HelpLobby TV, displays & devicesThe lobby TV

The lobby TV

The lobby TV is the screen your visitors watch. It's a "10-foot" display — big, glanceable — showing who's being served now and who's next, with a QR they can scan to follow along on their phone.

Everyone Where: Public — no sign-in 4 min read

What's on it

Depending on your design, the display can show all of this.

  • The number now serving.
  • An up-next list.
  • The true waiting count, and a numbers wall.
  • An estimated wait for the back of the line.
  • A scan-to-join QR, and a clock.
  • If you enabled it, a strip of no-show numbers so the desk can call them back.
  • Your running-late bannerA free one-line message shown on the lobby TV and every tracking page — it sends no WhatsApp or email. and any ticker — with a chime and flash when a new number is called.

On a line worked by several counters, the lobby TV shows more than one called number. The newest call is the big one; the ones called just before it sit quietly underneath, each with the counter it was sent to. A call that names no counter shows the line’s own name in its place (for example “Service”), never a blank.

For example Three people called in a row can all still see where to walk.
A single-counter line Shows nothing extra.
A busy multi-counter line Keeps up to four earlier calls beside the big one — on a busy six- or eight-counter line the fifth-oldest call drops off to keep the wall readable from the back.

When the business is shut, a red band across the top says "Closed", with the reopening time under it when there is one.

Why the numbers stay on People who joined before closing are still waiting to be called, and blanking the screen would strand exactly them.
Waiting for a message to clear? A Message panel or an announcement you clear from the desk comes off the wall within about 30 seconds — that's how often a screen checks in. Give it half a minute before assuming it's stuck.

Privacy by default

A new line shows numbers only. That is the starting point, so a screen you put on the wall before you have thought about privacy is already the safe option.

How much of a name shows is set by the line's privacy setting — full name, initials, or numbers only — and it's applied on the server.
Applied on the server The name is taken out before anything reaches the TV, so there is nothing hidden in the screen to be uncovered.
Numbers-only line No visitor name is ever sent to the screen at all, so there's nothing to leak — the privacy-safe default for a public wall.

Built to stay up

Made to run unattended It keeps the screen awake, recovers itself after a wobble, and never shows a stale frame over a fresh one.

Your logo on the lobby TV. By default the TV does not show your logo image. The Logo band section prints your business name as text (with the branch beneath it when that adds something), sized for the room. To show your uploaded logo in that band instead, switch on Show logo only in the logo band in Design the display — if you have not uploaded a logo, the band keeps showing the name rather than an empty box.

Where else your logo image shows On the surfaces a visitor holds in their hand — the join page, tracking page and kiosk — and on the side strips of a very wide screen, below.
The one exception is a very wide screen. On a genuinely letterbox-shaped TV — wider than about two-to-one, so a 21:9 or 32:9 panel rather than an ordinary widescreen — the two strips left over at the sides carry your logo.
How the strips are filled They're painted in your brand colour and carry your uploaded logo, falling back to your business name if you haven't uploaded one.
Ordinary TVs A normal widescreen TV fills the width and has no strips, and a screen mounted sideways gets none either. See Design the display.
A small "Powered by turnda" footer Appears on every display — whichever layout you pick, including a display with nothing waiting on it, and in the design preview as you work. It's there on purpose; there is no setting for it.
Names showing that shouldn't? That's the line's privacy setting, not the display — switch the line to Initials or Numbers only in Capacity & privacy and every screen follows immediately.

What the TV shows when it loses its connection

The TV never goes blank on its own. It keeps showing the last numbers it received and tells people how old they are. After about 75 seconds without fresh numbers (or a failed check) the display says “Showing last update” with the time, and its panels read “Out of date — reconnecting”. After about three minutes, or as soon as the device itself reports it has no internet, an amber band at the bottom reads “Reconnecting — numbers last updated” with the time. When the connection returns, the numbers and the band clear by themselves — nobody needs to touch the TV. If the screen itself looks wrong, see The lobby TV is blank or offline.

A device too small for a lobby TV

A phone-sized device shows a message that a lobby TV needs a bigger screen.