How to set up the waiting room monitor

What you get

You set up the monitor once, and it calls numbers with the ding-dong and, if you want, with the voice. On a PC with Chrome set up as explained here, it starts on its own, without touching anything. On tablets and TVs you sometimes need a tap or a button press every time you turn them on.

How the monitor behaves

• At startup, the monitor tries to turn on sound by itself.
• If the browser blocks it, Tap to turn on sound appears. One tap, click or remote button is enough. It may appear again after every restart.
• The called number always flashes, even with the voice off or sound blocked.

Which part is for you

• PC or mini PC connected to the TV: “PC with Chrome”. If the PC is only for the monitor, also “Chrome full screen”.
• Tablet or Android box: “Android tablets and boxes”.
• TV only: “Smart TV and Android TV”.

First of all

1. In the Puntify app, open Skip the Queue > Screens.
2. Turn on Voice announcement and choose how many times to repeat it: 1, 2 or 3.
3. Get the monitor link onto the device in the room:
   • Tablet: scan the code from Show QR.
   • PC: tap Copy link, email it to yourself and open it on the PC.
   • TV: the QR code and email don't work there. Open the TV browser and type the link with the remote. To read it, paste it into a note or a message on your phone. It's long: if typing it is awkward, connect a PC to the TV.

PC with Chrome

1. Open the monitor page in Chrome.
2. Click the small icon to the left of the address (View site information).
3. Choose Site settings. A long page opens.
4. Scroll down to Sound and, in the menu next to it, choose to allow sound.
5. Go back to the monitor and reload the page.

From then on, the monitor plays sound on its own. Change the sound setting exactly like this, only for the monitor page: the sound setting for all sites, in Chrome's general settings, is not enough.

To make it start after a restart too, with nobody there:

• In the Windows power settings, make sure the screen never turns off and the PC never goes to sleep.
• If Windows asks for a password at startup, the monitor starts only after you enter it. To avoid touching anything, the PC must sign in to Windows on its own, without a password.

Chrome full screen (PC for the monitor only)

On a Windows PC used only for the monitor, Chrome opens full screen on the monitor page and sound starts without a tap. With this icon, Chrome lets every site it opens play sound on its own: so use the PC only for the monitor, not for browsing.

1. First do the steps in “PC with Chrome”, including power and password: sound stays allowed even if the icon doesn't work.
2. Close Chrome: the three dots at the top right > Exit.
3. If there's no Chrome icon on the desktop, drag it onto the desktop from the app list in the Start menu.
4. Right-click the Chrome icon > Copy. Then right-click an empty spot on the desktop > Paste. In Windows 11, Copy and Paste are the small icons at the top of the menu.
5. Right-click the new icon > Properties.
6. The Target field already has some text: don't delete it. Click in the field, press the End key, add a space and type:
   --kiosk --autoplay-policy=no-user-gesture-required "MONITOR-LINK"
   In place of MONITOR-LINK, paste the monitor link you emailed to yourself. Keep the quotation marks around the link.
7. In the end, the field looks like this (the Chrome path may be different):
   "C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" --kiosk --autoplay-policy=no-user-gesture-required "https://www.puntify.it/coda/display/..."
8. Click OK.
9. To make it start when the PC turns on: right-click Start > Run, type shell:startup and press Enter. Drag the new icon into the folder that opens.
10. Restart the PC and check that the monitor opens full screen.

• The icon works only if Chrome is closed. If Chrome is already open, a normal window opens, not full screen. On this PC, don't open Chrome from other icons.
• To close the monitor, press Alt and F4 together. You need a keyboard connected to the PC.

Android tablets and boxes

• With Chrome: open the monitor link. Tap the icon to the left of the address (View site information) > Permissions and, if there's a Sound option, allow sound. If Tap to turn on sound appears, tap the screen once. If it appears at every startup, tap every time.
• With a kiosk browser app (search the Play Store for “kiosk browser”): set the monitor link as the home page and, if the app has an autoplay option, turn it on. Many of these apps don't read the voice: they only play the ding-dong. If you don't know which one to choose, use Chrome: one tap and you get the voice too.
• In the device settings (usually under screen and battery), set the screen timeout to the maximum and turn off power saving. The names change from one model to another.

Smart TV and Android TV

• Open the monitor link in the TV browser, as explained in “First of all”. If Tap to turn on sound appears, press a button on the remote, for example OK. Repeat every time you turn it on.
• Many browsers for Android TV and some Smart TVs don't read the voice: they only play the ding-dong and the number flashes. Test it on your TV.
• To get the voice without touching anything, connect a PC or mini PC to the TV with an HDMI cable and follow “Chrome full screen”. On the remote, choose that input with the Source or Input button.

The volume

Inside the page, the volume is always at maximum, but the page can't change the device volume. Turn it up with the remote or the device buttons and check that it isn't muted.

The voice

• The monitor uses the voices installed on the device: they change from one device to another.
• Install the voice in your shop's language. If in Skip the Queue > Screens you turned on Also repeat in the guest's language (the customer), also add your customers' languages.
• Windows: Settings > Time & language > Language & region > Add a language. Choose the language, keep Text-to-speech selected and clear Set as my Windows display language, so the PC language doesn't change. If the language is already in the list, open its options and check that text-to-speech is installed. Then restart the PC.
• Android: Settings > Accessibility > Text-to-speech output. For another language, look for Install voice data in the speech engine settings.

Test in one minute

1. Turn on the monitor and wait for the numbers screen.
2. With your phone, scan the QR code that customers use to take a number, and take one.
3. In the app, tap Call the next.
4. Do you hear the ding-dong and the voice? It's ready.

• Do you see Tap to turn on sound? Tap once and check the steps for your device again.
• You hear nothing and the prompt doesn't appear? Check the volume and mute. On the TV, check that you're on the right input (Source or Input). Then call again.
• You hear the ding-dong but not the voice? Check that Voice announcement is on and read “The voice”.

For counters and what the monitor shows, see Queue desks and monitors.