The scanner runs in a phone's browser. There is nothing to download from an app store and no EventsForge account to create.
What you need from the organizer
Get both before you leave for the venue. The organizer can only see the PIN at the moment they set it, so "I'll text it to you later" sometimes turns into them having to reset it.
Install it on the home screen
Open the scanner link, then use your browser's Add to Home Screen (Share menu on iPhone, the three-dot menu on Android). It then opens full-screen like an app, with no address bar to nudge during a queue.
This is optional but worth the twenty seconds. It also makes it much harder to lose the tab.
Sign in
Event ID — from the organizer, or already filled in if you opened their link.
Door PIN — the digits they gave you.
Your name — optional, and worth filling in. Something like
Gate 2 — Priya. It is recorded against every check-in you make, which is what lets anyone settle "who let this person in?" later.Press Start scanning.
You need signal for this step, and only this step
Signing in and downloading the attendee list both need a connection. After that the scanner works with none. Do it before you reach the door, not while a queue is forming.
If it will not let you in
- "That event and PIN did not match." — one of the two is wrong, and it deliberately does not tell you which. Check both with the organizer.
- "Too many attempts." — wait a moment and try again.
- "No connection." — the scanner needs network once, to sign in. Find signal.
Staying signed in
Your session lives on that phone and survives closing the app. If it expires, the event id is remembered and you only retype the PIN.
Exit signs out and clears the session — worth doing if the phone is a shared one being handed back.
Next: Download the list and scan offline about download the list and scan offline.