How the Kiosk PIN Works and Who Should Have It

You leave a tablet on the front counter so volunteers can tap their name and clock in. It runs all day, unattended, with a dozen people touching it. The one thing you do not want is for someone to back out of the roster, poke around your reports, or change a setting by accident. That is the job the kiosk PIN does. Here are the questions coordinators actually ask about it, answered directly.

What does the kiosk PIN protect?

The kiosk PIN protects the exit from kiosk mode, not the act of clocking in. Workers still tap their name and clock in or out with no PIN, no login, and no app. The PIN sits between the shared tablet and anything a worker should not reach: the admin dashboard, your reports, your settings, and the list of everyone in the workspace.

Think of it as a lock on one door. The kiosk screen stays open and usable all shift. When someone tries to leave that screen, the PIN is what stops them. Because Kangaroo Clock never gives workers accounts, the PIN is the single control standing between a public tablet and your admin view.

Who needs to know the kiosk PIN?

Only the people who set up or take down the kiosk need the PIN, usually you and maybe one or two shift leads. Workers never need it. The whole point of a shared tablet is that a volunteer walks up, taps their name, and walks away, so handing the PIN to everyone would defeat the reason it exists.

A good rule: if a person opens or closes the tablet for the day, or troubleshoots it mid-shift, give them the PIN. Everyone else just uses the kiosk as it sits. If you run several sites, you can give the same small circle of leads the PIN at each location, since the tablet only needs the code to exit, not to run.

Keep the list short. The more people who know it, the more likely it ends up written on a sticky note next to the tablet, which is the same as having no PIN at all.

What happens if a worker tries to exit kiosk mode?

A worker who tries to leave kiosk mode is asked for the PIN, and without it the tablet stays on the clock-in screen. There is no way around the prompt from inside the kiosk. If they do not know the code, they are returned to the roster, and the only things they can do are tap a name to clock in or tap it again to clock out.

So the common failure modes do not happen. A curious volunteer cannot wander into your reports. A kid at a tutoring center cannot close the app and open a browser. Someone cannot accidentally reset a setting while trying to figure out the screen. The kiosk does one thing, and the PIN keeps it that way. For the full behavior, see the detailed notes on how the kiosk PIN works.

This is worth pairing with your other guardrail. Even if a worker forgets to clock out entirely, auto-close closes a stale open entry at its start time plus your cutoff, never at the current time, so a forgotten clock-out never inflates the hours you report.

How do I change the kiosk PIN?

You change the kiosk PIN from your admin settings, then re-enter it on the tablet the next time you exit kiosk mode. Since only admins sign in, and they do it by magic link, you make the change from any device where you are signed in, and it applies to the kiosk from that point on.

Change it when a lead leaves, when the code has been shared too widely, or on a set schedule if you run a busy public space. Tell the one or two people who still need it, and do not post the new code anywhere near the tablet. If you ever forget the PIN yourself, you are still signed in as an admin on your own device, so you can view or reset it from there.

Does the PIN change anything about clocking in?

No, the PIN has zero effect on how workers clock in or out. They tap their name on the tablet exactly as before. The three clock-in methods stay open and PIN-free: the shared-tablet kiosk, a posted QR code, and a personal link. If you want to reduce foot traffic at a single tablet, you can put up a QR sign-in poster so people scan and clock in from their own phones instead.

Try it before you hand out a tablet

The fastest way to understand the PIN is to see the kiosk running. Open the live kiosk demo, tap a name, then try to exit. You will feel exactly where the lock sits and why workers never trip over it.

When you are ready, set up the tablet once, set a PIN you keep to a short list, and let the roster carry the rest of the shift. Everything a worker touches is the clock. Everything else stays behind one code.