This article is for community staff who set up an entry kiosk at a gate with no staff. You do the setup in two places: the Unstaffed Gates tab of Settings in the web app, and the setup screens of the kiosk tablet.
To use the Unstaffed Gates tab, you need the community settings write permission (community_settings:w). To pair a tablet and to change the settings of a gate, you also need the access points write permission (access_points:w). By default, the Admin role has both.
The Unstaffed Gates tab
Go to Settings > Unstaffed Gates. The tab has two cards.
- Help Phone holds the Default help phone number. The kiosk Help button calls this number when a gate has no number of its own. The number is optional. If you leave it empty, only the gates with their own number show a Help button. Select Save to keep a change.
- Gates lists each access point of the community. The chips on a row show the settings of the gate, for example Directory Off or the number of directory properties. The changes in this card save at once.
If the list shows "No access points found", sync your access points first.
Set up a gate
Select a gate in the Gates card to show its settings.
- Enable directory: shows the Directory button on the kiosk at this gate. It is off by default.
- Help button: select Disabled or Phone Number. With Phone Number, type the number in Help phone for this gate. If you leave the field empty, the kiosk calls the default help phone number. If JEKA set up Live Assist for the gate, the row shows Live Agents in place of these options, and JEKA sets the hours in its portal. Live Assist is a live person, in a remote capacity, who processes visitor-initiated entries per the community's configured rules.
- Directory properties: select the button to choose the properties that the directory of this gate shows. With no property selected, the directory shows each property of the community. The button is off while the directory is off.
Pair a kiosk tablet
A pairing code connects a kiosk tablet to one gate. The code also sets the community of the tablet.
1. On the Unstaffed Gates tab, select the gate of the kiosk.
2. Under Kiosk device pairing, you can type a Device name, for example "Front gate tablet".
3. Select Pair kiosk device. MyWatchtower shows a code of 8 letters and numbers, and the time when the code expires. A code works for 60 minutes. To get a new code, select Generate new code.
4. On the tablet, open the kiosk app. The Kiosk setup screen opens on the Pair tablet step.
5. Type the code in Pairing code and select Pair.
If the code is wrong or expired, the tablet shows "Pairing failed. Check the code: codes expire after 60 minutes." Make a new code and try again.
The gate then lists the tablet with its status: Active, Code pending, Code expired or Unpaired.
To move a tablet to a different gate, select Unpair on the Pair tablet step of the tablet. Then pair the tablet again with a new code from the new gate.
Finish the setup on the tablet
The Kiosk setup screen has 7 steps:
1. Pair tablet: enter the pairing code.
2. Operator PINs: set the Exit PIN and the Audio PIN. This step is necessary.
3. Tablet model
4. Audio: the speaker and the microphone.
5. USB cameras
6. Activity Clips: when there is movement at the gate, the kiosk saves a short clip, so staff can review the entry activity later.
7. Lock and launch: slide Slide to lock and launch. The slider works only after the Pair tablet and Operator PINs steps are complete.
The kiosk then locks the tablet in kiosk mode and shows the visitor screen.
What visitors can do at the kiosk
The visitor screen shows one button for each entry method that your community turned on:
- Pin Code: the visitor types a kiosk PIN.
- QR Code: the visitor scans an entry QR code.
- Directory: the visitor finds a resident and calls the resident or sends an entry request. This button shows only at a gate with Enable directory on.
When the kiosk cannot reach MyWatchtower, it shows a message in place of these buttons, with the help phone number of the gate.
Get help
For a hardware question or a tablet that does not pair, contact JEKA support.