Self Service Kiosk App Development

What a kiosk app has to handle that a phone app does not

A phone app belongs to one person who knows how to use it. A kiosk serves hundreds of strangers a day, many of them in a hurry, with nobody standing by to help. It has to stay locked to one app, clear itself between users, keep working through network drops and power cuts, and talk to card readers, printers and scanners. Tepia designs for those conditions from the first wireframe.

The business value usually comes from the connection, not the screen. A self ordering kiosk only helps if orders land in the kitchen display with the right modifiers. A visitor check in kiosk only helps if the host gets a text and the visit is logged for the safety team. A warehouse time clock only helps if punches reach payroll without anyone retyping them. Tepia scopes every kiosk around the systems it feeds.

Kiosk use cases, hardware and the systems behind them

Tepia matches hardware to the job and the location, then maps every system the kiosk must talk to:

Healthcare check in carries its own privacy and insurance requirements, covered on our clinic check in kiosk page. For restaurant ordering, Tepia often builds the kiosk on the same order engine as the custom POS systems it delivers.

Locking the device down and keeping the fleet healthy

Tepia uses each platform’s built in kiosk controls rather than workarounds that break with the next OS update:

• iPad: Guided Access for pilots, then Single App Mode or Autonomous Single App Mode on supervised devices managed through Jamf or Microsoft Intune.
• Android: dedicated device mode with lock task through Android Enterprise, with the status bar and home button disabled and the app relaunched after a reboot.
• Windows: Assigned Access for a single app experience on larger touch screens.

Inside the app, an idle timer warns the user and then wipes the session. A hidden, PIN protected admin screen lets staff check printer status or restart a reader. Every kiosk reports a heartbeat, app version, peripheral status and recent errors to a dashboard, so your team learns that the lobby kiosk lost its printer before a visitor complains. Menus, images and safety videos update remotely without a new app release.

Accessibility, payments and privacy at a shared screen

Kiosks in public places carry accessibility expectations, and Tepia builds to the reach ranges in the 2010 ADA Standards and to WCAG 2.1 AA on screen. That means controls and card readers between 15 and 48 inches from the floor, high contrast text, large touch targets, an option to move the interface to the lower half of the screen, and audio guidance through a headphone jack or paired device where the use case calls for it. Our app accessibility page explains the testing.

For payments, Tepia integrates certified readers through Stripe Terminal or Square, so card data travels from the reader to the processor and never through the kiosk software. For privacy, the kiosk keeps nothing personal once a session ends, ID scans go straight to the server and are deleted locally, and screens time out quickly where the next person in line could read over a shoulder.

How Tepia approaches kiosk app development

1. Discovery: site visits to watch the current process, measurements of where kiosks will stand, a review of the POS, HR or visitor systems involved, and hardware options. Deliverables are an Investigation Summary, an Interview Summary and User Stories such as a delivery driver checking in at a plant gate.
2. Design: a design questionnaire, moodboards, a style guide and wireframes for the attract screen, the main flow, and error and timeout states, tested at standing height on real hardware.
3. Development and Testing: an Alpha on one kiosk in your office and a Beta at a live location, with test plans for network loss, peripheral failure, idle reset, accessibility and user acceptance by front line staff.
4. Training: short in person sessions for site staff on restarting a kiosk, changing paper and using the admin screen.
5. Launch: device enrollment in MDM, configuration by location, and a staged rollout site by site with support reps available.
6. Support: issue resolution, fleet monitoring, OS update testing and feature requests such as a new language.

Typically Discovery takes 1 to 3 months, development and QA 2 to 6 months, and launch about a month, longer when hardware must be sourced for many sites. See our process.

A dedicated kiosk or a QR code on the customer’s phone

Not every location needs hardware. If customers are comfortable on their own phones and the task is short, a QR code that opens a progressive web app can do the same job with nothing to mount or maintain. Tepia often recommends that for table ordering and simple sign up forms.

A dedicated kiosk wins when the task needs a peripheral such as a badge printer or card reader, when users should not have to enter personal data on their own device, when the site has weak cellular signal, or when the kiosk itself draws attention a sign cannot. Many clients run both on one backend. Talk to Tepia about where a kiosk would help.

Frequently asked questions