Shared devices, PINs and the front desk iPad

A shared device is an iPad, tablet or computer that stays in the salon, like the one on the front desk. Nobody signs in to it with an email and password. Each person taps their name and enters their PIN, does what they need, and the device locks itself when nobody's using it. Everything done on it is recorded against whoever signed in.

#Setting up a shared device

You make a one-time code on any phone or computer where you're signed in, then enter it on the device.

1. Open Settings → Team & roster. Under Shared devices, choose Add a device.
2. Give it a Name so you can tell your devices apart, like "Front desk iPad".
3. Under What it’s for, choose Front desk or Full access (see Front desk or Full access).
4. Under Lock the screen, choose how long it waits without use before it locks.
5. Choose Get a code. A QR code and an 8-character code appear.
6. On the device, scan the QR code with the camera, or open the address shown and type the code. Then choose Set up this device.

The code works once, for 15 minutes, and you won't see it again. Until it's used, the device shows in the list as "Waiting to be set up", with Cancel code. Anyone signed in on that browser is signed out, and the device opens at its lock screen.

Only set up a device that stays in the salon: once it's set up, anyone with a PIN can sign in on it.

#Setting up an iPad from its Home Screen

On an iPad, add FullColumn to the Home Screen first and set it up from there. The Home Screen app keeps its own sign-in, apart from Safari, and it's needed for alerts on the iPad.

1. In Safari, open your staff app's address (app.fullcolumn.com), tap Share, then Add to Home Screen.
2. Open FullColumn from the Home Screen.
3. On the sign-in page, tap Set up a shared device.
4. Enter your salon's address (the part of your FullColumn link after the /, like "halo") and the code, then tap Continue.
5. Tap Set up this device.

#Front desk or Full access: what a shared device is for

A PIN never gives anyone more than their own permissions: Front desk only holds some of them back. Things it holds back stay on screen with a small lock, and using one asks for the person's password. The full list is in roles and permissions.

Only someone who can do everything (like the owner) can choose Full access, because everyone's PIN there unlocks all they can do, the owner's too. Anyone who manages the team can change a device to Front desk.

#Giving team members a PIN

PINs are 4 to 6 digits. Obvious ones like 1111, 1234 or 4321 aren't allowed ("That PIN is too easy to guess").

• For someone else: open them in Settings → Team & roster, enter their PIN and choose Save. To change it, enter a New PIN; leave it blank to keep theirs. Remove their PIN stops them signing in on shared devices. This needs "Manage the team, permissions and PINs".
• For yourself: in My account, choose Set a PIN or Change your PIN. It asks for your password, or your current PIN if you don't have a password.

A PIN only works on devices added in Shared devices, never on someone's own phone or computer. Someone with a PIN and no email can only sign in on shared devices.

#Switching user on a shared device

The lock screen asks "Who's using Front desk iPad?" (with the device's name) and shows everyone who has a PIN.

1. Tap your name.
2. Enter your PIN. It signs you in as soon as the last digit goes in.

Not Mia? goes back to the names. If only one person has a PIN, the device goes straight to them. Use email and password signs in without a PIN: that person has all their own access, even on a Front desk device, and the device still locks after its lock time.

Signing back in with your own PIN takes you back to where you were. Someone else signing in starts afresh, so nothing of yours carries over to them.

#Locking a shared device

• By hand: tap the lock beside your name at the bottom of the menu (Lock – switch user). Do it whenever you step away.
• By itself: after the device's lock time without anyone touching it: 1, 2, 5, 10 or 30 minutes, or Only when someone taps Lock. New devices lock after 5 minutes.

A sign-in on a shared device also ends by itself after 12 hours, so each day starts at the lock screen.

#Unlocking full access on a Front desk device

When someone signed in with their PIN needs something the device holds back, like a refund or Settings:

1. Use it as usual: a Full access box asks for Your password.
2. Enter it (and the code from your authenticator app, if you use two-step sign-in), then choose Unlock.

You then have all your own access on the device for 10 minutes, shown in a bar ("Full access for Mia") with End now. It also ends when the device locks or someone else signs in.

Someone who signs in with a PIN only, and has no password, can't unlock full access: ask someone who has one, or ask whoever manages the team to send them an invite to choose a password. If your salon requires two-step sign-in for them and they haven't set it up, they set it up on their own phone or computer first.

#When someone forgets their PIN

• Someone who manages the team can give them a new one: open them in Settings → Team & roster, enter a New PIN and choose Save. Any sign-in they had on shared devices ends.
• Or they set it themselves: sign in with their email and password (on the lock screen, Use email and password, or on their own phone), then choose Change your PIN in My account.

After 5 wrong PINs in a row, that person has to wait 15 minutes ("Too many wrong PINs. Wait 15 minutes, or sign in with your email and password"). A device that gets 20 wrong PINs in 15 minutes waits too.

#Alerts on a shared device

A shared device can show alerts for the whole salon on its own screen, whoever is signed in (or nobody). Open the device in Shared devices and choose what it's told about under Alerts on this device:

• Online bookings (on to start with): new bookings and requests, and changes clients make online.
• Client replies (on): a client texts back, or asks to change or cancel.
• Forms with answers to check (on): a consultation form that flags something, like an allergy.
• Feedback (off), on a Full access device only: a feedback form sent in with answers to check, or any when the form says so. Feedback often names the team, and shows on the lock screen.
• Gift vouchers bought online (off).
• Include clients’ phone numbers and emails (off): left out unless you need them, since the alerts show on the lock screen to whoever is at the desk.

To start them, open Settings → Team & roster → Shared devices on the device itself and choose Turn on alerts here. On an iPad this only works from the Home Screen app. Send a test checks they arrive, and Turn off works from anywhere. People's own alerts are separate: see team alerts.

#Changing or removing a shared device

Open the device in Shared devices to rename it, change What it’s for or its lock time, and choose Save. A change to Front desk applies to whoever is on it straight away.

Remove signs out anyone using it, stops its alerts and stops PIN sign-in there. Do this straight away for a lost or stolen iPad. To use a device again after removing it, add it again with a new code.

Setting up and changing shared devices needs "Manage the team, permissions and PINs", and a code stops working if whoever made it loses that permission or leaves the team before it's used. FullColumn support can't set up or change shared devices.

#Common questions

#Does a PIN work on someone's own phone?

No. PINs only work on the salon's shared devices. On their own phone, people sign in with their email and password.

#Do two people need different PINs?

No. Everyone taps their own name first, so PINs don't have to be different, but each person's should be one only they know.

#Does the front desk iPad need two-step sign-in?

Not for PINs. Unlocking full access on a Front desk device does ask for the code, from anyone who uses two-step sign-in.

#Our iPad shows the normal sign-in page instead of the lock screen. Why?

It isn't set up as a shared device any more: it was removed in Settings, or its browser data was cleared. Remove its old entry from Shared devices, make a new code and set it up again.

#Can a stylist who only has a PIN do a refund on the front desk iPad?

No. On a Front desk device a refund needs the person's password, and someone with only a PIN has none. Someone who has the permission and a password can unlock full access and do it.