Pair a Display

The display is a TV or monitor in your waiting area. It shows the ticket numbers being called and the desk for each call. It also shows how many customers are waiting and previews the next numbers. The display updates in real time. It announces called numbers with a sound and a flash across the whole screen.

Jonot provides an Android display app for wall-mounted tablets and TVs and a desktop display client for macOS, Windows, and Linux. Both show the same display screen. On Android, macOS, and Windows, these apps start automatically and keep the screen awake. The Linux client asks GNOME and KDE Plasma to keep the screen awake. See Keep the display awake. Google Play installs updates on Android. The desktop client checks for updates automatically, and an operator must confirm each install. See Install Jonot for download links and desktop updates for how updates work on each platform. Pairing works the same way in every one of them.

The display screen updates itself. About once an hour it checks for a new version and reloads when no announcement is in progress, so you do not need to refresh it by hand.

Pairing steps

Pairing uses two devices. A code appears on the display screen. You enter the code in Admin to activate the display.

Step 1 — find the code on the TV or monitor

Recommended: dedicated display app

1. On the tablet or TV that will show the queue, install and open the Jonot Display app — get it on Google Play (recommended), or download the APK directly for on-site deployments or deployments managed with mobile device management (MDM) when Google Play is not available. On a desktop or laptop, install the desktop display client instead.
2. Open Pair this device → if the pairing screen is not shown automatically.
3. A 7-character pairing code, such as K7M-4PQ, appears on the screen. The code is valid for 10 minutes.

Alternative: browser-based display

1. On the device connected to the display screen, open https://display.jonot.io/pair/ in a browser.
2. A 7-character pairing code, such as K7M-4PQ, appears on the screen. The code is valid for 10 minutes.

Keep the screen visible. You will type this code into admin in the next step.

Step 2 — activate the device in admin

1. In admin, open your location and go to the Devices tab.
2. Click Pair device. The code identifies the device as a display, so you do not need to select a device type.
3. Select one initial queue for the display (see Display assignment below).
4. Enter the 7-character code shown on the display screen.
5. Click Pair. The display detects activation and switches into the live queue view.

The pairing screen counts down the time left on the code and requests a new code automatically when the code expires. To get a new code sooner, click Refresh code. Enter the code that is currently on the screen.

Display assignment

A display requires a queue assignment. Select one queue during activation. After pairing, use the edit window to assign 1–5 queues from the location:

• Single queue — shows calls for one queue. Use this option when each queue has its own screen.
• Multi-queue board — shows 2–5 queues next to each other on one live board. Each column updates separately. Paused queues show a paused badge. Use the checkboxes in the edit window to assign several queues.

Desk linking is a separate, optional setting:

• Location view (all desks) — no linked desk. The display shows calls from its assigned queues, regardless of which desk calls them. This option keeps the queue assignment.
• Linked desk — in the single-queue layout, the display shows only that desk’s calls from the assigned queue in a single-ticket view. If the desk stays offline for more than 2 minutes, the display changes to location view for the same queue until the desk reconnects. The multi-queue board shows its assigned queues without linked-desk filtering.

To change a display’s queue assignment or linked desk after pairing, open the Devices tab, click Edit on the display row, and adjust the queue checkboxes or the Linked desk selector.

Keep the display awake

The Android display app and the desktop display client on macOS and Windows keep the screen awake automatically. You do not need to change the device settings.

On Linux, the desktop display client blocks system sleep and suspend on lid close. It also asks the desktop not to blank or lock the screen while it runs. GNOME, the default desktop on Ubuntu and Fedora, and KDE Plasma honour this request in both X11 and Wayland sessions. Desktops without the freedesktop.org screen saver interface, such as Sway and other minimal Wayland compositors, ignore it. If the screen still blanks or locks, change these settings in the account that runs the display:

• GNOME — open Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen Lock (Settings → Privacy → Screen Lock in GNOME 45 and earlier), set Blank Screen Delay to Never, and turn off Automatic Screen Lock. From a terminal, run gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.session idle-delay 0 and gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.screensaver lock-enabled false.
• Other desktops — turn off screen blanking, the screen saver, and the automatic screen lock in the desktop’s power and screen-lock settings.

In a browser tab, the device’s power settings control the screen. A web page cannot override them. Configure the device to stay awake and keep it connected to power so customers can see the queue:

• Android tablet or TV box — open Settings → Display and set the screen timeout to the longest option or Never, if available. If the device does not have a “Never” option, enable Developer options → Stay awake. This keeps the screen on while the device charges. Turn off the screen saver or “daydream” feature.
• Smart TV — turn off the screen saver, eco / power-saving timer, and auto power-off in the TV settings. The location of these settings depends on the manufacturer. They are often under Settings → Power or Settings → General.
• Desktop or laptop browser — turn off system sleep and screen blanking in the operating system’s power settings. The desktop lockdown guide gives instructions for each operating system. Its sleep and screen-blanking steps also apply to displays.

Always keep the display device connected to power. Most devices sleep or reduce performance on battery, regardless of the screen-timeout setting.

Next step: pair your desk →