Privacy on the kiosk

A screen in the hallway shows visitors what's on it. That's the whole point – and exactly why it's worth taking a moment to decide what should be on it.

What never appears on the kiosk

Regardless of any setting, built in:

• Finances and contracts – no amounts, no balances, no providers.
• Health and cycle – none of it is even collected for the kiosk.
• Documents, vehicles, loyalty cards.
• Notes on events – the title can appear, the note behind it never.
• Phone numbers and addresses. The one exception is the location for the weather, and that's just a city name.

Private events stay private too: an event someone has marked as private doesn't appear at all – or, if they've chosen “show as busy”, it appears only as “Busy”, with no title and no location. Events visible only to selected people are never shown on the kiosk: it isn't one of the selected viewers.

Birthdays only appear if the person hasn't marked their date of birth as a private field.

Guest mode – “visitors here”

A switch you flip in Manage under Kiosk (the Devices or Privacy tab). While it's on, the screen loses:

• all tasks and task lists,
• points and rewards,
• everything about school,
• the parenting schedule and “who's where”,
• birthdays – including those from the directory,
• and event titles: “Dentist” becomes simply “Event”, and the location goes too.

What's left is the clock, weather, meal plan, and photos – enough that the screen doesn't feel empty.

Important: guest mode doesn't just hide things on screen – it leaves them out on the server. The data never reaches the device in the first place. A curious look in the browser won't turn up anything.

Shortening titles

If guest mode feels too broad, there's a smaller step: shorten event titles. Then, instead of “Parent–teacher meeting with the class teacher”, only the category shows – “School”, “Doctor”, “Sport”. Times and the people involved stay visible; the location disappears.

Useful for a hallway screen that strangers see every day, while the family still knows when they need to be where.

Can children tick things off on the screen?

You decide this in the Privacy tab:

• View only (the default) – the screen doesn't react to touch. Nothing can be ticked off by accident.
• Tick off tasks – a task row can be tapped. A prompt appears with an avatar and the person's first name (“Done by …?”), and only then does it count as done. If a person is assigned to the task, they're suggested; with several, you choose.

Points are still credited normally either way. Tasks that need confirmation can't be ticked off on the kiosk – that needs the app. In guest mode, ticking off is always off.

Photos

You can upload up to 30 photos for the kiosk (Manage → Kiosk → Photos). They live in a private storage area that only your household and the paired screens can reach – no public address, no link you could hand around.

patchio shrinks the images automatically on upload; you can set a caption for each photo and change their order. Delete a photo, and it's gone from storage too – the screens drop it on their next check.

Two ways photos can appear:

• as a tile in the layout, cycling through at the rate you set,
• as photo mode: the whole screen shows one picture with a clock and a narrow strip of events – either alternating with the dashboard, or in a fixed window (say, in the evening). A touch brings back the dashboard for a minute.

Night mode

Between the times you set – 22:00 to 06:00 by default – the screen dims and shows only the clock, the next event, and tomorrow's weather. Pleasant for a hallway someone walks through at night – and easy on the screen.

And if a device goes missing?

Manage → Kiosk → Devices → Disconnect. Access is invalid immediately; the device sees only the pairing screen on its next check-in. A disconnected device can't reconnect itself – that needs an admin again.

Delete your household, and layouts, devices, and kiosk photos go with it.