.

Permissions

• Generating QR codes and managing kiosk device records requires the kiosk.manage capability (typically owners and managers).
• The kiosk-setup page itself is public - no sign-in required - but you cannot complete pairing without a valid token from a manager.
• After pairing, the time clock requires the time.clock.self or time.clock.others capability for staff to clock in. Those capabilities are checked per-staff, not per-tablet.