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Kiosk screens and signage players

Point a signage player — a UniFi Connect Display, a BrightSign player, any browser that opens by itself to one address — at softworkbeats.com/kiosk, and it becomes a screen you set up once and never touch again. It pairs with a QR code, plays on its own from then on, and is run from Players on your phone.

Set it up

  1. In the device's settings, set its landing (or "kiosk", or "home") URL to softworkbeats.com/kiosk.
  2. Restart it. The screen shows a QR code and a four-character pairing code.
  3. Scan the code with your phone — or open softworkbeats.com/kiosk/approve on any device and type the code in — then sign in and approve the screen.
  4. It starts playing. Name it, retune it, or quiet it from Players.

Name and tune it from the URL

The landing URL is usually the only setting these devices have, so it takes three optional extras:

  • softworkbeats.com/kiosk?name=Lobby TV — what the screen is called in Players.
  • softworkbeats.com/kiosk?name=Lobby TV&genre=deep-focus — the genre it starts on.
  • softworkbeats.com/kiosk?rotate=90 — for a screen hung on its side: 90 if its top edge is now on the left, 270 if it's on the right, 180 if it's upside down.

Each applies only the first time, so a rename, a retune, or a turn from Players survives a reboot or a power cut.

If it asks you to touch the screen

Browsers won't start audio on their own unless they've been told they may. Most signage players have an autoplay setting — sometimes called "allow media without user interaction" — and turning it on makes the screen start by itself every time it powers up. Until then, one touch, or any key on a connected keyboard, starts it.

Good to know

  • The screen counts as one seat while it's playing.
  • After half a minute with nobody touching it, it switches to its idle screen — album art, a clock, or your own messages — whichever you chose for it in Players.
  • A schedule set in Players applies here too, so the screen goes quiet and dark outside your hours even if the device itself never sleeps.
  • If the signage player can rotate its own picture, use that or ?rotate= — not both, or the two turns add up.