How to turn on punch photos at the kiosk

How to turn on punch photos at the kiosk#

For: Admin You’ll need: Owner or Admin role, and at least one kiosk device already paired to a location.

You’ll switch the kiosk from PIN-only verification to PIN + photo, so every punch at the tablet — clock in, clock out, break start, break end — stores a photo alongside the time. A manager reviews those photos on the timesheet. The PIN doesn’t go away: the photo is documentation attached to it, not a replacement.

Warning

Turning this on is a decision your company owns, not a setting Shiftavo can make lawful for you. Before you switch it on: give your employees prior written notice of what’s captured, why, and who can see it; document why it’s necessary (a photo is treated as excessive without a real, recorded problem such as buddy-punching); and make sure the review actually happens. Photos that are stored and never looked at are exactly what regulators penalise.

Turn on the company-wide setting#

  1. Open the account dropdown (top-right) and click ‘Settings’.

  2. In the right column, find the ‘Time clock’ section.

  3. Open the ‘Kiosk verification’ dropdown and choose ‘PIN + photo’. (The default is ‘PIN only’.)

  4. Click ‘Save’.

The kiosk setting only appears while the ‘Kiosk’ surface is on — see How to choose where your team can clock in.

Set the retention period#

The ‘Punch photo retention (days)’ field appears as soon as you choose ‘PIN + photo’.

  1. Enter how many days a photo should be kept — anything from 1 to 90. The default is 30.

  2. Click ‘Save’.

After that many days, Shiftavo deletes the photo automatically. The punch itself — the times, the breaks, the record that photo mode was in force — is never deleted. See How long punch photos are kept.

Turn it off for a single location#

Photo capture is on at every location by default once the company setting is on. You can exempt individual locations.

  1. In the header, go to Company → Locations and open the location.

  2. Turn off the ‘Punch photos at this location’ toggle.

  3. Click ‘Save’.

Punches at that location go back to PIN only. The toggle only does anything while the company-wide verification is ‘PIN + photo’.

Note

The setting is per location, never per tablet. Two tablets at the same door must never disagree about whether they’re photographing people.

Verify it worked#

Walk up to a tablet at an affected location and tap any name. A live, mirrored camera preview appears next to the PIN keypad, with a one-line notice explaining what’s captured and who can see it. After the punch, open the shift on Planning → Management → Timesheet, click the row, and you’ll find a ‘Punch photos’ section with a thumbnail marked ‘Unreviewed’.