How to set up a self check-in kiosk for your gym

At five to six on a weeknight, the front desk of a busy gym is doing three jobs at once: checking people in, answering a parent's question and trying to sell a trial. A self check-in kiosk takes the first job away completely. Members find their name on a tablet by the door, tap once, and walk in.

It only works if the kiosk is in the right place, locked to one app and set up with rules your staff agree with. Here is how to get each part right.

What a kiosk does for you

• A calmer front desk. Staff spend the busy half hour on people, not on finding names in a list.
• Accurate attendance. Every class is counted, which feeds everything from belt readiness to spotting members who have gone quiet.
• Waivers caught at the door. A missing or outdated waiver shows up before someone trains, not after.
• A live headcount. You can see how many people are in the building right now.

What you need

The hardware is simple, and you may already own most of it.

Where to put it

Placement decides whether members use the kiosk or walk past it. Put it on the path from the front door to the training floor, where everyone passes it on the way in. A kiosk behind the desk or tucked in a corner turns back into a front-desk job within a week.

• Between chest and eye height, so adults can use it without bending and kids can still reach.
• Visible from the front desk, so staff can help without leaving their spot.
• Out of direct sunlight and away from the door's draft and rain.
• Not where a queue at the kiosk would block the doorway.

Lock the tablet to one app

A shared tablet will get poked at. Lock it so members can only use check-in, not the browser, the settings or the camera roll. Both major tablet systems have this built in.

On an iPad: Guided Access

Apple's Guided Access locks an iPad to a single app. Turn it on in Settings, then Accessibility, then Guided Access, and set a passcode only staff know. Open your check-in page, start Guided Access, and the iPad stays on that screen until a staff member ends it.

On Android: app pinning

Android's app pinning does the same job. Turn it on in Settings, under Security, then pin the screen with your check-in page open. Set it to ask for your PIN before unpinning.

Then do the small things that stop the kiosk going dark mid-evening:

• Set the screen to never lock while it is charging, or to the longest timeout available.
• Turn off notifications, so a message does not pop up over the check-in screen.
• Give the kiosk its own staff login, so signing out of the desk computer does not sign out the door.

Choose how people check in

Offer more than one way in. Regulars want speed; a first-timer needs something obvious.

• Name or phone number. The member types a few letters and taps their name. Nothing to remember, nothing to install.
• A pass on their phone. The fastest option for regulars: hold the phone up and they are in. A code that refreshes itself stops a screenshot being passed around.
• The front desk. Always keep a staff check-in as the backup, for the member with a flat phone or the day the Wi-Fi drops.

Set the rules at the door

A kiosk enforces whatever rules you give it, consistently. Decide them before launch, with your staff.

• Missing waiver: block the check-in until it is signed, or let them in and warn the desk. Read our guide to gym waivers before you choose.
• Signing at the kiosk: if you allow it, ask for a quick identity check first, such as a birth date or phone number.
• Children: decide whether kids check themselves in or a parent does it, and keep children's photos off the shared screen unless a guardian agrees.
• Staff access: protect the kiosk's staff panel with a PIN, so members cannot change settings.

Remember it is a public screen

Anyone standing near the kiosk can see it. Show first names and an initial, not full names. Never show balances, payment problems or notes on the kiosk. Those belong on the front desk's screen, not the door's.

Your launch week

1. 1A week beforeTell membersA short message and a sign by the door: from Monday, check yourself in on the tablet.
2. 2Day oneStand next to itPut a staff member beside the kiosk for the busiest hour and show people once.
3. 3Day threeCheck the numbersCompare kiosk check-ins with class headcounts and fix any gaps, like members with no phone on file.
4. 4End of weekStep backMost members will be checking themselves in. The desk handles the exceptions.

Classwell's kiosk shows a "you're in" card that gets out of the way in a few seconds, a "here now" count, and an optional list of who just arrived for the coach. See the full list on ourcheck-in and kiosk page, or try it in the demo gym.