§ 01Privacy, first
Worth stating before anything else, because parents will ask:
- The camera image is analysed on the tablet itself. No photo or video ever leaves the device, and none is stored anywhere.
- What's kept is a short string of numbers (a “face vector”) that lets the system say “this is probably Ama” — it cannot be turned back into a picture of Ama.
- Enrolment is recorded with consent, per student, and a school admin can remove (unenrol) a student's face data at any time from the student's page.
- The kiosk also checks it's looking at a live person, not a photo held up to the camera.
§ 02What you need
- A tablet (Android or iPad) or any computer with a front camera and a modern browser.
- Power at the gate, and Wi-Fi or mobile data.
- A stand or wall mount at student head height.
- A school admin with their phone or laptop nearby for the one-time pairing.
§ 03Pairing the device (one-time, ~2 minutes)
- Admin: in School Admin, open Settings → Face check-in, fill in Register a device — a device name (e.g. “Main gate”) and an optional location — and press Register device. A one-time pairing code appears, shaped like
ABCDE-FGHJK. It's valid for 10 minutes and works once.
- On the tablet: open
kiosk.simusim.com. You'll see “Pair this gate device — Enter the one-time pairing code from the school admin app.”
- Type the code and press Pair device. (Typo? “Pairing failed. Check the code and try again.” — generate a fresh code if the 10 minutes passed.)
- Allow camera access when the browser asks. The kiosk switches to its scanning screen: “Step up and look at the camera.”
- Admin: back in School Admin, the device now appears under Registered devices under the name you gave it at registration (e.g. “Main gate”), so multiple gates stay distinguishable.
The pairing survives restarts and browser closes. To decommission a tablet (or if one is lost), press Revoke next to it in School Admin — it stops working immediately and shows “This device was unpaired. Enter a new pairing code.”
§ 04Enrolling student faces
- In School Admin, open the student's page (Users → the student) and find the Face enrolment panel.
- Record the family's consent, then run the enrolment capture: the student looks at the camera for a moment while the quality checks pass (good light, one face, looking straight on).
- The panel switches to Enrolled, with the enrolment date. Students who aren't enrolled simply use the student-code fallback at the gate.
§ 05A school day at the gate
The kiosk runs full-screen, camera on, screen kept awake. For a student, the whole interaction is:
- Step up to the tablet and look at the camera — one person at a time.
- The screen says “Recognising…” for a moment.
- A green tick appears with the student's name, class, and direction: “Checked IN” (or “Checked OUT” when leaving). It shows for three seconds, and the kiosk is ready for the next student.
On-screen coaching handles the common stumbles: “One person at a time, please”, “Step closer and look at the camera”, “Look directly at the camera.”
§ 06The student-code fallback
Always available — for unenrolled students, twins the camera can't split, or a bad-hair-day refusal:
- Tap Enter student code at the bottom of the screen. (It also opens automatically if the camera couldn't identify someone: “Not recognised. Enter your student code.”)
- Type the student code from the login card and press Check in.
- The same green confirmation appears. Scan my face instead returns to camera mode.
§ 07What a check-in does
- Attendance: a morning check-in pre-marks the student present for the day — the class teacher reviews in Attendance rather than starting from a blank roster. Check-outs record leaving time.
- Parent SMS: if the school has switched on gate notifications (School Admin → Settings → Face check-in), the linked parent receives a text when their child checks in or out.
- The record: every gate event is timestamped per student — useful for safeguarding questions like “was Ama in school on Tuesday, and when did she leave?”
§ 08Troubleshooting
| Screen says… | Do this |
|---|
| “Camera unavailable — check the camera/permissions, or enter a student code below.” | Re-allow camera permission for the site in the browser settings, or restart the browser. Manual entry keeps working meanwhile. |
| “Offline — scanning paused. Reconnect to resume.” | The tablet lost internet. Check Wi-Fi/data; scanning resumes by itself when the connection returns. |
| “Could not confirm your face. Enter your student code.” | Normal for look-alikes or borderline light — the kiosk asks rather than guesses. The student types their code. |
| “This device was unpaired. Enter a new pairing code.” | The device was revoked (or its access expired). Generate a fresh pairing code in School Admin and pair again. |
| Recognition feels slow or misses often | Check lighting — strong backlight (sun behind the student) is the usual culprit. Reposition the tablet so light falls on faces. |