For everyone
Scan tickets at the door, even without a network
In a marquee, a cellar or a packed hall the network drops out. This is how the scanning app still tells you in under a second who may come in.
· 4 min read
The network always drops out at the worst possible moment: at eight o'clock, when the doors open and three hundred people open their ticket on their phone at the same time. In a marquee in a field, in a cellar or in an old hall with thick walls, it's even worse. A scanning app that has to look up every code online then brings your entrance to a halt. This article explains how the Passavo scanning app solves that, and what you prepare in advance.
How scanning without a network works
When you log in, and after that whenever you ask for it, the app downloads a manifest: the list of valid tickets for today. Think of a doorman's guest list. If the network drops out, the app checks each ticket against that list and tells you in under a second whether someone may come in. As soon as there is a connection again, it sends its scans on. At the door you notice nothing.
The manifest contains no ticket codes, only their fingerprint: an irreversible calculation on the code. A lost phone therefore yields not a single usable QR code.
What you see on screen
| Result | What you do |
|---|---|
| Valid | Let them in. The ticket is now used. |
| Warning | Take a look: the ticket belongs to another time slot, or it was scanned twice in quick succession. |
| Invalid | Don't let them in: cancelled, refunded, already used or forged. |
Besides a colour, every result has an icon and a word. In bright sunlight, or for someone who is colour-blind, colour alone is no signal.
Several entrances
Each device scans on its own; feel free to put four at one door. Scans are kept as separate observations: who scanned what and when stays visible in the back office. If someone presents the same ticket to two devices in quick succession, the second device reports it as a duplicate. That's how you notice one code being used twice.
Scanners: volunteers with exactly one permission
A scanner is a staff member who may only scan tickets. They see no prices, no revenue and no orders, and cannot change or refund anything. Invite each scanner separately under Staff, with their own email address: afterwards you see who scanned what, and you can take away one person's access without locking out the others.
On an iPhone you install the app from the App Store; for an Android device we send you the link. You log in with the organisation code, the email address and the scanner's password. All the steps are in the manual under Scanning app and scanning staff.
Checklist before the doors open
- Every device is charged or plugged into a power bank.
- Every device is logged in and shows the right organisation.
- The manifest has been refreshed, shortly before the doors open. Tickets sold after that are only found by the app when it is online.
- Brightness is turned up and auto-lock is set to at least two minutes.
- A spare device is ready.
- Also selling at the door? Then at least one device has a network.
What really slows the queue
The app scans quickly; the queue stalls for other reasons. Ask visitors to turn up their screen brightness, let them hold out their own phone, and put a sign saying "Have your ticket ready" ten metres before the door. A printed ticket on white paper is often the fastest scan of the evening. And anyone who put their ticket in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet doesn't have to dig through their email.
The same app, also as a till
Anyone who logs in with the desk, admin or owner role also gets the counter point of sale in the same app, on an iPad or an Android tablet — from the Start plan. Handy at a table where you sell and scan. For your scanners nothing changes: they only see the scanning screen.
What it costs
The scanning app is part of every plan, the free one included, with no amount per scan or per ticket. All features are on the features page, the plans on the pricing page. What offline scanning means exactly, you can read in the glossary.
