Skip to content
invitebird

Event Day mode — your welcome desk on a tablet

What Event Day mode is, how to turn it on, how the kiosk lock and passcode work, and what guests can do on the big screen.

Last reviewed 6 min read

On this page7 sections
  1. Where to turn it on
  2. Built from your modules — nothing random
  3. The lock
  4. The QR that follows guests home — well, to their phones
  5. Talking to the room
  6. Common questions
  7. Related articles

Event Day mode turns any iPad, tablet, or laptop into your event's front desk. Prop it by the door or on a table: guests tap to check in, find their table, browse the menu, scan a QR to drop photos into the album, vote in the live poll, and more — all on one locked, party-dressed screen.

Where to turn it on

Open your event and go to the Event Day tab — it's the home of everything day-of, with a Setup side you prepare in advance and a Live side you run the party from. (There's also a short Event Day card on your Home tab; it opens the same place.) In Setup you:

  1. Preview the kiosk. Ahead of the day Preview the kiosk opens it in a new tab with your real guests and tables, marked Preview — check-ins and walk-ins you try there aren't saved. Preview a guest's phone (under Guest access) does the same for the page guests open on their phones. On the day itself the button reads Open kiosk and opens the real thing; open that link on the tablet you'll use at the party (a preview link opened on the day counts real arrivals too).
  2. Set a 4-digit kiosk passcode. It locks the tablet so guests can't wander out of Event Day — set it before the tablet goes to the door (you can also set it from the kiosk's lock button while you're signed in). The saved code is shown only to you, with a Change option any time.

For a full tour of the tab, see The Event Day tab.

Event Day works only for a live event — an invitation you've sent. Drafts and canceled events never open a kiosk. For sending, see Sending your invitations.

Built from your modules — nothing random

The kiosk composes its tiles from the features you've switched on and actually filled in. Seating with nobody placed (or tables you haven't released to guests yet), a question with no answers to collect, or an empty timeline never shows a dead tile. Depending on your setup you may see: Check in (always), Find my table, Tonight's menu, Share your photos, Photo wall, What's happening, Add a song, Live poll, Trivia answers, a raffle draw, predictions, a voice note from you, Good to know (your FAQ), and What to bring.

You choose what makes the big screen, and in what order. Setup's kiosk builder lists every tile as a row you can arrange:

  • Reorder by dragging a row on a computer, or with the ↑ / ↓ buttons on a phone.
  • Hide a tile that's on by default — the table lookup, the menu, the schedule, the photo drop, the photo wall — with the eye button.
  • Add a tile that's off by default: anything else that's set up carries an Add button, so nothing shows up on your big screen without your say-so.
  • A module that isn't set up yet shows a quiet "needs setting up" link instead of a dead row.

Hiding a tile never turns the module off for guests elsewhere — a playlist can keep collecting requests from phones while staying off the kiosk. Check in can't be hidden; it's the heart of the screen.

The screen is guest-safe by design: it never shows guest email addresses or phone numbers, and the What to bring board shows items only — never who claimed them.

The lock

Tap the lock icon to lock the kiosk with your passcode. While locked:

  • The browser Back button is trapped, and leaving the page is blocked — guests stay inside Event Day.
  • The "Host: exit to desk" link is disabled and shows Locked.
  • Unlocking takes your 4-digit code on the keypad. A few wrong tries in a row are slowed down.

For a truly locked-down iPad, also turn on Guided Access (Settings → Accessibility → Guided Access, then triple-click the side button) — it pins the tablet to this one screen at the operating-system level.

After a stretch with no touches, the kiosk quietly returns to the tile grid on its own (with a short countdown first), so the next guest always starts fresh.

The QR that follows guests home — well, to their phones

A QR code sits in a band across the kiosk on every view (on the full-screen photo wall it tucks into a corner). Scanning it opens the guest companion page on the guest's own phone — the same check-in, menu, plan, games, and photo drop, pocket-sized. You can also print a big Event door sign with this QR from your event's printables, once Event Day has been opened at least once. See The guest view of Event Day.

Talking to the room

The Event Day tab has an Announce to the room box, on both the Setup and Live sides. Notes you send appear on the kiosk's ticker and on guests' companion pages — perfect for "Dinner is served in the garden!" You can also schedule one for later in the night, or save lines you reuse. See Announcements and the day-of timeline.

As guests tap I'm here, the Live side keeps a running board of arrivals — how many parties are in, who you're still waiting on, and the last few names through the door. See The check-in kiosk.

Common questions

Do I need special hardware? No. Any iPad, Android tablet, or laptop with a browser works. For the photo wall on a big screen, a laptop plugged into a TV is lovely.

Is the kiosk page public? It opens only with its private link, which contains a long secret. Anyone without the link (or with a canceled/draft event) sees nothing. The lock passcode then keeps guests inside the kiosk at the party. The QR codes guests scan (on the kiosk and the door sign) carry a separate guest link that opens their phone page but never the kiosk, and can't add walk-ins or undo a check-in. If either link leaks, Reset kiosk link in Setup replaces both at once — reopen the kiosk and re-print the door sign afterwards.

Why is a tile missing? The matching module is off or empty — or it's a tile you haven't added. Tiles appear only for modules that are switched on and have real content. Open the kiosk builder in Setup: a hidden tile shows a crossed-out eye, and an off-by-default one shows an Add button.

Can guests do damage from the kiosk? No. The kiosk is read-mostly: check-in, a poll vote, or a song suggestion are the writes. Host-only moments — revealing answers, drawing raffle winners — are run from your own signed-in Event Day tab, and the kiosk's own copies of them ask for your 4-digit passcode. See Live moments on the big screen.

Does Event Day cost extra? No. It's part of your event — built from the modules already included with your plan. See Plans and pricing.

Was this helpful?

Related articles