Questions, answered

They scan a code at the business, or use a link the business shares, then enter their name and, if they want texts, a mobile number. No app, no account.

Only if they choose to. Customers who opt in get a text confirming their place in line and one when it's their turn. You can also turn on optional texts, like asking a called customer if they're still coming, or updates as they move up (which customers choose separately). Texts are only about their visit, never marketing, and they can reply STOP at any time.

Their place in line lives on their phone in a browser tab. They can check it, or wait for a text, from the car, a coffee shop, or a bench outside.

Yes, if you turn it on for that location. The join form lists the team working today, with photos, and "Anyone" comes first for people who just want the next opening. When they're called, the TV and their phone show who's ready for them.

Yes, if you turn it on for a location (optional or required, with a limit per visit if you like). On their phone or the door tablet, they pick services and add-ons from your menu and see the total time and price before they join. If they ask for someone, only team members who do those services are offered.

Tap "Ask if they're coming" on the staff screen and their phone asks, "Are you still coming?" They answer 2, 5 or 10 minutes away, or that they can't make it, and the answer shows on their row. Customers who are running late can also tell you without being asked. You can ask the same person again after two minutes, and "Call again" re-announces them after a short cooldown.

No. Everything customers do works in their phone's browser, on any phone.

As many as you need. Owners and managers are included at no extra cost — there are no per-seat fees.

A staff screen to call the next customer, which updates the TV display and door tablet automatically, plus an owner dashboard for insights across every location.

Each location chooses. The average method uses your average visit time and how many of your team are working today. The services method adds up each customer's own services, counts how long current visits have been going, and knows which team member does what. Insights shows how close quoted waits came to real ones, so you can see which fits you.

No. Start from suggested services for your trade and adjust names, times and prices before adding them, or import a spreadsheet (CSV) and review every change before it saves. You can export it the same way, set prices and times per location, and choose which of your team does each service.

Yes — your logo, your colors, 14 themes and 27 heading fonts (modern, serif, script, vintage, blackletter and playful), applied across the customer phone, TV display and door tablet.

Every plan includes two-factor authentication, owner and manager roles enforced on the server, and an audit trail of sign-ins and changes across every location. Passwords are salted and hashed with PBKDF2, and repeated wrong guesses lock the account for 15 minutes.

None. The TV display works on any TV browser or streaming stick, the door tablet works on any tablet, and staff can use any phone or computer.

Open /tv in the TV's browser and it shows a short code. Enter that code under Connect a TV on your dashboard, from your phone or a computer, and the TV switches to your waiting-room screen. It remembers its location, so you only do it once.

Yes. Set weekly opening hours for each location and choose how long before closing to stop taking walk-ins (20 minutes by default). The join page shows today's hours, and when you open next while you're closed.

Yes, for US locations. Turn on "Show weather on the TV" for a location and the TV shows the temperature now, the next few hours and tomorrow, in °F or °C, from the National Weather Service. It steps back while someone is being called, and if the forecast is ever unavailable the TV simply shows no weather.

About two minutes for your first location — add your business, print or display your code, and you can start taking check-ins right away.

Yes. Add locations any time from your dashboard, and they're billed on a prorated basis for the rest of your billing cycle.

$29/month for your first location and $19/month for each additional one, with 1,000 texts per location included every month and everything else — every screen, every role, every feature.

14 days, free, and we don't ask for a card to start.

Talk to us about volume pricing and hands-on setup: email support@nextupwalkin.com. Up to 9, just add them from your dashboard.

Your line stops taking new online check-ins until you subscribe again. Your staff screen and owner dashboard keep working the whole time.

Only what's needed to run the line: a name, the services they pick, a mobile number if they opt in to texts, and a photo only if they add one. Mobile numbers are deleted automatically 24 hours after they join, and messages waiting to send are encrypted in the database.

If you turn it on for a location, customers can add an optional photo from their own phone so your team can spot them. Only staff at that location see it: never the TV, the join page, the door tablet or other customers. Photo metadata is stripped on upload, staff can remove a photo at any time, and it's deleted automatically when the visit ends (within a day at most).

Your team, through the staff screen and dashboard, and each business's data is isolated from every other business on NextUp. Public screens like the TV and join page show only a first name and last initial.

All traffic is encrypted in transit (TLS 1.2+, with HSTS), the database has no public network access, sensitive secrets are encrypted at rest, and the database is backed up nightly. Card payments are handled entirely by Stripe. See the Security page for the full list.