Childcare attendance software that turns a tablet into a check-in kiosk

A sign-in sheet is the oldest attendance system in childcare and, for a small setting, it is not a bad one. It is cheap, everyone understands it, and it does not need charging. Its weaknesses show up later: a time written as "8ish", a collection initial nobody can read, a missing line on a busy morning, and a stack of sheets that has to be stored, searched and occasionally retyped for billing or for an inspection.

Childcare attendance software keeps the simplicity of signing in at the door but captures the record in a form you can rely on. The time is taken from the clock, not from memory. The person is identified by their own credentials, not by a scribble. And the result is available immediately as a report, without anybody transcribing it.

DCare.app is deliberately focused on that core record. It does not try to be a classroom management system; it makes arrival and departure quick for parents and accurate for you.

Kiosk mode is a dedicated screen that runs in the browser of any tablet. The owner launches it from their account, and the tablet then signs out of the management account and holds only a kiosk token. From that point, the device can do one thing: check children in and out.

1. 1
   Parent identifies themselves. They type their four-digit PIN on the keypad, or hold their QR code up to the camera or a USB scanner.
2. 2
   Their children appear. Only the children in that parent's family are shown, with who is currently in and who is out.
3. 3
   They tap to check in or out. One tap per child. The time is recorded in your setting's time zone along with the parent's name.
4. 4
   The kiosk resets. After a short confirmation the screen returns to the keypad, ready for the next family.

Because the kiosk does not hold an owner session, a parent left alone with the tablet cannot browse invoices, open settings or see other families. If a tablet is lost or replaced, sign it out and launch kiosk mode again from your account on the new device, and tell us so we can help you review access.

Some kiosk systems use one code per family or a code handed out by the setting. DCare.app uses a personal PIN for each parent, chosen by that parent in their portal. There is no default PIN and no shared PIN, so the record shows which parent dropped off or collected a child, which matters when two adults share the school run or when a collection is later questioned.

Parents who prefer not to type can show a personal QR code from the portal instead. The kiosk reads it through the tablet camera, or through a USB barcode scanner if you attach one. A parent can generate a fresh code from the portal whenever they need one.

Parents should treat their PIN like a bank card PIN. If you suspect a PIN has been shared, ask the parent to change it in the portal; it takes a few seconds.

Not every arrival happens at the tablet. A child might arrive with a grandparent who has no account, a parent might be in a hurry, or a family might not have set a PIN yet. Staff can check children in and out from their own login on the attendance page, choosing who collected the child.

This is also the recommended way to start. In the first week, while families set their PINs, staff record attendance as usual and the kiosk is introduced gradually. Within a fortnight most families tend to use the kiosk without being asked, because it is faster than waiting for a member of staff.

Staff accounts have no access to billing or settings, so giving a practitioner a login for registers does not expose fees or payment records.

Every check-in and check-out lands in the attendance report for that day. It lists each child with arrival time, departure time and the adult who collected them, all shown in your setting's time zone and in the date and time format of your region: 24-hour times and day-first dates in Europe, 12-hour times and month-first dates in the United States.

You can move between days to look back, and export any day as a CSV file. The Today screen also shows how many children are currently present against how many are enrolled, which is handy for ratio checks and fire drills.

Inspection and licensing requirements vary between countries, states and regions. DCare.app does not know which fields your regulator expects. Look at an exported report next to your current sheet and confirm with your regulator or consultant that nothing required is missing before you rely on it as your only record.

Your closing time and late pickup fee are stored in Settings. Because every collection is time-stamped by the kiosk or by staff, you have a factual record of when a child left. If your policy is to charge for late collections, the owner can add the fee as a one-off charge on the family, and it appears on their next invoice with the description you choose.

Having the timestamp removes most of the awkwardness from late fee conversations. Instead of a disagreement about whether it was ten or twenty minutes, both of you can see the recorded time.

Any reasonably recent tablet with a modern browser will do. A camera on the front makes QR scanning easier because parents can see themselves in the preview. Mount or stand the tablet at adult height near the entrance, away from where children gather, and keep it plugged in so it is never flat at eight in the morning.

• ScreenA 10-inch screen or larger gives a comfortable keypad. Smaller works, but is fiddlier.
• ConnectionThe kiosk needs a working internet connection to record each check-in.
• ScannerOptional. A USB or Bluetooth scanner that types like a keyboard reads QR codes quickly.
• Lock-downUse the tablet's guided access or screen pinning so the browser cannot be closed.

Attendance records are personal data about children, so they deserve the same care as billing records. DCare.app limits what the kiosk can show to the family who identified themselves, keeps PINs private to each parent, and lets owners and parents download their data. Choosing a region does not make your setting compliant with GDPR or any other law; your own privacy notice, retention policy and agreements still apply.

Our privacy notice describes how we process data as a provider and which operator details are still being finalised.

Attendance in DCare.app sits alongside billing, the parent portal and messages, so a parent who checks in at the kiosk is the same parent who sees invoices and messages in their portal. That shared record is what makes a small system useful: one family list, one set of parent accounts, one place to look.

If you came here only for check-in, you can still use DCare.app mainly for attendance and adopt billing later. The plans include both.

Families adopt a kiosk quickly when it is introduced with a little care. A week before you start, send a message to all families explaining that the paper sheet is being replaced, that each parent will choose their own four-digit PIN in the portal, and that staff will continue to help anyone who has not set one. Include the reason: accurate times and a clear record of who collected each child.

On the first morning, place a member of staff near the tablet for the busy drop-off window. Most questions are about forgotten PINs, which parents can reset in the portal on their phone in a few seconds, or about the QR code, which some parents find easier than typing. After a week or two the tablet usually runs itself, and staff attention returns to the children.

Keep the paper sheet available as a fallback for the first fortnight, and for any day when the internet connection fails. A short note in your procedures about what to do when the tablet is unavailable saves confusion later.

Mistakes happen at any door. A parent taps out the wrong child, forgets to check out entirely, or a sibling is checked in twice. Because staff can record attendance from their own login, they can check a child in or out correctly when they notice, and the record shows what happened.

For collections by someone other than a parent, such as a grandparent, a neighbour or a babysitter, staff check the child out and record the name of the person collecting. Your own collection policy, including any password or ID check, still applies; the software records the outcome rather than replacing the conversation at the door.

At the end of each day it is worth a quick look at the attendance page to see whether any child is still shown as present. A child who appears checked in after closing almost always means a missed check-out, which is easy to correct while the day is fresh in everyone's mind.

If you are comparing childcare attendance software, a few practical questions separate the options quickly. Does each parent get their own credential, or is there one code per family? Can the kiosk device see anything except check-in? What happens when a parent forgets their PIN at eight in the morning? Can staff record attendance when the tablet is unavailable? Does the report show who collected each child, and can you export it whenever you like?

It is also worth asking what the attendance record is connected to. A standalone sign-in app is simple, but it means maintaining a second list of families and parents alongside your billing. In DCare.app the same family record drives the kiosk, the parent portal and invoices, so adding a parent or marking a child inactive happens once.

Finally, test it with real families. A single week with a tablet by the door, during the free trial, will tell you more about how parents react than any comparison table, including the one on this page.