Quick start
About 20 minutes, most of it waiting for a download. You need an Android phone or tablet (Android 8.0 or newer) with a camera, a web browser, and Wi-Fi.
Already set up and looking for detail? The full documentation covers everything, and the FAQ answers the short questions.
What you are setting up
FRAMES has two halves that talk to each other. The portal is the website you are reading this on — you manage people, events and reports there. The kiosk app runs on an Android device at your entrance and does the recognising and scanning. The portal never sees a camera; the device never needs a keyboard.
The same device does both jobs: it recognises staff faces for attendance, and it scans ticket QR codes for events. You choose which on the device's home screen.
Get a working kiosk
Create your organization
Sign up on the signup page with your work email, then click the link in the verification email. You cannot sign in until you do — if it has not arrived in a few minutes, check the spam folder.
Every new organization starts on a free trial with full features, plus a small amount of free event credit so you can test a gate without paying for anything.
Add the device in the portal
Go to Settings → Devices. A new organization already has a Default Tablet and a Main Entrance location, so you can usually skip straight to the next step. To add another, click Add device, give it a name and a location.
The device code cannot be changed later.It is stamped on every attendance record the device writes, so FRAMES will not let you rename it afterwards. Pick something you will still recognise in a year — Main Gate, Warehouse Door — before you create it.Install the app on the device
On the Android device, open FRAMES on Google Play and install it. Open the app and it will ask to use the camera — that permission is what the whole product does, so there is no way around it.
First launch downloads a face-recognition model, about 250 MB.It happens once per device and it needs Wi-Fi. Start it before the day you need the kiosk, not on the morning of.Link the device to your organization
In the portal, on Settings → Devices, click QR next to your device. On the device, tap Scan QR code and point it at your screen.
That is the whole pairing. The QR carries the server address and a one-time code that expires after 30 minutes — if it has gone stale, click QR again for a fresh one.
Enrol your first person
On the device, tap People → Add, type their name, and take one clear photo in the light they will actually stand in. The device turns that photo into a numeric template and keeps the template; the recognition never leaves the device.
Enrol two or three people to start. You do not need everybody before you can use it.
Try it
Tap Staff attendance, stand in front of the camera, and watch it recognise you. Open Staff Attendance → Attendance in the portal and the check-in is there, usually within seconds.
That is a working kiosk. Everything below is about making it fit how you actually work.
Then pick your track
Most organizations use one of these to begin with and add the other later. They share the same devices, the same people and the same credit balance.
Staff attendance
Daily clock-in and clock-out by face, with hours you can export.
- Add your team under Staff Attendance → Users & Groups, then enrol their faces on the device.
- Set working hours under Staff Attendance → Rules: days, start and end times, and how many minutes late still counts as on time.
- Record public holidays and leave under Holidays & Leave, so an absence that was approved does not read as a no-show.
- Read Attendance for a day at a glance and Timesheet for hours over a period. Both export to Excel.
Events
Registration, QR tickets and check-in at the door, charged per person per day.
- Create the event under Events: dates and times, a registration form, and your ticket checkpoints.
- Share the public registration link. Registrants get a QR ticket by email; you can approve them first if you want to.
- Send the device to the event from Device deployments, choosing which checkpoint it is.
- On the day, tap Event check-in on the device and scan tickets. No internet needed at the door — it syncs when it reconnects.
Paying for it
FRAMES runs on credit. You top up a balance, and everything is paid from it: the monthly plan fee for staff attendance, and event check-in at a fixed rate per person per day. There is no subscription and no card kept on file.
Top up under Settings → Billing & Plan, by card through PayPal or with Orange Money or Afrimoney in Sierra Leone. Credit never expires, and every payment has a PDF receipt you can download from the same page.
Events need no plan — credit alone runs them. A plan is what pays for staff attendance, and you can choose one whenever you are ready.
If something is not working
- The device says it cannot reach the server. It is on a different network from the one the QR code described, or Wi-Fi has dropped. Scanning works offline, but pairing does not.
- Recognition is slow or misses people. Re-enrol in the light the kiosk actually stands in. A photo taken in an office does not describe a face at a sunlit doorway.
- A ticket is refused. The device says why — used already, wrong day, wrong checkpoint, event not open yet. The reasons are listed in the documentation.
Still stuck? Email info@maxcit.com or message us on WhatsApp.