Punchly
All guides
Setup 4 min read

Lock a tablet to just Punchly

Pin the device to the clock-in screen so staff can’t open other apps or browse away.

A shared tablet is a temptation — staff can open other apps, browse the web, or accidentally close the clock-in screen. Both Android and iPad have a built-in single-app mode that pins the device to one screen until you unlock it with a PIN. Combined with Punchly, that turns any tablet into a dedicated clock-in station.

Before locking down, add Punchly to the home screen and open it from that icon. You want the kiosk running full-screen first, then pin it.

Android — Screen Pinning

Screen Pinning locks the tablet to whatever app is open. To exit, you swipe up and enter the device PIN.

  1. Open Settings → Security (or Security & privacy) → Screen pinning, and turn it on.
  2. Enable “Ask for PIN before unpinning” so staff can’t simply back out.
  3. Open the Punchly kiosk, then open the Recent apps view.
  4. Tap the app’s icon at the top of its card and choose Pin.
  5. The tablet is now locked to Punchly. To leave, swipe up and hold, then enter the device PIN.
Open the kiosk, then pin it from Recent apps.

iPad / iPhone — Guided Access

Guided Access locks the device to the current app and requires a separate passcode to leave.

  1. Open Settings → Accessibility → Guided Access and turn it on.
  2. Tap Passcode Settings → Set Guided Access Passcode and choose a code your staff won’t know.
  3. Open the Punchly kiosk, then triple-click the side (or Home) button.
  4. Tap Start in the top-right. The device is now locked to Punchly.
  5. To exit, triple-click again and enter your Guided Access passcode.
×3
Triple-click the side button to start Guided Access.
Guided Access can also disable the parts of the screen you don’t want touched. On the setup screen, circle any area to make it non-interactive, and toggle off hardware buttons — handy for a wall-mounted iPad.

For multiple devices: a dedicated kiosk app

Managing a fleet of tablets? Dedicated kiosk-browser and MDM (mobile device management) apps — such as Fully Kiosk Browser on Android, or an MDM profile from your provider — can auto-launch Punchly on boot, block everything else, and re-open the page if it’s ever closed. That’s overkill for one tablet, but it’s the most robust option once you’re running several locations.

Running Android? Keep an Android kiosk tablet always on covers the rest of the setup — stopping the screen from sleeping, dropping the lock-screen PIN, and auto-relaunching Punchly after a reboot.

Whichever method you use, write down the unlock PIN/passcode somewhere only managers can reach. If it’s lost, you may have to restart the device to regain full control.