Scanning lets your staff check customers in - or redeem their passes - by scanning them with the PocketPass Scanner app. Before anyone can scan, you need at least one reader.
A reader is a place your team scans passes: your front desk, your entrance, a specific till. Staff pick a reader when they sign into the Scanner app, and every scan is recorded against it. That's what lets you later tell which door someone came through, not just that they came in.
How it fits together
Three steps, done once:
- Create your readers in the dashboard.
- Staff sign into the PocketPass Scanner app and choose a reader.
- Scans stream into the scan log as they happen.
You only build readers once. After that the app remembers the reader on each device, and scans just flow.
Creating a reader
Open Readers and choose Add a reader. You'll set:
- Name - what this scanning point is called, e.g.
Front desk. This is what staff see when they pick a reader in the app, so make it obvious. - Location label - optional, e.g.
Main entrance. Useful when one name isn't specific enough, or when you run several readers in the same place. - QR and Tap (NFC) - the scan methods this reader accepts. Turn on whichever your staff will use.
At least one scan method must be on - QR or Tap (NFC) - or the reader won't save. A reader that accepts neither can't scan anything.
A reader with Tap (NFC) enabled is a Tap reader and shows a badge in the list, so you can tell at a glance which points can take an NFC tap versus a QR scan.
QR versus Tap
Most teams start with QR: the customer opens their pass, the app reads the barcode, done. It works on every phone and needs no special hardware.
Tap (NFC) lets a customer tap their phone instead of showing a screen - faster at a busy entrance, but it depends on the device and pass supporting it. You can enable both on the same reader and let staff use whichever the customer's pass allows.
Removing a reader
Choose Remove on a reader you no longer use. That hides it from the Scanner app so staff can't pick it by mistake, but it keeps all of that reader's past scans in the log. Removing a reader never erases history.
If a scanning point is only paused - a seasonal entrance, say - removing and re-adding it later is fine; the past scans stay attached to the old record.
What a scan actually does
Creating readers is only half the picture. Whether a scan simply checks someone in or redeems their pass - consuming a use, capping a punch card, marking the pass used - is set per template, not per reader. A reader scans; the template decides what the scan means.
See Redemption & usage limits to control that behaviour.
Where to go next
- The scan log - every scan your team has made.
- Redemption & usage limits - make a scan redeem a pass.
- Issuing a pass - get passes into customers' wallets first.