Some teams should not clock in on a personal phone: shift staff who leave their phones in a locker, seasonal workers, sites where phones are impractical. For those, put one shared tablet at the entrance and let people punch there.
A kiosk is a normal tablet running SVDY in kiosk mode. It is not dedicated time clock hardware, and there is nothing proprietary to buy.
Set it up
- Register the device in the admin console. Give it a name that says where it is ("Front entrance", "Workshop door") and bind it to a geofence. The fence is required: it is what tells SVDY that punches from this tablet belong to this site.
- Copy the one-time pairing code. It is shown once, right after you register the device, and it expires shortly afterwards. If it lapses before you reach the tablet, generate a fresh one.
- Pair the tablet. Open SVDY on the device, choose the kiosk option, and type the code. The tablet then holds its own credential and does not need the code again.
- Decide whether to allow a PIN fallback. If enabled, a worker whose face cannot be matched can identify themselves with a PIN instead of being stuck at the door. It is a trade-off between convenience and strictness — pick deliberately.
- Mount it properly. Face height, on a stable mount, facing away from a bright window. Backlight is the single most common cause of a tablet that "does not recognise anyone".
- Test with two different people before you rely on it. Have each of them punch, then confirm both records appear correctly in the admin console with the right names.
Treat the pairing code like a password. It is what turns a tablet into a trusted clock-in point for your organization. Do not share it in a group chat or leave it written on the device.
How a punch works at the kiosk
A worker steps up, the tablet takes a photo, and SVDY matches that photo against the enrolled photos of your workers to identify who it is. Nobody types a name first and nobody needs an account on the tablet.
Only workers who have enrolled a face photo and whose consent has been recorded and approved can be matched. Someone who has not completed that step cannot punch at the kiosk, exactly as on a phone.
If per-punch liveness checking is available in your plan and enabled, the tablet also asks for a brief live check before matching, which raises the bar against someone holding up a photo.
Kiosk or phones?
You do not have to choose one for the whole company. Use the kiosk for the people who need it and phones for everyone else — the same attendance record, arrived at two ways.
The kiosk is the better fit when phones are locked away or impractical, when a whole shift arrives within a few minutes at a single door, or when you want one visible, predictable place to clock in. Phones are the better fit for people who move between sites, and for anyone who is rarely at the door the tablet is mounted on.
Troubleshooting
The pairing code is rejected. It is one-time and short-lived. Generate a new code and use it straight away.
The tablet says its pairing is no longer valid. The device credential was revoked or replaced. Register a fresh code and pair it again.
A worker is not recognised. Check that their face photo is enrolled and their consent has been approved. If it has, the usual physical causes are backlight behind them, a face covering, or standing too far from the tablet. Where PIN fallback is enabled, use it to get the person through the door and fix the photo afterwards.
Punches are refused for location. The tablet punches against the geofence bound to the device. Indoors, a tablet's position can drift like a phone's — widen the radius, or move the pin closer to the entrance where the tablet actually sits.
The queue backs up in the morning. One person at a time, and a mount at face height so nobody has to crouch or reach. If a whole shift arrives at once, a second tablet at the same door moves faster than asking people to wait.