Salon Check-In Kiosk: Walk-Ins Sign Themselves In

What a salon check-in kiosk does

A check-in kiosk replaces the paper sign-in sheet and the "who's next?" at the front desk. A walk-in taps Join on the tablet, types their name and phone number, picks what they came in for, and they are on the list. Your stylists see the queue on their phones, the waiting area sees it on a TV, and the client gets a text the moment a chair opens.

For a salon that runs on walk-ins, that is the whole front desk. Braiding studios, barbershops, threading and brow bars, nail salons and lash studios use it the same way: clients check in themselves, staff pull the next name, and nobody loses a client who walked out because no one wrote them down.

How Ozync's check-in kiosk works

Set it up once in the Ozync app; the same settings run the kiosk on an iPad, an Android tablet, or in a web browser.

1. 1Open the Kiosk tab in the Ozync app on a tablet (or tap Open kiosk on ozync.com) and the welcome screen takes over the device.
2. 2A client taps Join Walk-in and enters their name. The phone number can be optional or required; it is what lets you text them.
3. 3They pick a service and, if you want, a stylist or barber. Service and staff pickers can be turned on or off.
4. 4If you use waivers, they sign it right on the kiosk before they sit down. Check-in questions ("first visit?", "any allergies?") can be asked here too.
5. 5They are on the waitlist. The kiosk and the TV display show the queue; the Ozync app shows it to you and your staff.
6. 6When a chair opens, tap Notify to text "it's your turn", then Served when they sit. The list moves up on its own.

Runs on hardware you already own

There is nothing to buy to get started. The kiosk is the Ozync app on any iPad or Android tablet, in kiosk mode with an exit PIN so clients cannot leave the screen. A browser kiosk works on any laptop or Chromebook from your ozync.com account.

If you want it to look the part, a desk or floor stand for the tablet is all it takes. For the waiting-room TV, the Ozync Waitlist app runs on an Amazon Fire TV Stick, a Samsung or LG smart TV, and links to your business with a 6-digit code. Sunmi all-in-one kiosks with a built-in card reader are available for shops that also want to take payments at the door.

Built for salons, barbershops and beauty studios

Ozync is salon software first. The kiosk, the waitlist and the TV queue are shaped around how a walk-in shop actually runs, not around restaurant tables.

• Braiding salons: long services, clients who arrive early and wait. The queue on the TV answers "how long?" without anyone asking.
• Barbershops: pick-your-barber check-in, with a per-barber queue so regulars line up for the chair they want.
• Threading and brow bars: a two-minute service with a constant line. Check-in takes ten seconds and the text goes out when it's their turn.
• Nail and lash studios: service picker with durations so the wait estimate is honest, and a waiver on the kiosk for new clients.
• Waxing and spa: the client form in the language the client chooses, with a signed waiver on file before the first service.

What you control

Every part of the kiosk is a switch in the Kiosk settings, shared by the tablet app and the browser kiosk.

• Join form: single name field or first and last, phone optional or required, email, service picker, staff picker.
• Waiver on the kiosk, and up to three short check-in questions whose answers show on the client's row.
• Language picker on the join form (English, Spanish, Vietnamese and more), separate from the language your staff use in the app.
• What clients see: the live walk-in queue, today's appointments, an estimated wait, and a QR code so people can join from their own phone instead.
• Token mode: clients tap Get Token and a numbered ticket prints on a connected printer, for shops that prefer numbers to names.
• Theme: eleven color themes, so the kiosk matches the shop; fonts and custom colors in the app.
• Kiosk access: an admin exit PIN, and what staff can do from the kiosk screen without leaving it.

The TV queue, texts, and joining from a phone

The kiosk is one way in. Ozync also prints a QR code and NFC tap sign for the counter or the door, so a client can join the same waitlist from their own phone and wait in the car. Everyone lands on one list, marked by where they came from.

The TV display shows that list in the waiting area, name by name, so "how many ahead of me?" answers itself. And when it is a client's turn, Ozync texts them; the message is yours to edit. The same texts confirm appointments and send reminders if you take bookings too.

Pricing

The kiosk is part of Ozync, not an add-on. Ozync is free for your first 25 clients, with no card required. After that it is $15 a month billed annually, or $19.99 month to month, flat. No per-booking fees, no per-text fees for waitlist notifications, no per-device fees: run the kiosk on as many tablets as you like.

Hardware is optional and quoted separately: tablet stands, the TV stick, printed NFC and QR signs, and Sunmi kiosks with a card reader.

Ozync vs. a kiosk add-on to salon suites

Most salon suites offer a check-in kiosk as a companion app that only works with their full booking software. Ozync's kiosk stands on its own, with the waitlist and TV queue included.