Put a screen up
About ten minutes · no technical knowledge
It runs in a web browser, so almost anything with a screen works — a TV, an old tablet, a spare laptop. If you already have something with a browser, skip to Step 3.
If you need a screen
This is what we use. A tablet is cheaper than any purpose-built signage display and does the same job.
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Setting it up
Charge it and get it on your Wi-Fi
Straight out of the box. Skip every offer it makes you — you don’t need an Amazon account for any of this.
Open the web browser
On a Fire tablet it’s called Silk. On other Android tablets it’s Chrome. Any browser is fine.
Go to tribeapps.com/tv
Type it into the address bar exactly: tribeapps.com/tv
A big six-letter code appears on the screen. That’s all this device will ever ask you for.
Add it to the home screen
This is the step that makes it look professional instead of like a web page. Tap the browser’s menu (⋮ or ⋯) and choose Add to Home screen — on Silk it may sayAdd to Home.
Now close the browser and open Screens from the home screen instead. The address bar and tabs are gone — it fills the whole screen, like an app.
Pair it from your phone
On your phone, open tribeapps.com/studio, tap Add a glass, and type in the six letters showing on the tablet. Give it a name like “Front counter”.
The tablet changes by itself within a few seconds. You never have to touch it again.
Stop it going to sleep
On the tablet: Settings → Display → Sleep (orScreen timeout) → set it to the longest option, or Never.
Leave it plugged in. A screen that’s on all day will not last a shift on battery.
Optional — stop people wandering out of it
Settings → Security → turn on Screen pinning. Then open Screens and pin it. Now a customer poking at the screen can’t get into anything else, and unpinning needs your PIN.
After a power cut
The tablet will come back to its home screen rather than to the board — a web app can’t start itself when a device powers on. Tap the Screens icon once and it’s back, still paired, showing the same screen. Nothing needs setting up again.
If a screen is somewhere nobody visits and you want it to recover completely on its own, a kiosk app like Fully Kiosk Browser can relaunch it on boot. It’s a one-time purchase and you point it at the same tribeapps.com/tv. Most people never need it.
TribeApps.com · Screens by Tribe Apps