Kiosk App Is Locking Up Or Offline?

Look at your weekly emailed reports or in your Store Dashboard for inconsistencies or daily gaps in customer check-ins that could point to either a kiosk not functioning properly or an employee not selling customers on the loyalty program.

There are 3 factors to consider when troubleshooting a kiosk, the internet connection, the wifi connection, and the Kiosk app. Use these steps and the process of elimination to find the root of the issue:

Test Your Internet Connection

1. Make sure you are connected to your secure wifi not a guest network. Just because the wifi icon shows connected doesn’t mean you have an internet connection.
2. If you CAN’T surf the web from an internet browser like Chrome/Safari from the kiosk, the Kiosk app will not work either and give you an offline message error.
3. If the loading screen takes more than 5 seconds you could have a slow internet connection. Run a connection test from the kiosk browser at www.speedtest.net to make sure you are getting the minimum speeds promised by your ISP or Internet Service Provider
4. Run a speed test from your Merchant Portal (CLICK TO WATCH VIDEO) anything less than 3 mbits is too slow – Call your ISP and resolve.

OTHER FACTORS

• Just because your are running Pandora doesn’t mean your internet connection is stable. Music apps typically preload songs. Also just because your phone says its connected to your store wifi doesn’t mean its not using cellular data to connect to the internet. Make sure you are in Air Plane Mode when testing your connection from a phone.
• Do you have a Dedicated or Floating IP? Ask you ISP or check your bill. If you have a floating IP then you are randomly sharing an internet connection with anyone on the backbone, even the kid down the street online gaming and watching YouTube videos could cause major inconsistencies in your internet speed.

Test Your WiFi Connection

• Routers tend to go bad every two years and give intermittent signals. Connect the kiosk to your phone hotspot. If it works on your phone hotspot but not on your wifi – you have a internet or wifi issue that needs to be resolved.
  • In some cases your internet can be blazing fast but its a weak wifi signal that is causing the Kiosk app to work slow or not function.
  • Where is your wifi & router located? Is it in the back of the store with a freezer and 10 yogurt machines separating the kiosk from wifi. Try buying an inexpensive signal booster or a brand new wifi router with broader range.
  • There could be a stronger wifi connection closer to the kiosk. For example, a Panera or Verizon store on the other side of the wall. The kiosk device will try to connect to the strongest closest signal it can find.
  • Wifi traffic: What other devices are connected to your wifi and what processes are they running that would slow down speed. If you have a dual band wifi router, an excess of customer bandwidth usage can even cause the Kiosk app to run slowly.

Please keep in mind that 99% of the calls we field about the kiosk app not working are due to internet connection issues. The kiosk app is like an app on your phone, if you don’t have data or wifi, the app won’t work. If you can’t resolve your internet issues, we do offer 4G enabled kiosks with their own built in dedicated internet connection for an additional monthly fee.

Symptoms of the Kiosk app not functioning:

• You have opened up a web browser like Chrome/Safari on the kiosk and you can surf the internet quickly with no page loading delays but the Kiosk app device is offline.
• The app just crashes, when people are entering their phone number or at random different points.

Steps to fix the Kiosk app or device offline:

1. Go to settings and make sure “Force kiosk to function in offline mode even if internet is available” is checked OFF. CLICK TO WATCH VIDEO
2. Make sure no other apps are running or installed on the kiosk
3. Go to Android “Settings” and delete cache and all app data
4. If you still experience issues try reinstalling the Kiosk app
5. As a last resort, factory data reset the kiosk to its original settings