Skedda's Tablet Display feature gives you a beautiful live representation of a space's status that can be shown on a device mounted in its proximity, like a tablet. Users can quickly navigate to the booking page from here!
This feature is included with Skedda Workplace plans and AllBooked Advanced. If you are subscribed to a different AllBooked plan and want to try the tablet display feature, please reach out to our team to discuss an upgrade.
Also, check out our FAQs, if you have any additional questions about the Tablet Displays setup!
How to install
Follow these 8 simple steps to install the Tablet Display app on a target tablet device:
On your target tablet device:
Remove/uninstall all existing Skedda apps from the tablet. If you've never used the tablet for Skedda-related matters before, then you're all set.
Ensure that you are (and remain) logged out of the Skedda web application in the tablet's browser. The setup process won't work if you're logged in. This is a security safeguard: your tablet will end up being mostly unattended and accessible to anyone who can walk up to it, so there's a risk of somebody misusing any logged-in state. You should double-check that you're logged out by navigating to your venue's URL in your tablet's browser before continuing.
On your second, separate admin device (e.g. desktop or phone):
Log in to Skedda in your browser as a System Admin or Owner, head to Settings > Tablet displays (under Your Venue), and click 'Pair a new tablet' to choose your space.
Select your desired optional settings.
Click on 'Request pin'.
Back on your target tablet device:
Open your browser (Chrome on Android, Safari on iOS) and go to https://<yourvenue>.skedda.com/tablet (replacing <yourvenue> with your own account's subdomain). Make sure you are not in incognito mode or a private browsing tab!
Input the pairing details shown from Step 4 to the browser's Pair Device page on your tablet.
When you see the success page, install the Tablet Display app on your target tablet device:
For Android: See the above video walkthrough.
For iOS: See the walkthrough video here.
For iOS tablets only (i.e. iPads): To ensure that your device doesn't 'lock' itself after a period of inactivity, head over to Settings > Display & brightness > Auto-lock and select 'Never'.
Optional: Locking your tablet to the Skedda display view
Both Android and iOS devices offer a 'kiosk mode' option that will lock your tablet to the Skedda display and prevent anyone from mistakenly navigating to another app.
You can find instructions on how to configure this in your device's settings for Android here and iOS here.
Information shown on each Tablet Display
Skedda’s elegant tablet display provides a quick overview of the current time, availability status, and upcoming bookings for a specific day and space. A QR code is provided to assist users in navigating to the exact space for creating an immediate or upcoming booking.
Any external changes to the status of a space (e.g. somebody creates a new booking for the space on Skedda on another device) will be reflected on the tablet practically instantly (the feature provides automatic updates connected to your Skedda space).
The QR code
Each display includes a QR code that, when scanned, will direct a user's mobile browser to the booking form for the corresponding Skedda space at the current time (requiring the user to authenticate if they haven't already). The QR code hence automatically changes as time progresses throughout the day.
Additional settings
Extended booking information
If you check the 'Allow extended booking info' option when setting up the tablet, then the booking holder's first name and initial of last name will be shown for all bookings on the tablet display, as well as the booking title. If you don't check it, then these details are omitted. We recommend that you carefully think about whether this information should be shown on a 'public' device. By default, the checkbox is unchecked (i.e. by default the information is hidden).
Screen Dimming
If you check the 'Dim screen outside venue working hours' option when setting up the tablet, then the tablet device will dim at all times that are outside the space's configured hours of availability.
For example, if Space A is available from 8 am - 5 pm Monday-Friday then you can expect the tablet to dim automatically after 5 pm everyday and return to the standard setting at 8 am (with the exception of weekends, where the tablet will remain dimmed always).
FAQ
What does the display look like when a space is not available?
If the space your tablet is connected to has a booking at the current time, the display's color will turn red and your users will see a list of upcoming bookings and the next available time as shown below
Does the display work on any other devices? (e.g. TV, Crestron)
Although the Tablet Display feature was designed with "common" tablets (iOS, Android) in mind, you're free to use it on any device that runs one of our supported browsers and doesn't have any overly-tight restrictions on the length of a URL that it can load (the Skedda tablet feature uses a URL under the hood like this one, which has a few hundred characters in, which is well within the range that most browsers should support). Please consult your device's settings/documentation to confirm these requirements are met. If it helps, you can also reach out to our support team to get an example URL from a test account for quick evaluation.
Just note that the interface may however look "squashed" on small devices like phones.
Does Skedda provide any hardware?
Skedda does not sell physical tablet devices or hardware at this time. You are free to use any device with a browser that is able to install a Progressive Web App to the device. This includes Safari on iOS 13+ and Chrome on Android (Skedda supports the last 10 versions of Chrome).
Which tablets can we use with Skedda?
Good news - Skedda is really flexible here! You can run these features on any tablet that can access a browser we support and that can install a Progressive Web App. See the full list of browsers here.
Skedda currently offers two features that leverage a tablet display:
Space tablet displays allow you to display a given space’s availability, along with a scannable QR code that allows your users to initiate a booking for the space in question.
Visitor check-in/out tablet displays allow your visitors to check in/out of their visits by scanning a QR code shown on your check-in tablet’s display.
What brands should we consider?
Tablet brand is a matter of your organization’s budget and workplace design requirements, but here are a few suppliers you might like to consider:
Samsung
Apple
Xiaomi
OnePlus
Google (Pixel)
Is there a recommended tablet size?
Skedda’s design is responsive and made to “fit” with any tablet size of your choosing. That said, we’d advise that you don’t go too small, to ensure ease of use for your teams! We’ve found that the most common tablet resolution is:
768 x 1024 (portrait)
1024 x 768 (landscape)
Feel free to reach out to us if you’ve got any questions about how our tablet-based functionality works!