License and activation
Every BoothIQ kiosk has its own license tied to its hardware. The kiosk does not arrive licensed: the license is issued the first time you link it to a booth by scanning its QR code with the BoothIQ app, and after that you rarely need to think about it. This article tells you how to check the license status, what trial and grace-period banners mean, and what to do if you see one.
Who this is for: Operators verifying license status during initial setup, or after seeing a license banner appear on the admin dashboard.
Where to find the license status
1. The license banner (top of the admin dashboard)
The admin dashboard has a License Banner strip just below the header bar. It only appears when the license is in a trial or grace-period state. For a normal active license, the banner is hidden and you'll see no message at all.
If you see the banner, read it carefully. It will tell you:
- What state the license is in (trial, grace period, expiring soon)
- How many days are left
- What action you need to take (usually contact support or renew via the cloud dashboard)
2. The License Status card in the Settings tab
For the full picture, open Settings in the admin sidebar and look at the right-column License Status card. The header reads "License Status" with a subtitle "Your license information".
This card shows the detailed license state: the state name, expiration date, subscription tier, and any other metadata your license carries.
3. Your license keys in the web dashboard
Keys issued to your sign-in email are listed under Licenses in the web dashboard. Each key is shown masked, with its type, whether it is available, in use or no longer valid, how long it lasts or when its license expires, and which of your booths runs on it.
Possible license states
A BoothIQ license can be in any of these states:
| State | What it means | Operator action |
|---|---|---|
| Active | The license is valid and in good standing | None. Banner is hidden |
| Trial | A time-limited evaluation license | Plan to convert to a paid license before the trial ends. Contact your BoothIQ point of contact |
| Grace period | The license has expired but the booth is still allowed to run for a short window | Renew the license immediately (cloud dashboard or support contact). The booth will stop accepting customers when the grace period ends |
| Expired | The license has fully lapsed | The booth blocks new customer sessions until the license is renewed. Contact support |
| Revoked | The license has been administratively revoked from the cloud | The booth stops accepting customers. Contact support |
The exact wording on the license banner depends on the state. Read it carefully when it appears.
How licenses are tied to hardware
Each BoothIQ license is bound to the specific kiosk hardware it was issued for. This means:
- You cannot move a license from one kiosk to another by hand.
- The license uses a hardware fingerprint (a stable identifier derived from the kiosk's hardware) to detect if it's been moved to a different machine.
- If the kiosk hardware is replaced (for example, a motherboard swap by support), the license has to be re-issued for the new hardware.
- License operations (issuance, renewal, revocation) happen on the BoothIQ cloud, not on the kiosk.
This is why you, as an operator, never enter a license key by hand on a kiosk. The license is issued to the booth when you link the kiosk by scanning its QR code with the BoothIQ app.
How activation works
Activation and cloud linking are the same step. An unlinked kiosk shows an Activate button at the bottom right of the welcome screen and will not go further until it is activated; tapping it shows a QR code (admin's Cloud Sync › Link This Booth shows the same one). You scan it from the BoothIQ app (the booth's Settings › Activate booth) while signed in to the account that owns the booth. The cloud checks the booth's plan, issues the license for that hardware, and the kiosk picks it up within a few seconds. See Cloud registration for the walkthrough.
The kiosk needs internet for that scan and for renewals, but it does not need to stay online to keep running: the license is stored on the kiosk and the booth runs offline day to day. If a renewal cannot be fetched because the venue is offline, the grace period buys you time to reconnect.
What to do if the license banner appears
If it says Trial:
- Note how many days are left in the trial.
- Subscribe the booth to a plan in the BoothIQ app or the web dashboard (Booths › Subscribe).
- Once payment is processed, the new license is delivered to the booth automatically (you don't do anything on the kiosk).
- The trial banner disappears.
If it says Grace period:
- Act immediately. Grace periods are short.
- Open the cloud dashboard from a separate device and check the booth's billing status.
- If billing is fine and the grace period was triggered by a network outage, just wait. The next successful cloud sync will refresh the license and clear the banner.
- If billing is in arrears, resolve it through the cloud dashboard.
- If you can't figure out why the booth is in grace, contact support with the Booth ID (visible in the Cloud Sync tab).
If it says Expired or Revoked:
- The booth is no longer accepting new customer sessions.
- Contact BoothIQ support immediately. Have your Booth ID ready.
- Don't power-cycle the kiosk hoping the message will go away. License enforcement persists across reboots.
Verify it worked
For a healthy, normal kiosk you should see:
- No license banner at the top of the admin dashboard.
- The License Status card in Settings showing an Active state.
- The booth accepts customer sessions normally.
If any of those is wrong, work the table above.
Common problems
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| License banner appears after a long offline period | The booth couldn't refresh its license from the cloud | Connect the booth to the internet. The next sync will refresh it |
| License Status card shows "Loading..." indefinitely | The license service hasn't initialized yet | Wait 30 seconds and check again. If it persists, restart the kiosk |
| Booth was working yesterday, now refuses sessions with a license error | License silently expired and the grace period elapsed | Check the booth's plan in the BoothIQ app or the web dashboard. If the plan is active, unregister on the kiosk and scan the QR code again so the license is re-issued. Contact support if it still doesn't clear |
What this article does not cover
- License key formats and the cryptography behind activation (see the developer documentation in the BoothIQ source repo).
- Per-tier feature flags (see the developer documentation in the BoothIQ source repo).
- How to issue licenses from the cloud admin side. That's done in the cloud dashboard, not on the kiosk.
Next steps
- Testing your connection. Run an end-to-end test now that everything is connected and licensed.
- Cloud and Fleet › What cloud sync does (coming soon). Understand what the booth pushes and pulls from the cloud.