# Shared kiosk devices and PINs

Turn a store tablet or phone into a shared kiosk where staff sign in with a 4-digit PIN to clock in, take breaks and do their tasks — and manage kiosks from the web.

For: Managers, Admins, Employees · On: Web, iOS, Android · [Help Center](https://www.mays.app/help) › [Time clock](https://www.mays.app/help/time-clock) · Last updated October 2, 2026 · Mays Team

A kiosk is a tablet or phone that stays at the store. Staff sign in with their 4-digit PIN to clock in and out, take breaks and work through their tasks — no personal phone needed.

**Plans:** kiosks are part of **Devices** (Basic plan). The **Clock** tab on a kiosk also needs **Scheduling** (Pro plan); without it, a kiosk is for tasks only.

## Set up a kiosk (managers and admins)

Setting up and managing kiosks needs the **Manage shared devices** permission, which managers and admins have by default. Use a tablet or phone with the Mays app installed — see [Installing the apps](https://www.mays.app/help/mobile-apps/install-the-apps).

1. Sign in to the app on that device with your own account.
2. Tap your picture to open **Profile**, then **Convert to shared device**. It's only there when your plan includes **Devices**.
3. If you work at several locations, pick the one the device is at.
4. Give it a name everyone recognises, for example *Front counter iPad*, and tap **Next**.
5. Read the confirmation and tap **Convert** (on Android, **Convert to shared device**).

![Convert to shared device: After you confirm, this device will switch to PIN-keypad mode. Your personal session will end and only employees with branch PINs can use it. You can revoke it from the panel at any time.](https://mays-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/site/help__kiosk-mode__01-convert.1b73a36c16.png)

You're signed out and the device shows the PIN keypad with the location's name. It stays a kiosk until it's revoked from the web (see below).

## Sign in with your PIN (everyone)

1. On the kiosk, type your 4-digit PIN under **Enter your PIN**. It signs you in as soon as you type the fourth digit.
2. You land on the **Clock** tab with your name and the store.

![The kiosk keypad: the Mays logo, the location South, Enter your PIN, four empty dots and the number keys](https://mays-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/site/help__kiosk-mode__02-pin-keypad.1a0a113df1.png)

Anyone assigned to that location with a PIN can sign in — staff, managers and admins.

![The kiosk Clock tab for Olivia South at South: Not clocked in, Updated just now, a green Clock in button, and Skip and use the app · Not you? Sign out, with the Tasks, Clock, History and Knowledge tabs](https://mays-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/site/help__kiosk-mode__03-clock-tab.d085d8f209.png)

## Clock in and out on the kiosk

- **Clock in** — you see *Clocked in at 5:44 AM — have a good shift* with your name, and the kiosk signs you out.
- **Start break** / **End break** — breaks work like in the app; see [Taking breaks](https://www.mays.app/help/time-clock/taking-breaks). After **End break** you stay signed in, so sign out when you're done.
- **Clock out** — confirm *Clock out at 1:30 PM?* with **Yes, clock out**. If your store asks about your breaks, answer the question first. You're signed out afterwards.

![The kiosk confirmation on a green screen: Clocked in at 5:44 AM — have a good shift, Olivia](https://mays-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/site/help__kiosk-mode__04-clocked-in.eb30205826.png)

The kiosk also has **Tasks**, **History** and **Knowledge** tabs (**KB** on Android) — tap **Skip and use the app** to go to your tasks. There's no chat, schedule or profile on a kiosk.

**Signing out:** tap the sign-out button at the top, or **Not you? Sign out**. The kiosk also signs you out after 30 seconds without a tap. On every kiosk screen a banner counts down the last 10 seconds — *Signing out in 5 s — tap to stay*. A kiosk session also ends after 10 minutes, even if you're using it; just type your PIN again.

## If your PIN doesn't work

| Message | What it means |
| --- | --- |
| *PIN not recognised.* | Wrong PIN, or you aren't assigned to this location. |
| *Too many wrong PINs — device locked.* | Five wrong PINs in a row. Wait 30 seconds — the kiosk says *Device is locked for …s after too many failed attempts.* |
| *PIN matches multiple users — ask a manager to fix.* | Two people at this location have the same PIN. A manager needs to change one. Mays avoids this where it can: when someone is added to another location where their PIN is already taken, they get a new PIN, which they'll find under **Kiosk PIN** in their app. |

## Where to find your PIN

Everyone you add on the web or in the app gets a random 4-digit PIN. People imported from a spreadsheet only get one if the file had a PIN column — until a manager sets one, their profile says *Not set — ask your manager*.

- **Staff:** open the Mays app on your own phone, tap your picture, and look under **Kiosk PIN** — tap **Show**. Your PIN is yours alone; don't share it or use anyone else's.
- **Admins and managers** can see, set or regenerate a team member's PIN — on the web under **Locations & Users → Users** → the person → **Access & security** tab → **Kiosk PIN** (**Reveal**, **Change**, **Regenerate**), or in the app under **Profile → Team** → the person. Admins can do this for anyone; managers only for the staff at their own locations, not for other managers or admins — the web page then has no **Kiosk PIN** section, and the app shows *Not set*. Two people at the same location can't share a PIN.

Only admins — and managers, for the staff at their own locations — can see or change other people's PINs. A manager can't see another manager's or an admin's PIN.

![The Kiosk PIN card in a staff member's profile, with the PIN hidden as four dots and a Show button](https://mays-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/site/help__kiosk-mode__05-your-pin.e1465f1ab1.png)

With 7shifts connected, each sync copies a person's 7shifts PIN into Mays when it's 4 digits, so a PIN changed in Mays may be replaced.

## Manage kiosks on the web (managers and admins)

**Where:** **Devices** in the web sidebar. It shows for anyone with **Manage shared devices** — managers see their own locations' kiosks, admins every location's.

![The Devices page as a manager at South: search, All locations, the All, Active, Revoked and Locked filters; Back office iPad at South marked ONLINE, with its Recent activity listing auto logout and pin login by Olivia South, then manual logout and pin login by Owen South; and one revoked device, Front counter iPhone](https://mays-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/site/help__kiosk-mode__06-devices-page.44fee3273f.png)

- Each kiosk shows its name, location, device type and when it was last used. **ONLINE** means someone used it in the last two minutes; **LOCKED** means it's in the 30-second lock after wrong PINs.
- Click a kiosk to see its **Recent activity** — PIN sign-ins, wrong PINs, lockouts and sign-outs, with who and when. **auto logout** is the kiosk signing someone out by itself (after a punch, or when nobody taps); **manual logout** is someone tapping sign out.
- **Rename:** click the pencil, type the new name and press Enter.
- **Revoke:** click the bin and confirm. The kiosk returns to the normal Mays sign-in screen — straight away, or the next time someone types a PIN. Someone already signed in can finish, until their session ends.
- Search by name, model, system or store, or filter by location and status.

A revoked kiosk stays in the list under **Revoked**. To use that device as a kiosk again, run **Convert to shared device** on it again — it appears as a new entry.

## Good to know

- **Punches from a kiosk** are recorded at the kiosk's location and show **Kiosk** as the source on the timesheet — see [Timesheets and pay periods](https://www.mays.app/help/time-clock/timesheets-and-pay-periods).
- **Store rules still apply:** early clock-in limits and "no shift today" rules work on kiosks too. Setting **Mobile punching** to **Kiosk only** or **NFC tap required** never blocks the kiosk. iPads and iPhones used as kiosks send their location at clock-in, so a location's **Block** geofence can apply to them; Android kiosks don't — see [Punch verification and geofencing](https://www.mays.app/help/time-clock/punch-verification-and-geofence).
- **There's no way to leave kiosk mode on the device itself** — revoke it from the **Devices** page.
- **Renaming the location** doesn't update the name on an existing kiosk's keypad. Convert the device again if you need it to change.

## Related articles

- Time clock: [Clocking in and out on your phone](https://www.mays.app/help/time-clock/clock-in-on-your-phone) — Clock in and out, and take breaks, from the Schedule tab of the Mays app — plus what the messages mean when the app won't let you clock in.
- Time clock: [Taking breaks](https://www.mays.app/help/time-clock/taking-breaks) — Start and end breaks in the Mays app, pick the right break, see when one is due, and answer the break question when you clock out.
- Time clock: [Punch verification and geofencing](https://www.mays.app/help/time-clock/punch-verification-and-geofence) — Decide whether staff can clock in from their own phone, only after tapping an NFC tag, or only on the kiosk — and flag or block punches made away from the store.
- Mobile apps: [A tour of the app](https://www.mays.app/help/mobile-apps/mobile-app-tour) — What's where in the Mays app — the Tasks, History, Knowledge, Chat and Schedule tabs, your profile, the notification bell, the extras managers get, and how a shared kiosk tablet differs.
- Mobile apps: [Installing the Mays apps](https://www.mays.app/help/mobile-apps/install-the-apps) — Get the Mays app on iPhone, iPad or Android — where to download it, which phones it runs on, what it asks permission for, and how to sign in the first time.
- Team & roles: [Add and invite team members](https://www.mays.app/help/team-roles/add-team-members) — Add people on the web or from the app. Employees get a text with a link to the app; managers and admins get an email to set a password. Plus resending invites and checking delivery.
- Time clock: [Timesheets and pay periods](https://www.mays.app/help/time-clock/timesheets-and-pay-periods) — Review every punch in a pay period on the Time Clock page — fix, add or delete punches, approve them, check warnings and hours, then close the period for payroll.

## Still need help?

Send us a support request and a real person on the Mays team will get back to you.

[Contact support](https://www.mays.app/contact?topic=support) · [Call +1 (561) 286-3939](tel:+15612863939)

Canonical: https://www.mays.app/help/time-clock/kiosk-mode