Kids’ check-in with Vessel Check-Ins

What you need

• An iPad, or a Mac or Windows computer, with the Vessel Check-Ins app. Each device you check in on is a “station”.
• A Brother QL label printer on the same Wi-Fi as the iPad, with a 62 mm roll. See Connect a label printer.
• Someone who manages check-ins at your church, to set each station up. Owners, admins and staff already can. To let someone else do it, give them the Manages check-ins permission in Church settings › Staff & roles.
• Your kids’ rooms, set up on the web under Rooms, each with the ages or grades it takes. Stations put each child in a room for you.

Download for Mac and Windows

• Mac with Apple silicon (M1 and newer) — 98 MB
• Mac with an Intel processor — 105 MB
• Windows — 81 MB

Not sure which Mac you have? Open the Apple menu and choose About This Mac: it says “Chip: Apple M…” for Apple silicon, or “Processor: … Intel …”.

The first time you open it

Your computer may warn you, because the app isn’t from an app store yet. It’s safe to open:

• Mac: open the downloaded file and drag Vessel Check-Ins into Applications. If the Mac says it can’t check the app, open System Settings › Privacy & Security, scroll down, and choose Open Anyway next to Vessel Check-Ins. You only do this once.
• Windows: run the downloaded setup. If a blue “Windows protected your PC” box appears, choose More info, then Run anyway.

Then set up the station the same way as an iPad.

Set up a station

You set each station up once, on the device itself. Nobody stays signed in afterwards: the station gets its own connection to your church.

1. Open Vessel Check-Ins on the device. Make sure it’s online.
2. Choose Set up this station, then Sign in as a check-in leader.
3. Type your email and choose Email me a code.
4. Type the 6-digit code from the email. (If you’ve added a password to your Vessel account, you can choose Use a password instead.)
5. If you belong to more than one church, choose the church.
6. Give the station a name people will recognise, like “Lobby left”.
7. Under How will it be used?, choose:
   • Attended station – a volunteer runs it. This is the usual choice.
   • Self-service kiosk – parents check their own kids in.
8. Choose Set up this station.

Each station gets its own letter. Every pickup code it makes starts with that letter, so you can tell which station a code came from. You can see it in the station’s Settings.

Set up with a station key instead

Useful when the person at the device doesn’t have a Vessel sign-in. On the web, open Check-ins › Stations, choose Set up a station, then Make a station key instead. Name the station and copy the key: it’s shown only once. On the device, choose Set up this station › I have a station key and paste it. If the device is already a station, it asks before it changes anything.

Managing stations from the web

On the web, open Check-ins › Stations. You can see when each station was last seen and which version it runs. You can rename a station, switch it between attended and kiosk with Change…, or stop it working with Turn off…. A station that’s turned off has to be set up again.

The station PIN and the kiosk PIN

Admin PIN (each station)

The admin PIN keeps volunteers and visitors out of a station’s settings. A station asks for it when someone taps Settings (the gear), and when someone wants to allow any grade. Each station has its own.

Set your own admin PIN when you set up the station:

1. Tap Settings and enter the station’s current PIN. (Don’t know the starting PIN? Email support@vesselworship.org.)
2. Type your new PIN in Admin PIN.
3. Choose Save & sync roster.

Kiosk PIN (whole church)

A self-service kiosk has its own PIN, so a staff member can leave kiosk mode. You set it once for your church on the web: Check-ins › Settings › PIN to leave kiosk mode. Use 4 to 8 digits.

On the kiosk, tap the gear and enter the kiosk PIN. A check-in leader can choose Sign in as staff instead. When you’re done, choose Back to kiosk.

Grades at this station

If you have separate check-in lines, say one for preschool and one for elementary, you can lock each station to a range of grades. The station then only lists families with a kid in those grades, or a kid with no grade.

1. Tap Settings and enter the admin PIN.
2. Under Grades at this station, choose From and to. Grades run from Infant, Toddler and Pre-K to K and 1st through 12th.
3. Choose Save & sync roster.

Choose All grades to switch it off. The setting belongs to that iPad only.

On the check-in screen, a strip under the search box shows the station’s grades. Kids in other grades are greyed out and marked Not this station’s grades. If a search finds families in other grades, the station tells you how many.

Letting one family through

1. Turn on Allow any grade in the strip under the search box.
2. Enter the admin PIN.

It switches off by itself when the service changes, at midnight, or after 3 hours. A self-service kiosk has no override: it asks the family to check in with a volunteer.

Connect a label printer

Vessel Check-Ins prints on Brother QL label printers. On iPad it recognises the QL-810W, QL-820NWB, QL-1110NWB and QL-1115NWB.

Use a 62 mm roll. The station works with any of these:

• continuous 62 mm tape (the usual choice),
• red and black continuous 62 mm tape,
• 62 × 100 mm labels.

On an iPad

1. Turn the printer on and connect it to the same Wi-Fi as the iPad.
2. On the iPad, tap Settings and enter the admin PIN.
3. Under Printer, tap Find printers. If the iPad asks to find devices on your local network, allow it.
4. Choose your printer under Label printer.
5. Tap Print a test label.
6. Choose Save & sync roster.

If Find printers comes up empty, type the printer’s address into Or enter the printer’s address (for example 192.168.1.42). You’ll find it on the printer’s network settings printout or in your router.

On a Mac or Windows computer

Install the printer’s driver first, so it shows up as a printer on the computer. Then choose it under Label printer in the station’s Settings, and tap Print a test label.

What prints

Each station chooses whether it prints, in Settings › Printer › Printing at check-in:

To skip printing for just one family, choose Check in without tags instead of Check in & print tags.

The labels

• Child’s tag: the child’s name, grade and room, the service and time, the name and phone of the adult who dropped them off, and the pickup code.
• Pickup receipt: the pickup code in large print, for the parent to keep. You can print up to 6 per family with Parent tags to print.
• Bag tag: the child’s name and pickup code, if the room is set to print one.

On the web, Check-ins › Settings › On the child’s tag lets you choose whether tags show an allergy line, “Medical note: ask a leader”, and the drop-off phone number.

Check kids in

Choose today’s service

If one service is planned for today, the station picks it for you. Otherwise tap the service button at the top and choose one. If nothing is planned, the station offers to start one. Choosing a service needs the internet.

Check a family in

1. Search by family name or any member’s name.
2. Tap the family.
3. Pick the kids who are here today. Each child shows their grade and the room they’ll go to.
4. Check the service time. If you like, choose the parent, who checked them in, a phone number and a note for this visit.
5. Choose Check in & print tags.

Everyone you picked shares one pickup code. The labels print and the station shows the code.

Need to add a child to a family? Choose + Add a kid to this household while checking them in (this needs the internet).

Pickup codes and checking out

A pickup code is the station’s letter and three more letters or numbers, like B7K2. The same code is on the child’s tag and on the parent’s pickup receipt. Match them at pickup.

Check out with the code

1. On an attended station, tap Check out.
2. Type the code from the parent’s pickup receipt and choose Find.
3. Read any notes about who may, or may not, pick up each child.
4. Choose Check out.

After too many wrong codes, the station waits 5 minutes before trying again.

Lost receipt? Check out by name

1. Tap Who’s in each room.
2. Choose Show names under the room.
3. Choose Check out next to the child, then confirm.

Check-out needs the internet. If you’re offline, match the receipt to the child’s tag by hand.

Turning check-out off

Some churches don’t check kids out. On the web, open Check-ins › Settings and switch off Check kids out. Stations then hide Check out, nobody is checked out, and rooms count everyone checked in.

When a code changes

Rarely, Vessel gives a family a new pickup code, for example if another family already had that code today. If it happens within a few minutes, the station reprints the tags by itself and tells you which old tags to throw away. Otherwise it tells you to reprint that family’s tags.

Guest and new families

An attended station has two ways to add a family that isn’t in Vessel yet:

• Guests › + New guest family – for visitors. The guest family is saved for every station at your church, and you can add them to your church later.
• New family sign-up – adds a real family to your directory, with up to 6 kids. This needs the internet. If the family might already be in Vessel, the station shows possible matches first.

On a self-service kiosk, parents can register their own family only if your church allows it. Families who register at a kiosk are saved as guests.

To follow up with visitors, open Check-ins › Guests on the web. From there you can choose Add to church… or Dismiss….

When the internet drops

Checking in and printing keep working without the internet. The station keeps your families on the iPad and shows Offline — queuing locally. Check-ins wait safely on the station and upload by themselves when the connection comes back. You can also tap Upload all check-ins.

These need the internet: checking out, choosing or starting a service, new family sign-up and adding a child to a family.

While a service is open, the station refreshes its list of families every 5 minutes by itself, so families added elsewhere show up.

What admins see

On the web

Open Check-ins. The tabs are:

• Today – how many kids are in each room, with warnings when a room is full or needs another volunteer. You can check kids out or move them from here.
• Guests – visitors and families added at check-in.
• Pickups – who may pick each child up, and the allergy line on their tag, including details parents have sent that a leader hasn’t checked yet.
• History – every check-in, by date, child or room: when they came and left, and who picked them up.
• Reports – each room over recent weeks: how full it got, how many guests, and whether there were enough volunteers.
• Stations – see Managing stations from the web.
• Settings – the kiosk PIN, what goes on the child’s tag, and other check-in choices for your church.

In Vessel Ministry

When Vessel Ministry is available, open Attendance › Check-ins. Choose a service, then use the Grade button to show one grade at a time, or All grades. For each service time you see how many kids are checked in, grouped by room, with Guest and First time badges. The same view is on the web under Attendance › Check-ins.

This view is read-only: check-ins come from the Check-Ins app.

Troubleshooting

“This printer has a continuous 29 mm roll in it…”

On an iPad, the station checks the roll before it prints. The roll in the printer isn’t one Vessel prints on. Swap it for a 62 mm roll: continuous 62 mm, red and black 62 mm, or 62 × 100 mm labels. The message names the roll that’s in the printer now.

“No Brother printers found”

• Check the printer is on and on the same Wi-Fi as the iPad.
• Make sure the iPad lets Vessel Check-Ins use the local network: Settings › Privacy & Security › Local Network › Vessel Check-Ins.
• Or type the printer’s address under Or enter the printer’s address.

The station can’t sign in or set up

Update Vessel Check-Ins to the newest version first. Some older versions can’t connect to Vessel at all. If a station is too old, it shows Please update Vessel Check-Ins. Any check-ins already on it are safe and upload once it’s updated.

• Only people who manage check-ins can set a station up – ask an admin to give you the Manages check-ins permission.
• This email isn’t linked to anyone at a church yet – ask your church admin to add you with that email.
• This station was turned off – someone turned it off on the web. Set it up again.
• Setting a station up needs an internet connection – connect to Wi-Fi and try again.

A child is greyed out

They’re not in this station’s grades. Send the family to the right station, or allow any grade with the admin PIN.

“That code doesn’t match anyone checked in today”

Check the code on the receipt. If it still doesn’t work, check the child out by name.

“This code was given to more than one family”

Choose Open the room list and check the child out by name.

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