Setting up your kiosk display

If you got here by scanning the QR code on the display's own screen, you're already on the right step — keep reading from wherever you are. A heardhere kiosk dongle plugs into any screen with HDMI and shows your station automatically, with no tablet or browser to babysit. Setup takes a few minutes.

Step 1 — plug it in
1
Connect it to a screen and power it on
Plug the dongle into any screen or TV with a spare HDMI input, then connect its power cable. Switch the screen to that HDMI input if it doesn't happen automatically. Give it about a minute to start up — you'll see the heardhere logo while it boots.
Step 2 — get it online
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Ethernet cable connected? Nothing to do
If there's an Ethernet cable plugged into the dongle, it's already online — skip straight to Step 3.
3
No Ethernet — connect to its WiFi setup network
With no wired connection, the dongle broadcasts its own temporary WiFi network and shows the exact details you need right on screen:
heardhere
Let's get this display set up
1. Connect your phone or laptop to Wi-Fi
Network:   heardhere-kiosk-XXXX
Password:  heardhere-XXXX
2. A setup page should open automatically
If it doesn't, open a browser and go to 192.168.4.1
The XXXX is unique to your device, so use whatever's actually shown on your screen, not the placeholder above. There's also a QR code in the corner of that screen — it links to this exact guide, so you can always get back here from the device itself.
4
Enter your venue's WiFi details
On your phone or laptop, join the network shown on screen using the password shown. A setup page should open by itself; if it doesn't, open a browser and go to 192.168.4.1. Enter your venue's real WiFi name and password there. The dongle restarts and joins that network automatically — this step only ever needs doing once.
Step 3 — claim it (station owners)
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Find the short code on screen
Once online (straight away if it's on Ethernet, or right after reconnecting if it was on WiFi setup), the display shows a station picker with a short code at the bottom of the screen — something like 5MLL2F.
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Add it from your owner dashboard
Log in at heardhere.uk/login and go to your station's Settings → Displays → Kiosk display devices. Under "Add a display", type in the code from the screen and give it a name (like "Reception screen"), then save. That's it — no further setup needed on the device itself.
This step needs your station owner (or an editor) login — it's not something that happens on the device. If you're setting the dongle up on behalf of someone else, they can do this part themselves once you hand it over, using the code from the screen.
Step 4 — customise it
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Choose what it shows
By default a claimed dongle shows the station that claimed it. If your organisation runs more than one heardhere station, tick "Rotate through multiple stations" on the same card and it'll cycle through all of them in turn.
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Set a real screen power-off schedule
From that same card you can set hours for the screen to physically switch off — an actual power-off, not just a blank page, so it isn't lit overnight if you don't want it to be.
This is separate from the page-level "Active hours" setting under Kiosk display above it, which only changes what the page shows (and applies to any screen running your kiosk link, tablet or dongle alike). You can use one, both, or neither.
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Optional: your own screensaver logo
Outside active hours (or if the station has no recent detections yet), the display can show a branded screensaver instead of a blank page — upload your own logo for it under Kiosk display in your dashboard.
Common questions
The screen is just stuck on the plain heardhere logo
Give it a minute — the logo shows while it boots and while it's checking for a connection. If it's still there after a couple of minutes and you haven't connected it to WiFi or Ethernet yet, that's expected: it's waiting for a network. Plug in Ethernet, or check for the setup WiFi network described in Step 3.
I don't see a WiFi network to connect to
The setup network only appears if the dongle has no other way online — no Ethernet cable plugged in, and it hasn't already been connected to a WiFi network. If it's on Ethernet, it should already be online — skip ahead to Step 3 to find its claim code instead.
I've lost the claim code — where do I find it again?
It's shown permanently at the bottom of the station-picker screen on the device itself, for as long as it's unclaimed. Once claimed by a station, that screen is replaced by the live kiosk display and the code no longer shows — if you need to re-claim or move it to a different station, contact hello@heardhere.uk.
Does the dongle need updating, and do I need to do it?
No — software updates are pushed to the device remotely; there's nothing for you to install or manage on it.
Can I move the dongle to a different screen or venue later?
Yes — just plug it in wherever it's going next. If it needs to join a different WiFi network, hold it near no network at all (or forget the old one) and it'll fall back into setup mode automatically, same as Step 3 above.
Who do I contact for help?
Email hello@heardhere.uk. If you know it, include the short code from the device's picker screen or the name you gave it in your dashboard.