Signing in on the iPad

Every paired iPad opens on the PIN pad. This page covers getting onto an iPad and off it again, the checks that run when you sign in, manager approvals, what happens once the day is closed, the iPad's language, app updates, the More menu and the connection lights.

Sign in with your PIN

Your 4-digit PIN tells the iPad who you are. Everything you ring up, charge or approve is recorded under your name.

1. On the PIN pad, under Enter your staff PIN, tap the four digits of your PIN.
   • The PIN is checked as soon as the fourth digit is in. Verifying… shows while it is checked. (The green tick does the same, but a correct PIN never needs it.)
2. If nobody has started the day yet, the Start the day card appears. See Start the day.
3. If you aren't clocked in, or you're on a break, a clock-in card appears. See Clock in as you sign in. Admins skip this step.
4. The floor opens. See The floor and tabs.
5. If your venue's open drawer belongs to an earlier service day, the floor opens on the card "The drawer from Mon, Oct 5 is still open", at every sign-in until that day is closed. See Cash drawer.

Under the keypad there are two buttons that work without signing in:

• Time clock — clock in or out, or take a break. See Time clock and schedule.
• View Menu — show the menu to a guest. See Guest menu.

Both are dimmed while a PIN is being checked. The bottom of the PIN pad shows your venue's initials and name.

PIN rules

• PINs are exactly 4 digits. The red key deletes the last digit.
• A wrong PIN shows "Incorrect PIN. Try again." for a few seconds and the dots clear. The PIN of someone who is no longer active, or a PIN from another venue, is treated as incorrect.
• Five wrong PINs on one iPad within 5 minutes lock that iPad's PIN pad: "Too many attempts. Wait 5 minutes." While it is locked, nobody can sign in on that iPad, even with a correct PIN — it is the iPad that is locked, not the person. Other iPads are not affected. The lock lifts as the wrong attempts get older than 5 minutes, and a correct PIN starts the count again.
• Wrong PINs typed at the Time clock count toward the same lock. Wrong manager PINs are counted separately.

What every sign-in reloads

Each sign-in reloads the venue's name, language and time zone, the menu, staff names and floor colors, the tables and furniture, tonight's reservations, the venue's iPad settings, and the receipt's design and logo from Settings › Receipt. That is why most setting changes in the back office reach an iPad "the next time it signs in".

The day belongs to the venue, not to a person: whoever signs in works in the same open day.

If you can't sign in

• With no network the PIN can't be checked: "No connection — check the network and try again."
• An iPad removed in the back office says "This iPad isn't paired — pair it again." and shows the pairing screen the next time the app opens. See Pair and manage iPads.
• Anything unexpected reads "Something went wrong — try again."

Start the day

The venue's day is one open cash drawer for the whole venue. When nobody has started it yet — first thing, or after the last day was closed — the first person to sign in is asked to start it. Nothing can be sold until the day is started.

1. Sign in with your PIN. A card says "Hi, {your name}" and "The day hasn't started. Start it to open the register — we'll ask you to count the cash in the drawer next."
2. Tap Start the day.
3. The clock-in check follows (see the next section), then the floor opens.
4. The Opening float sheet asks you to count the cash in the drawer. Count it, type it and tap Save count — or tap Later: the night's first cash asks again, and then the count is required. See Cash drawer.

To leave without starting the day, tap Not now. You go back to the PIN pad, nothing is recorded and you aren't clocked in.

• The card has to be answered: it can't be swiped away, and it stays until someone answers it.
• If starting fails, the reason shows on the card, for example "No connection — check the network and try again."
• "Not started" only means the venue has no open day. There is no calendar behind it: a day that runs past midnight is still one day. A drawer left open from an earlier day is still the open day, so this card doesn't appear — the floor asks for that day to be closed instead (see Cash drawer).
• Two iPads that tap Start the day at the same moment end up in the same day.
• Starting the day doesn't record the opening float. Until someone counts it, the float counts as $0, and everyone signed in sees · Opening float not counted in the top bar.

Count stock before opening

On a plan that includes inventory, you can count stock before opening (or after closing) without starting the day. On a plan without inventory, the card doesn't offer it.

1. Sign in with your PIN. The "Hi, {name}" card appears.
2. Tap Count inventory — without starting the day. The count opens full screen. See Stock counts.
3. When you close the count, the same card comes back: start the day, or tap Not now.

The count is recorded under the person who typed the PIN.

Clock in as you sign in

The POS only opens for people who are on the clock. After your PIN (and after Start the day, if it was asked), the iPad checks your time clock and, when needed, asks you to clock in, end your break, or deal with a shift left open from an earlier day. These cards make the same punches as the Time clock.

Admins skip these cards and go straight to the floor. Managers, bartenders, servers and barbacks see them.

If you aren't clocked in

1. The card reads "You're not clocked in. Clock in to start your shift." with the note "Doesn't open a shift — the POS opens after you're clocked in."
2. Tap Clock in and the floor opens. Or tap Not now to go back to the PIN pad.

If nobody answers within 90 seconds, or the iPad locks or the app goes to the background, the card closes and the PIN pad comes back. A verified PIN is never left waiting on a shared iPad.

If you're on a break

1. The card reads "{name}, you're on your break" and "End your break to open the POS, or leave it running and come back later."
2. Tap End break and sign in, or Stay on break to go back to the PIN pad with the break still running.

If you're still clocked in from an earlier day

This card only appears at venues that allow closing the day with staff on the clock.

1. The card reads "Still on the clock since {day and time}. Clock out that shift?" with the note "Clocking out ends yesterday's entry and starts a new one now."
2. Tap Clock out to end the old entry now and start a new one, or Leave it open to keep it (a real double shift). Either way the floor opens.

How the checks work

• "An earlier day" means before the start of the current service day, in the venue's time zone.
• Clock out on this card clocks you out at the current time — never a made-up time — and then clocks you in again. If the second punch fails, the clock-in card catches it at your next sign-in.
• If the iPad can't read your time clock (a network blip), it lets you in.
• A punch that fails shows its reason on the card and leaves you on it.
• The break card and the "still on the clock" card have no time limit.

In the back office, under Settings › Venue › iPads and service › End of day (admins only):

Sign out

Signing out ends your session on that iPad and brings back the PIN pad. It doesn't close the day, close any tab or clock anyone out: the next person who signs in finds the floor exactly as it was. The More menu says so: "Signing out doesn't close the shift — signing back in restores it."

1. On the floor, tap the sign-out icon (a door with an arrow) in the top bar, to the left of ···. One tap, no confirmation.
   • Or tap ··· and then Sign Out at the bottom.
2. The PIN pad appears.

• The order screen has no top bar. Go back to the floor with Tables first.
• After you close the day, the Z-report's done button signs you out. See Closing the day.
• Signing out clears the change-due card of the last cash payment (so the next person can't misread it), clears the printer warnings and lets go of any table this iPad was holding.

Automatic sign-out

A shared iPad signs itself out after a set time with nobody touching it, so the next person can't ring drinks under your name. Nothing is lost: tabs and the day stay open.

Who can do this: admins (to change the time).

1. In the back office, go to Settings › Venue and open the iPads and service tab.
2. Under The iPads, open POS auto-logout and pick Disabled, 1 minute, 3 minutes or 5 minutes. It saves on its own.
3. Each iPad uses the new time from its next sign-in ("Changes reach each iPad the next time it signs in.").

• Every touch anywhere on the screen starts the countdown again, including inside open cards — a payment in progress counts as activity.
• Time with the iPad locked or the app in the background counts. Come back after the set time and the iPad signs out at once; come back sooner and the countdown starts again.
• Only a signed-in session is timed.
• If an iPad can't read the setting, it uses 3 minutes.
• A change made in the back office doesn't reach an iPad that is already signed in until its next sign-in.
• An iPad left on a check keeps that table to itself until it signs out or goes back to the floor. With automatic sign-out disabled, that can last a long time. See The floor and tabs.

Approve with a manager PIN

Some actions need a manager's OK. If you're signed in as a manager or admin, your sign-in is the approval: no PIN is asked and your name is recorded. Anyone else sees a small Manager approval card that says exactly what is being approved. A manager or admin types their own PIN on it, and the action goes through under that manager's name.

Who can do this: any active manager or admin of the venue, whether or not they are the one signed in.

1. Start the action — for example, voiding a drink that was already sent. The Manager approval card shows what is being approved and for whom.
2. A manager types their 4-digit PIN. It is checked on the fourth digit; the card closes and the action completes.
3. Cancel closes the card without losing what you had entered on the screen underneath.

• A wrong PIN, or a PIN that isn't a manager's or admin's: "Unauthorized PIN". The dots clear for another try.
• Five wrong manager PINs within 5 minutes on one iPad: "Too many attempts. Wait 5 minutes." These are counted separately from sign-in PINs.
• One PIN approves one action: approving one void doesn't unlock the next. The Out of stock (86) screen is the exception — one PIN per visit.
• A tile or row that will ask for a PIN shows a small lock and manager, only to the people who will be asked.

Which actions ask

An admin chooses some of them in the back office, under Settings › Venue › iPads and service › Manager approval on the iPad: "Each switch asks for a manager PIN before that action on the iPad. Off, the action goes through and records who did it." Each switch saves on its own and reaches each iPad at its next sign-in.

If an iPad can't read these switches at sign-in, it asks for a PIN for voids, discounts and comps anyway; the merge switch keeps its last known setting.

These always ask anyone who isn't a manager or admin for a manager PIN — there is no switch:

• Out of stock (86): the 86 screen asks once when you open it; marking a product from its tile on the order screen asks each time.
• Open Drawer (No Sale), under ··· › This iPad. See Cash drawer.
• Correcting a payment: voiding it, changing its tip or undoing a void. See Payment corrections.
• A comp credit on a customer account. See Customer accounts.
• Skipping tonight's opening count, on the sheet the night's first cash opens. See Cash drawer.

These are for managers and admins only and are hidden from everyone else — there is no PIN way in: Close the day, Check history, Purchasing, Register (opening float, cash in and out), the Receipt printer tools, the Language choice, adding or editing a customer account, finishing a stock count, Take Over of a table another iPad is using, and Merge anyway when another iPad has a check open.

When the day is closed

Once the day is closed — with Close the day, on any iPad — nothing new can be recorded: no new tables, no charges, no account payments. Every iPad of the venue shows an amber banner until someone starts a new day at the PIN pad: "The day is closed. Start a new day on the PIN screen to continue." This stops a second iPad from selling into a day whose Z has already been printed.

Tapping a free table shows the same sentence instead of opening a tab. Comp credits on customer accounts are not blocked.

Sell again after a close

1. Sign out (the icon in the top bar, or ··· › Sign Out).
2. Sign in with a PIN. The Start the day card appears because no day is open.
3. Tap Start the day. See Start the day.

• The banner clears when this iPad signs out, or when it learns that a day is open again. It doesn't clear when another iPad starts the new day: sign out and back in.
• An iPad that missed the news still can't sell: its first attempt is refused and the banner appears.

When Barform is paused or has ended

If your venue's subscription is still unpaid 15 days after a payment failed, Barform pauses the venue. When a subscription ends, the venue turns read-only. Either way, every iPad stops taking orders and shows a full screen instead of the PIN pad or the floor — also in the middle of a shift. The bottom line shows the venue's name. Why each happens, and how an admin clears it, is in Plans and billing.

• The iPad checks by itself every five minutes while the screen is up, and when it comes back to the front.
• An iPad that hadn't heard the news finds out on its first refused tab, line or payment, and shows the screen at once.
• A failed check (no connection) leaves the screen as it is.

"Barform is paused"

Under a pause sign: "Barform is paused at this bar, so this iPad can't open tabs, ring up drinks or take payments." and "Please contact the bar's owner: an admin can sort it out in the office, and this iPad comes back by itself."

1. An admin updates the card in the back office, in Settings › Billing.
2. Once the subscription is paid, the screen goes by itself within five minutes. To look at once, tap Check again ("Checking…").
3. The PIN pad comes back — or the floor, for whoever was signed in.

If the subscription is cancelled before it's paid — 30 days after the first failed payment — the screen changes to "Barform service has ended".

"Barform service has ended"

"This bar's Barform service has ended, so this iPad can't open tabs, ring up drinks or take payments." and "Please contact the bar's owner."

Nobody can open a tab, ring up a drink or take a payment until the owner, or an admin, subscribes again in the back office. Then:

1. Tap Check again ("Checking…").
2. The PIN pad comes back — or the floor, for whoever was signed in.

Change the iPad's language

The venue picks one language for all its iPads, English or Spanish. If the venue allows it, a manager can pick a different language on one particular iPad. Everything on the iPad follows the language in force: screens, messages, dates and the papers that iPad prints.

Who can do this: admins set the venue's language and allow overrides; managers and admins pick a language on one iPad.

For all of the venue's iPads

1. In the back office, go to Settings › Venue, Venue tab.
2. In Language, set iPad language to English or Español.
3. Each iPad changes at its next sign-in ("Every iPad follows this, from its next sign-in.").

Let managers choose on one iPad

1. In the same card, switch on Allow iPads to override ("A manager or admin can pick a different language on the iPad itself.").
2. The iPads see it at their next sign-in.

On one iPad

1. Tap ···.
2. Under This iPad, in the Language row, tap English, Español or Auto (follow the venue's language).
3. The whole iPad switches at once.

• The iPad's own choice wins when overrides are allowed and a choice was made; otherwise the venue's language applies.
• The choice belongs to the iPad, not to the person: it stays for everyone who signs in on that iPad until a manager changes it.
• When an admin switches overrides off, each iPad drops its own choice at its next sign-in. Switching them on again starts at Auto.
• Unpairing an iPad, or pairing it again, clears its choice.
• Dates and times follow the iPad's language and the venue's time zone: Spanish uses a 24-hour clock ("4 oct", "21:21"); English uses US style ("Oct 4", "9:21 PM").
• A change of the venue's language reaches an iPad at its next sign-in, or when the app is opened again. If an iPad can't read the override switch, it keeps its last known setting, so the language never flips in the middle of a shift.
• Admin portal language, in the same card, only changes the back office: "This site only. Independent of the iPads."
• An iPad that isn't paired yet has its own English and Español choice on its Pair this iPad screen. Pairing replaces it with the venue's language. See Pair and manage iPads.

Update the app

Barform tells every iPad which app version is the newest and which is the oldest still allowed.

"Update required"

An iPad on a version that is no longer allowed shows Update required instead of the PIN pad: "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." The bottom line shows the venue's name and the version installed.

1. Open the App Store on that iPad and update Barform POS.
2. Open Barform POS again. The PIN pad comes back.

• The screen never interrupts someone who is signed in: a signed-in iPad keeps selling, and the screen appears the next time it is back at the PIN pad (after a sign-out, or when the app is opened again).
• The screen has no buttons. It can also show on an iPad that isn't paired yet.
• A blocked iPad only checks again when the app is opened.

"A newer version is ready"

An iPad that is only behind the newest version keeps working and gets a reminder:

• At sign-in, a note floats over the floor for a few seconds: "A newer version of Barform POS is ready in the App Store." It shows at most once each time the app is opened, and once it has gone it doesn't come back for the same version.
• A small amber dot on the ··· button, and Update available in the Sync row, stay as long as a newer version exists. Otherwise the row says Up to date.

Update from the App Store when the bar is quiet. The back office shows which version each iPad runs. See Pair and manage iPads.

The More menu

The ··· button at the right of the floor's top bar opens More: the day's jobs as large tiles, each with one live fact under it, then a few rows about this iPad, and Sign Out at the bottom. The top right shows your full name and role. Tap Done, or swipe down, to close it.

Which tiles and rows you see depends on whether you're a manager or admin.

Operations

Waste, Count and Purchasing only appear when your plan includes inventory, as in the back office. See Plans and billing.

See Waste, Stock counts, Customer accounts, Closing the day, Check history, Purchasing and suppliers and Cash drawer.

This iPad

• The live lines are read each time More opens, and again after a job that changes them. A line that can't be read stays blank; the tile still works.
• Money figures — what accounts owe, today's checks total, open orders — only show to managers and admins.
• After the day is closed, Close the day disappears. Register stays.

Check the connection

The iPad keeps itself in step with the other iPads and the back office on its own. Three small lights tell you whether it is connected, and a banner says when it is offline, because payments stop while it is.

• On the floor: the dot at the start of the pill with your name. Green: connected. Red: this iPad has no network. Gray: connecting (right after the app opens, or while it reconnects).
• On the order screen: the light at the right of the strip at the top, with Synced, Connecting… or Disconnected.
• In More: the Sync row shows Connected or Disconnected, the app version, and Up to date or Update available.
• Offline: a gray banner on the floor reads "Offline — payments are paused until the connection is back." Charging is blocked until the network returns. See Taking payment.

These reach the iPad live, with no need to sign in again: tabs and their lines, the menu (including 86s and prices), tables and furniture, staff names and floor colors, printers, reservations and the day being closed. Settings — automatic sign-out, approval switches, language — are read at sign-in.

To force a fresh read, switch to another app and back (the floor reloads and the connection starts again), or sign out and back in (everything reloads). There is no "sync now" button; the Sync row is for information only.

• If the live connection can't open, the iPad checks for changes to tabs, tables and reservations every 5 seconds instead; menu changes then wait for the next sign-in.
• If nothing has refreshed the floor for 30 seconds, the iPad reloads it, so a dropped connection heals on its own.
• Waking the iPad reloads tabs, tables and reservations and restarts the connection.
• When a reload of the open tabs fails, an Error alert says "Failed to load orders: …".

Related

• The floor and tabs
• Time clock and schedule
• Cash drawer
• Staff and roles
• Pair and manage iPads