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Kiosk mode turns any shared tablet or browser at your workplace into a self-serve clock-in/out station — employees walk up, enter a 4-digit PIN, and clock in without logging into the full app. Go to Settings → Kiosk.

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Generating a Kiosk URL

  1. Click Generate Kiosk URL
  2. Copy the link (or open it directly) and load it on the device you want to use as a kiosk — a tablet mounted at the entrance, a shared laptop, etc.
The kiosk page has no navigation or sidebar — it’s a full-screen, locked-down clock station. It requests fullscreen automatically and re-enters it if someone exits, and it blocks accidental page refreshes, browser-close shortcuts, and F5/F11. PIN entry and the project/task pickers time out and return to the idle screen after 30 seconds of no input, so a walk-away mid-flow doesn’t leave the kiosk sitting on someone else’s screen.
By default, anyone with the URL can open the kiosk (identification still requires a valid PIN). If a device is lost or compromised, click Regenerate URL to invalidate the old link immediately — you’ll need to reload the new URL on any kiosk devices. For stronger security, pair your devices (below) and turn on Require paired devices.
By default the kiosk URL works from any device — copying the link is enough to clock in from anywhere, including from home. Pairing locks the kiosk down to specific tablets by issuing each one its own device credential, separate from the shared URL.
  1. On the Kiosk settings page, click Pair a device
  2. A one-time, 6-digit code appears (valid for 10 minutes, single use)
  3. On the tablet, open the kiosk URL — since that device has no credential yet, it automatically lands on a Pair this device screen instead of the idle screen. Enter a Device name (e.g. “Reception iPad”) and the code, then click Pair device
  4. Once paired, that tablet stores its own device credential in the browser and stays paired until you revoke it — reloading or bookmarking the kiosk URL on that tablet won’t ask for pairing again
A device’s credential is scoped to that browser’s local storage, per kiosk URL — clearing the tablet’s browser data, or using a different browser on the same tablet, will require pairing it again.
Turn on Require paired devices once your tablets are paired — with it on, only paired devices can load the kiosk at all (including the idle screen, which shows who’s currently clocked in — worth locking down on its own). Turning it on with nothing paired yet takes the kiosk offline until you pair a device, so Shiftsheet asks you to confirm first. You can revoke any paired device individually from the Paired devices list at any time — revoked devices show struck through with “Revoked <time ago>”, and this doesn’t require regenerating the kiosk URL for everyone else. Devices are revoked, not deleted, so a tablet that recorded real clock-ins stays in the list for your records. The list also shows each active device’s “Last used” time.
If pairing is off, generating a pairing code still shows a reminder that the kiosk will keep working on unpaired devices too, until you turn Require paired devices on.

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Setting your own Kiosk PIN

As a Company Admin, you have a separate 4-digit Kiosk PIN so you can reach Admin Controls at the kiosk (Clock In/Out, Today’s Activity, and Close Kiosk to exit back to the normal app). Set it from the same Settings → Kiosk page — you’ll see a reminder banner if one isn’t set yet. Once set, your PIN is shown masked (••••) with a toggle to reveal it, and a Change PIN control to update it.
Employees and managers set their own Kiosk PIN independently from their Profile page — you don’t need to set PINs on their behalf. PINs must be unique within your company (checked across every company an employee belongs to, for anyone on more than one).

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Clock-in options

Two toggles control what an employee must do before clocking in at the kiosk:
The project picker itself shows up any time an employee has at least one active project assigned to them, whether or not Require project selection is on — the toggle only controls whether they can tap Skip — clock in without a project to bypass it. Employees with no project assignments never see the picker either way. Leave both toggles off if you want project/task selection to always be optional.
The project list at the kiosk shows each project’s code, status (a badge for anything other than In Progress — On Hold, Proposed, etc.), description, and due date (flagged Overdue in red if it’s passed) — sorted by soonest due date first. Picking a project with tasks assigned to the employee opens a task multi-select; hours are split equally across whichever tasks they pick.

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What employees see at the kiosk

1

Idle screen

Shows your company logo/name, a live clock, and a Tap to Clock In / Out button. If anyone is currently clocked in, a small “N in” counter appears in the header, and their avatars are listed under Currently clocked in at the bottom of the card.
2

PIN entry

A number pad for the employee’s 4-digit kiosk PIN. An unrecognised PIN shows an inline error and clears the pad; the screen resets to idle automatically after 30 seconds of no input.
3

Project / task selection

If the employee has projects assigned, they pick one (see above), then any required tasks. Skipped entirely if they have no project assignments.
4

Clock in

A green Clocked In! confirmation shows for a few seconds, then the kiosk returns to idle automatically.
5

Clock out

Tapping through PIN entry while already clocked in goes straight to a Clock Out Summary screen instead of the project picker — see below.

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Clock Out Summary

Identifying as someone already clocked in opens a detailed summary before finalizing the clock-out:
  • Started and Duration for the current session, plus total hours
  • Today’s scheduled shift (exact start/end times where a schedule exists) or Flexible schedule if the employee isn’t on a fixed roster, or Not a scheduled day if today falls outside their roster
  • A breakdown of Tasks (equal split) — every task selected at clock-in, with its share of the session’s hours
What appears next depends on how the session compares to the schedule: The overtime/RDO panel has a stepper (−/+, in half-hour steps) and a direct number entry for each eligible bucket, plus shortcuts: All Flexi / All TIL / All Paid OT to dump the whole surplus into one bucket, Split Evenly to divide it across every eligible bucket, and — on a day the employee wasn’t rostered to work — Claim Full RDO (+1 day) to bank a full RDO day and route any remainder to another eligible bucket. A running Allocated: Xh / Yh line turns green when fully allocated, amber while some remains, or red if over-allocated (over-allocating blocks the Clock Out button; under-allocating is always allowed and just leaves the remainder pending). The undertime panel similarly offers a Use 1 RDO Day shortcut (deducts a full day from the RDO balance) or individual Flexi/TIL steppers to cover the shortfall — deduction is optional.
Which buckets appear depends on the employee’s eligibility and balances for RDO, Flexi & TIL — and the kiosk uses the exact same variance/overtime calculation as the in-app timesheet drawer, so a company’s overtime distribution policy applies identically whether an employee clocks out from the kiosk or their own dashboard.

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Open sessions and conflicts

Two situations interrupt the normal flow, both triggered right after PIN entry:
  • Open Session Detected — if the employee still has a session open from an earlier calendar day (and it hasn’t already auto-closed — see below), the kiosk shows the date and time it was opened and asks them to confirm Close & Clock In, which closes that old session and starts a fresh one, rather than silently stacking sessions on top of each other.
  • Clock-In Unavailable — if clocking in right now would fall inside a time block the employee already has recorded manually today, the kiosk blocks the clock-in outright and shows the conflicting time range, asking them to fix or remove it from their timesheet first (from the dashboard, not the kiosk).
Any session left open for more than 12 hours auto-closes on its own the next time the employee’s kiosk PIN, dashboard clock, or timesheet is touched — flagged on the entry so it stays editable. The Open Session Detected screen only appears for a more recent session that’s simply crossed into a new calendar day and hasn’t hit that 12-hour mark yet.

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What managers and admins see at the kiosk

Kiosk behavior branches by the employee’s role (their role in the company they’re identifying into, for anyone on more than one) after PIN entry:
  • Employees go straight into the clock-in/out flow described above.
  • Managers land on a screen with Clock In/Out plus View Team.
  • Admins land on Admin Controls: Clock In/Out, Today’s Activity, and Close Kiosk (exits fullscreen and returns to the normal app — this is the only way out of the locked-down kiosk view).
Today’s Activity / View Team (same data, different label) lists everyone with a time log today, grouped by employee — each person’s avatar, an Active badge if they’re currently clocked in, and every clock-in → clock-out pair recorded for them so far today, so you can spot who’s in, who’s already left, and how many sessions someone logged.
This is handy for a quick roll-call without opening the full app or reports.

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How the kiosk verifies who’s clocking in

Two separate layers of trust are in play, worth understanding when troubleshooting or thinking about security:
  • The kiosk URL identifies your company (it contains a company-scoped token). Anyone who has it can open the page — unless you turn on Require paired devices, in which case the URL only ever serves the pairing screen to a device that doesn’t present a valid, paired device credential.
  • The employee’s PIN identifies the person. Every clock-in/out action is additionally backed by a short-lived action token issued the moment they enter their PIN, so a request can’t be replayed for a different employee or a different kiosk session.
Pairing closes the gap between “has the link” and “is standing at the tablet” — without it, the link itself is the only credential, so anyone who kept a copy could clock in from anywhere, including from home.