Counter Devices & Cashier Seats

Approve a pending counter device, connect the owner's device, read the Expired marker, and check cashier seat counts and the Counter status message in the Counter devices and Cashier access screens.

The Counter devices and Cashier access screens are the owner's admin view of which devices may bill at your counter and how many cashier seats are in use. This page walks through both, including the markers and messages you see when something is off.

Before you start

The POS add-on must be active. If it is not, the screen shows The counter add-on is not active. Other payment flows remain available. (never enabled) or Counter sales are paused. Past bills and obligations remain available. (lapsed), with Review in Billing and Counter history links. See Turn On the POS Add-on.
Approving and connecting devices needs device-management permission, and resetting a staff PIN needs cashier-management permission. Without it the matching buttons are disabled or hidden. Assigning counter access to more staff is not available yet.
The store owner uses no cashier seat.

Open the screens

Screen: In the classic sidebar, the counter group is titled Counter devices and holds Counter devices, Cashier access and Open existing POS. In the new sidebar, choose Counter devices or Cashier access in the counter group. They open /counter/devices and /counter/cashiers.

The page title follows the tab (Counter devices or Cashier access) with the line Approve devices and manage existing staff access. Under it, the tabs are Counter devices, Cashier access and Settings. Settings is a link to Counter settings; see POS Settings.

Approve a pending device

When a device connects through cashier setup (see Get Started with Point of Sale), it appears here until you approve it.

Open the Counter devices tab

The table has four columns: Device, Counter, Status and Action. Counter shows the register name, then a dot, then the staff name.

Find the row marked Needs approval

Status is one of Needs approval (pending), Approved, or Access removed.

Select Approve

You see Device approved. and the table reloads. The device can now go on to cashier sign-in. Only Needs approval rows have an Approve button; the button is disabled while another action is running or while the add-on is not active.

What the Device and Status columns can show

You see	Meaning
Unnamed device in Device	The server has no name saved for that device. Approving still works. Name devices when you connect them (see below) so they are easy to tell apart.
Needs approval	Waiting for you to select Approve.
Approved	The device may go to cashier sign-in.
Access removed	The device was removed, either earlier or by Sign out this counter. It has no action here and cannot be approved again; connect a device again.
Expired - reconnect needed, shown in bold after the status (for example Approved · Expired - reconnect needed)	The device's connection has lapsed. It must reconnect through cashier setup (Set up this counter at `/pos/bind`) before it can bill again.

If no device has connected yet the table is empty and the note reads No devices connected. Open POS to connect the owner's device.

Sign out a counter

Use this when a cashier is signed in on a device you need to free: a counter left signed in, a lost or replaced tablet, or a cashier told That counter was used in the last 10 minutes, so it cannot be signed out yet. while trying to sign in elsewhere.

Open the Counter devices tab

Use the same entry as above. The Action column of each row holds that row's actions.

Find the device

Look for the row whose Counter shows the register and staff name, with Status Approved. Sign out this counter appears only on Approved rows, and only for an admin whose role can manage counter devices. A Needs approval row shows Approve instead; an Access removed row shows no action.

Select Sign out this counter

The row changes to a confirmation: Sign out (device name)? Whoever is signed in on this counter is signed out right away and the device is removed. A removed device cannot be approved again; to use this counter again, connect a device again from this screen. A device with no saved name reads Unnamed device.

Confirm with Sign out and remove device

You see Counter signed out. The device was removed. and the table reloads. Cancel closes the confirmation and changes nothing. Both buttons are disabled while another action is running.

What happens next: the cashier on that device is signed out immediately, the row now reads Access removed, and that device cannot be approved again. To bill on that counter again, connect a new device: either run Set up this counter on it, or use Open POS on this device below if it is your own device, then approve it. Unlike Approve, Sign out this counter is not turned off when the add-on is inactive.

Connect the owner's own device

Select Open POS on this device

Below the table. It is disabled when the add-on is inactive or you lack device-management permission. Open existing POS beside it just goes to /pos.

Fill the form

The form says The server checks owner approval and counter access. No cashier seat is used by the owner. Enter Device name (required, up to 80 characters) and choose a counter under Counter.

Select Approve and open POS

The device is approved and saved on this browser, then POS opens at its sign-in screen. Cancel returns to the table. The button stays disabled until the name is filled in and a counter is chosen.

If it fails you see The action did not finish. Reload the current status before trying again. with a Try again button; reload the table and check the row before repeating.

Check cashier seats

Open the Cashier access tab. The first line is the seat count, for example 2 of 3 cashier seats used (it reads unlimited in place of the limit when the plan has no cap). Under it is the breakdown:

Normally Included: 2 · Purchased: 1 · Owner uses no seat.
When the server cannot give the included or purchased counts you see Included and purchased seat counts are not available right now. Owner uses no seat. The used count above is still shown. This is not an error and nothing needs fixing; the counts return when the server supplies them.

The staff table lists Staff member, Existing role (Owner, Service staff, Cashier, Order taker), Counter access and Action. The owner row shows No cashier seat used; a person without access shows Counter access disabled; others show their counter. Manage access opens that person's detail (PIN reset and commission ledger live there).

Giving counter access to more staff

Under the staff table there is an Assign existing staff button, but it is always greyed out for now. The page explains it underneath: Assigning or transferring counter access is not available yet. Existing cashier access is unchanged. Opening /counter/cashiers?mode=assign directly shows the same message and no way to save.

Note

Why can't I add a new cashier? Assigning counter access from Admin has not been switched on yet. People who already have counter access keep it, still use their PIN at the counter, and the owner can still reset their PIN with Manage access → Reset staff PIN. The owner signs in at the counter without using a seat.

Troubleshooting

What you see	Why, and what to do
Counter status could not be confirmed right now. Try again in a moment.	The server could not confirm your counter add-on status (a temporary 503). The tables are not shown. Select Try again. It is not a statement that the add-on is off.
The action did not finish. Reload the current status before trying again.	Any other failure to load or save. Select Try again, then check the row before repeating.
Why does my device not show up in the table?	It has not been connected yet. On that device, open `/pos` and run Set up this counter (see Get Started), or use Open POS on this device here. Then reload this screen. Check you are in the right store.
The device shows Expired - reconnect needed	Reconnect it through Set up this counter; approving again is not enough.
No Approve button on a row	The row is not Needs approval, the add-on is inactive, or your admin role cannot manage devices.
Seat counts say they are not available	The included and purchased split could not be read. Used and limit still show. The owner never uses a seat.
Assign existing staff is greyed out	Assigning or transferring counter access is not available yet, for every store and role. Existing cashiers keep their access. See Giving counter access to more staff.
No Sign out this counter button on a row	Only Approved rows have it. Needs approval rows have Approve, Access removed rows have no action, and your admin role must be able to manage counter devices. Ask the owner if you cannot see it.
A cashier is told the counter is in use	Select Sign out this counter on the device they are signed in on, or let them wait until that counter has been idle for 10 minutes and take over from the sign-in screen. See Get Started with Point of Sale.