Scanner user guide

How to use the scanner at a door. It works without an internet connection.

Step one

Pairing the phone

The scanner has to be given access to an event before it can be used. There are three ways. The first two need nobody at the dashboard, which is what makes them quick when several people are being set up at once:

You are sent a link. Open it on the phone that will be scanning. Nothing to type — it sets the phone up and goes straight to the tickets.
You are sent a code. Eight or twelve characters, like AAC8-29DF. Scan it from the printed card, or type it in.
The operator does it from the dashboard — they type the code shown on this phone, or hold up a joining QR for you to scan.

The link and the code are the same thing. The link just carries the code for you. Either can be used at any time — before the event, on the day, or after the phone has already been set up for something else.

A link or code works whether or not the event has been set up yet. If it has not, the phone says it is waiting and picks the event up on its own as soon as the operator adds it — nobody has to be standing next to the phone when that happens.

One code, one phone. If the same code is given to several people, every one of those phones reports to the dashboard as the same scanner. Admissions are still counted correctly, but the operator cannot tell the phones apart or stop just one of them. Ask for a code of your own.

The setup screen, showing the app name and a Set up device button. — Tap **Set up device** and enter a name for the phone. Once access is granted, the tickets download and the scanner opens on its own.

Name the phone after the door it will be used on: Main Gate A, VIP, Bar. This is the name the operator sees in the dashboard.

Step two

Main screen

The top of the screen shows which door the phone is set to and how many tickets it holds for this event.

The gate screen: gate name, tickets expected, an aiming frame and a scan button. — Door name and ticket count at the top. Camera in the middle. The button at the bottom is for entering a code by hand.

No internet connection

If you see a red Offline — scans stored locally bar, carry on scanning. Tickets are checked against the list stored on the phone, so no connection is needed. Admissions are saved and sent automatically when the connection returns. The number next to queued is how many are still waiting to be sent.

Do not close the app while scans are queued. They are not lost, but nothing is sent until the app is open again.

Step three

Scanning

Point the camera at the ticket. There is no button to press; it reads the code automatically. On a phone with a laser trigger, pull the trigger instead — the camera does not need to be on screen.

Results

A full green screen reading Admitted, with the guest's name and ticket type. — **Green — Admitted.** Let them in. Check the name and ticket type match the person.

A full red screen reading Already admitted, with the time it was first used. — **Red — Already admitted.** The ticket has been used. The time it was used is shown. Ask for their name: if it matches, they are re-entering; if not, the ticket has been passed to someone else.

Not recognised means the code is not on this phone's list. Either it is not a ticket for this event, or this phone is set to a different session or ticket type. Check the top of the screen to see what it holds.

Step four

Entering a code by hand

If the barcode will not read, tap SCAN · BY CODE and type the code instead. It is checked the same way as a scan — nothing is skipped.

The manual entry sheet with two segments, Ticket code and Order number, and a text field. — Opens on **Order number**. Switch to **Ticket code** if you have the ticket itself.

Finding a ticket by order number

Use this when the guest cannot show a ticket but has their confirmation email. Everyone who booked together shares one order number.

Tap SCAN · BY CODE. It opens on Order number.
Type the order number and tap the button.
Tap the ticket belonging to the person in front of you.

The order list: four tickets, three tappable with a SCAN label, one greyed out showing the time it was admitted. — Every ticket on the order. Tap the one for the person in front of you.

Used tickets stay in the list, greyed out, showing the time they were used. You can show this to a group who say nobody has gone in yet.

Always tap the correct person. The scanner will not choose one for you, because the rest of the group may still arrive later.

Supervisors

Supervisor mode

Everything a steward does not need is behind a code: changing what the scanner does, switching it to another event, reading its logs, and unpairing it.

Getting in

Tap the top bar of the scan screen — the strip with the gate name and the ticket count — five times. Nothing on screen advertises this. It is a gesture rather than a button so that nobody finds it by accident, and it is the whole bar rather than one word so you do not have to aim while a queue is waiting.

A keypad headed Supervisor access, asking for a four-digit admin code, with a close X in the top right. — Four digits. The code belongs to the event, not to the phone, so every scanner at the same event takes the same one. Ask the control room; it is deliberately not printed anywhere on the device.

The way out is the ✗ in the top right. It sits on the right precisely because you have just been tapping the top left five times — a close button there would swallow the sixth tap and the screen would seem not to open.

What is inside

Admin mode showing device details, an ALSO ASSIGNED TO row with a Switch link, scope, gate assignment, scan mode buttons, and a Sync now button. — The top half: what this device is, what it may scan, and what it is doing.

Device details — the name the control room lists this handset under, and the event it is currently on.

Also assigned to — only appears when the control room has this device on more than one event. Tap Switch to move it. Switching downloads that event’s tickets and drops the current ones; anything scanned but not yet uploaded is kept and sent either way.

Scope and gate assignment — what slice of the event this device may admit. If it reads a number of ticket types or gates rather than “All”, that is why the ticket count may be lower than you expect.

Scan mode — Admit lets people in and uses up the ticket. Check reads a ticket and reports on it without using it. Info looks a ticket up and changes nothing. Leave it on Admit at a working door.

Sync now uploads what this scanner has recorded and downloads any changes. It happens on its own at the frequency shown; the button is for when you want it to happen immediately — before packing the device away, for instance.

The lower half of admin mode: scan sound and haptic toggles, a bypass procedures panel outlined in orange, and rows for Diagnostics, Device logs and Unpair device. — The lower half: feedback, the two overrides, and the way out of an event.

Scan sound and haptic feedback — the beep and the buzz on each result. An operator working by ear with a laser gun should leave the sound on.

Bypass procedures. Accept all tickets admits any barcode at all, including one for another gate or another event. Ignore duplicate scans lets an already-used ticket in again. Both are recorded on every scan they affect. Turn them on only for a specific problem, and turn them off again immediately — they are not a way to make a queue move faster.

Diagnostics checks the parts of the device the gate depends on. Device logs is every scan and every event this handset has recorded, newest first — that is where to look when somebody asks why a person was turned away.

Unpair device releases this handset from the event. It drops the token and the downloaded tickets, but the grant stays on the dashboard: the control room still has this device assigned, and the scanner will offer to resume it. Anything scanned but not uploaded is kept and sent once the device is paired again.

Unpairing is a local act. A steward at a door cannot take the device off the control room’s list — only an operator can do that.

One screenshot is still to be added: reading a ticket link with the camera. That feature needs an iPhone with a Neural Engine, which the test devices used for these screenshots do not have.