Pair and manage iPads

An iPad works for your venue only once it's paired to it. This page covers installing the app, pairing, the list of paired iPads in the back office, revoking an iPad, and keeping the app up to date. Signing in with a PIN on a paired iPad is in Signing in on the iPad; printers are in Printing and receipts.

Pair an iPad

You make a one-time code in the back office and type it on the iPad. From then on, that iPad belongs to your venue and opens on your PIN pad.

Who can do this: admins and managers make the code. Anyone holding the iPad can type it in.

Install the app on the iPad

Barform POS isn't listed in App Store searches: you install it with its link, which the back office gives you.

1. In the back office, go to Settings › Devices. The pairing card starts with "Install Barform POS on the iPad": "The app isn't listed in App Store searches — open this link on the iPad to install it." and the link. The welcome wizard's iPad step shows the same box.
2. Open the link on the iPad: type it into Safari there, or click Copy link and send it to the iPad. It opens Barform POS in the App Store; install it.
3. Install it the same way on every iPad of your venue.

Make a pairing code

1. In the back office, go to Settings › Devices. Under "Paired iPads": "Generate a one-time code, then enter it on the iPad's pairing screen to bind it to this venue. Codes expire in 10 minutes."
2. Optional: type a name in Device name (optional), such as "Bar iPad". This is the name the list shows, up to 60 characters.
3. Click Generate code. "Pairing code generated".
4. The code appears in large letters with "Enter this on the iPad. Expires at {time}." Click Copy to copy it.

Type the code on the iPad

1. Open Barform POS on the iPad (to get it, see Install the app on the iPad). After "Connecting…", it shows "Pair this iPad": "Ask your admin for a pairing code (Backoffice → Settings → Devices) and enter it here."
2. Optional: tap English or Español at the top right. The pairing screen changes language at once.
3. Type the code in the Code box. Letters are capitalised for you, and spaces don't matter.
4. Tap Pair. It's available once you've typed 6 characters.
5. The iPad switches to your venue's PIN pad, in your venue's iPad language. Staff can now sign in with their PINs.

The language you pick on the pairing screen is only for that screen: once paired, the iPad follows the iPad language in Settings › Venue (Venue settings).

How pairing codes work

• A code has 8 characters: the digits 2 to 9 and the letters A to Z except I, L, O and U, so nothing is easy to misread.
• It works once and expires 10 minutes after it's made. Making a new code doesn't cancel older ones; each expires on its own.
• An iPad that's already paired never shows the pairing screen. To move an iPad to another venue, revoke it first.

If pairing doesn't work

• "Invalid or expired code." — the code is wrong, already used or older than 10 minutes. The box is cleared; make a new code.
• "No connection — check the network and try the same code again." — the code stays in the box. Try it again once the iPad is online.
• After 5 wrong codes within 5 minutes, the iPad answers "Invalid or expired code." even to a good code. Wait about 5 minutes and try again.
• Generate code saves nothing, and the banner says "Nothing was saved." — Barform is paused (the subscription has been unpaid for 15 days) or the subscription has ended. See Plans and billing.
• "Update required" instead of the pairing screen — the app is too old. Update it from the App Store first (see Update the app).

Check your iPads

Settings › Devices lists every iPad paired to your venue, newest first, so you can tell a live iPad from one that has been dark, and which ones need updating.

Who can do this: admins and managers.

1. Go to Settings › Devices.
2. Read the iPad's row: its name (or "iPad"), then "Last seen {when}" or "Never connected", then "Barform {version}" with its iPadOS version, then "paired {day}".
3. Click Details under a row to see the iPad's device ID, for support.

• An open Barform app checks in every 4 minutes, and again when it comes back to the screen — also while it sits on the PIN pad with nobody signed in. It stops while the iPad is asleep or the app is closed.
• The version shown is the one the iPad reported when it last checked in.
• Times are in your venue's time zone. The list is read when the page opens: reload it to refresh.
• With nothing paired yet, the page says "No devices paired yet."

Revoke an iPad

Revoke unpairs an iPad: it loses all access to your venue's data, and its row disappears from the list. Use it for a lost or stolen iPad, or before moving an iPad to another venue.

Who can do this: admins and managers.

1. Go to Settings › Devices.
2. On the iPad's row, click Revoke. The back office asks "Revoke this iPad?" — "It stops working at once."
3. Click Revoke to confirm, or Cancel to keep it. "Device revoked", and the row is gone.
4. To use that iPad again, pair it again with a new code.

After a revoke, a PIN sign-in on that iPad shows "This iPad isn't paired — pair it again." Revoking works whatever the state of your billing.

Update the app

Barform sets, for every iPad, the oldest app version still allowed and the newest one available. An iPad below the minimum can't sign anyone in until it's updated; an iPad that's only behind keeps working and is reminded to update.

See which iPads need updating

• In the back office: read each row's "Barform {version}" in Settings › Devices.
• On an iPad: tap ··· More. Under This iPad, the Sync row reads "Connected · Barform {version} · Up to date", or "… · Update available" when a newer version is out. A small dot on the ··· button also stays while the iPad is behind.

Update an iPad

1. Finish or hand over what's open on that iPad, and sign out.
2. Open the App Store on the iPad and install the current version of Barform POS.
3. Open Barform POS again and sign in.

"A newer version is ready"

At sign-in, once each time the app starts, the iPad shows "A newer version of Barform POS is ready in the App Store." Once dismissed, it doesn't come back until an even newer version is out. Keep working, and update when the bar is quiet.

"Update required"

An iPad below the minimum version shows "Update required" — "This terminal is running an old version of Barform POS and cannot sign in until it is updated." and "Open the App Store on this iPad to install the current version." — instead of the PIN pad. The bottom line shows your venue and the exact version, for support.

• It never interrupts someone who's signed in: a signed-in iPad keeps selling, and the screen appears at the next sign-out.
• The screen has no buttons. It clears by itself once the iPad is updated.
• It also replaces the pairing screen on an iPad that isn't paired yet.

Related

• First steps
• Signing in on the iPad
• Venue settings, hours and targets
• Plans and billing