Making booth maintenance part of someone's weekly routine helps you avoid the most common problems with permanent installs. A little consistency goes a long way toward a reliable, guest-ready booth.
Before you begin
If this is your first permanent install, make sure you've completed the one-time setup steps in these guides.
Covers Guided Access, auto-lock, and other iOS settings.
Only needs to be done once.
Covers basics like charging, connectivity, and testing the booth.
Review it every so often, though not as often as the ongoing maintenance steps below.
Guided Access is covered in the guides above, but it's especially important for permanent installs.
The person maintaining the booth must know the Guided Access passcode. You can share it more widely if needed, but someone must be able to exit Guided Access to update the app or restart the iPad.
Make sure Guided Access is turned back on after any app or iPad maintenance.
Regular maintenance
1. Assign a point person
Permanent booths often go untouched for weeks at a time, which seems fine until something breaks. Make sure someone is explicitly responsible for the booth. Ideally, this shouldn't be a bartender or server who's also juggling customer service. Assign a dedicated staff member or manager to:
Make sure the correct preset is in use. Keeping Guided Access on at all times prevents preset mix-ups.
Check for iOS and app updates at least once a week.
Install updates promptly to avoid crashes, sync issues, or slowdowns.
Restart the iPad if needed after major updates.
A recurring calendar reminder or checklist helps make this a habit.
2. Monitor the offline queue regularly
If the booth is actively capturing photos or videos, reviewing the queue confirms everything is syncing and working correctly. A good rhythm includes:
Checking the queue daily if possible, especially for high-traffic booths.
At minimum, reviewing the queue weekly, ideally at the same time as your app and iOS checks.
Regular queue reviews help you catch stalled uploads or failed syncs early, before they become a bigger problem.
Helpful tools
These features make it easier to manage a permanent booth, especially when you're not onsite.
This tool is especially helpful for troubleshooting or switching content without touching the iPad.
Check the iPad's battery level, connection status, and the preset currently in use.
See how many captures are pending in the queue.
Remotely launch a different preset, which is useful for special events or if the wrong one was selected.
Control whether your team can edit presets and galleries directly from the HALO app. This setting applies to your entire account.
If your team reliably uses Guided Access and you want them to be able to make changes on the fly, turn on-device editing on.
If you're worried about unintentional changes, turn on-device editing off.
Turning off on-device editing also locks the in-app Design Panel, so photo layouts can't be edited until you turn it back on.
If you're collecting guest information through data capture, you can download a CSV of the results from your account's Analytics page. The CSV download is about halfway down the page on the left side.
Quick links
Quick Troubleshooting Guide: tips for fixing common issues.
Brand Moderation: available on the Select plan. Brand Moderation lets you choose which photos are uploaded to your online gallery, so nothing inappropriate appears there. When it's on, check the moderation queue as often as possible.
Analytics: if you're using data capture, find participant information on your account's Analytics page.
Using HALO 5.0? See Permanent Install Guide in the HALO 5.0 documentation.