Day-to-day operations

Open a kiosk for the day, let donors give, run remote actions from the dashboard, and hand staff a maintenance routine.

Once a kiosk is paired, day-to-day work is light. Staff power it on and watch it. Most control happens from the dashboard, so you rarely touch the device itself.

This guide covers the daily routine, the remote actions in the dashboard, and the on-device maintenance menu. To connect a new device first, see Setup and pairing.

Open the kiosk for the day

Charge the tablet and turn it on.

Confirm the screen shows the correct organization name and branding.

Confirm the kiosk is online unless you plan to rely on offline payments.

Confirm the card reader is ready before donors arrive.

Run one small test gift and refund it later if needed.

You can check online status and reader status from the dashboard at any time. Open Devices, then your kiosk. The header shows Online or Offline, the reader state, and the app version.

The kiosk syncs branding, funds, events, and settings from Givebear. If something looks stale, give it a moment to sync, or run Check for updates from the dashboard (see below).

How donors give

Donors drive the kiosk themselves. The flow is automatic, so staff only need to point and reassure.

The donor taps the resting screen to start.
They pick a fund and an amount, or enter a custom amount.
They choose one-time or monthly giving.
They can cover the processing fee, which is on by default.
They can add an email for a receipt, and a name if the gift is monthly.
They tap a card on the reader to finish.

After a short idle period, the kiosk resets to its resting screen for the next donor.

A few rules worth knowing:

Monthly (recurring) giving needs an internet connection. It is turned off while the kiosk is offline.
Fees follow your plan. See settings, roles, and billing for your plan, and donations and finance for how gifts are recorded.
Kiosk gifts appear in your dashboard like any other donation, attributed to the device.

What a kiosk can offer

A kiosk can run one or several experiences. Set these per device under Configuration (see choose what a kiosk offers).

Experience	What the donor does
Donations	Give to a fund with card-present tap-to-pay
Event tickets	Buy tickets to an upcoming event
Memberships	Enroll and start membership billing
Self check-in	Scan a member card or event ticket at the door

With one experience enabled, the kiosk goes straight to it. With several, the home screen shows a menu and the donor picks.

Manage a kiosk from the dashboard

Open Devices in the dashboard to see every kiosk as a card with its online status, reader status, last-seen time, and location. Use the search box and the All, Online, Offline, and Attention filters to find a device.

Select a kiosk to open its detail view, which has three tabs.

Insights

Total raised, donation count, average gift, a donation-history chart, and recent gifts from this device.

Configuration

Rename the kiosk, set brightness, pick the release channel, choose experiences, customize the home screen, and run commands.

Logs

Filter device activity by level and source. The view refreshes on its own while you watch.

For totals across all kiosks, use the kiosks section of reports.

Run a remote action

Each kiosk's Configuration tab has a Commands grid. Select Run on a command to queue it. The kiosk picks it up the next time it checks in, then reports back. Queued and running commands appear in an Active commands panel at the top, where you can cancel anything still queued.

Command	What it does
Reboot device	Restarts the kiosk hardware (asks you to confirm first)
Restart reader	Restarts only the card reader
Check for updates	Looks for and installs app updates
Apply brightness	Pushes the saved brightness to the screen
Send logs	Uploads the latest diagnostic logs
Report status	Pushes a fresh status snapshot
Go home	Returns the kiosk to its home screen
Debug snapshot	Collects fresh diagnostic data
Take screenshot	Captures the current kiosk screen

If a card payment is in progress, the kiosk holds off on Reboot, Restart reader, and Check for updates so it never interrupts a donor mid-payment. The command shows as failed, so run it again once the gift finishes.

See the kiosk's screen

The Configuration tab has a Screen panel. Select the camera button to capture the current display, then view the latest screenshot there. This is the fastest way to see what a volunteer is describing without walking to the device.

Reconnect a kiosk

If a kiosk loses its connection to Givebear, open the Security panel on the Configuration tab and select Refresh credentials. The device picks up the new credentials on its next check-in. Use this when a kiosk shows as connected in person but will not sync.

Adjust how a kiosk looks and behaves

All of these live on the Configuration tab for a single kiosk.

Choose what a kiosk offers

In Kiosk experiences, turn Donations, Event tickets, Memberships, and Self check-in on or off. At least one must stay enabled.

Tune the screen

Brightness: drag the slider, or reset it to auto.
Skip splash: send the kiosk straight to giving instead of showing the resting screen first.
Release channel: keep this on Production unless support asks you to switch to Dev.

Choose the card reader

Card reader picks between the wired USB reader and the kiosk's built-in NFC. Leave it on Auto-detect unless you have a reason to pin one; see reader modes and Tap to Pay.

Customize the home screen

The home screen can show widgets such as a clock, a donate QR code, a donation goal, recent donations, upcoming events, announcements, and more. Set an organization-wide default from Devices, then Home screen. To override it for one kiosk, turn on a custom home in that kiosk's Configuration tab.

Maintenance on the device itself

Some tasks, such as joining a new Wi-Fi network, need physical access. The kiosk runs locked, so reach the maintenance menu like this:

Tap the bottom-left corner of the screen eight times quickly.

Enter the maintenance code when the panel appears.

Use the tools you need, then close the panel.

The panel closes itself after a short period of inactivity, so the kiosk relocks on its own.

Get the maintenance code

Get the code from the dashboard. On the Devices list, select the unlock action for the kiosk. The dashboard shows a rotating code that refreshes every 60 seconds. If that code fails, reveal the static fallback key and use it instead.

Open device, Wi-Fi, or app settings to fix connectivity or permissions.
View or clear the device's local logs.
Exit kiosk mode, which pauses the lock for 30 minutes for deeper maintenance.
Remove device owner, only when you are reprovisioning the tablet for another use.

Exit kiosk mode and Remove device owner are maintenance-only. Do not leave a kiosk unlocked in front of donors, and only remove the device owner when you are wiping the tablet.

Close out a shift or event

After donors are done:

Confirm the kiosk is back on its resting screen.
Check the dashboard for the gifts you expect, including any offline payments still resolving.
Capture a screenshot or send logs if anything looked off, so support has evidence.
Charge the tablet and store it and the reader securely.