Paired Devices: Put a Tablet on the Rig

A tablet bolted in an engine, or a screen on the day-room wall, is hardware the whole crew touches. It is not a person, and it should not hold anyone's login. In Command Established it becomes a paired device: it signs in as itself, an administrator decides what it can reach, and the work recorded on it names the crew member who did it.

Three shapes of the same idea:

A rig tablet. Run check-offs, start inspections, look up hydrants and pre-plans on the apparatus.
A station board. A read-only screen showing weather, announcements and readiness. See Set Up a Station Board Wall Display.
A command vehicle tablet. One driver, broader access, in a locked vehicle.

Add the Device

An owner or administrator does this once per screen, from Department Settings → Paired Devices.

Select Add Device and name it for where it lives: Engine 12, Watch Desk Display, Chief 1.
Choose what it can do:
- Station board — read-only, for a screen nobody types on.
- Rig — run check-offs and inspections, start incidents, look things up.
- Command vehicle — everything the rig can do, plus editing incidents, logging, work orders and the roster.
- Advanced — choose each permission yourself.
Optionally set a default person for a single-operator tablet, such as a chief's car. The tablet records work as them without asking.
Select Add Device.

A paired device can never be an owner or an administrator, whatever you grant it. Department administration is done from a person's own phone or computer.

If you grant a device access to fire investigations or applications, the page warns you first. Anyone holding the tablet can read what it can read.

Pair It

On the tablet itself, open Command Established and choose Pair this tablet. Back in Paired Devices, select Pair on that device's row for a six-character code, and type it on the tablet. The code works once and is short-lived, so generate it when you have the tablet in your hands.

Pairing the same device onto a new tablet signs the old one out, which is what you want when a tablet is replaced.

For an app-like installation on the tablet, see Install as an App.

Who Did the Work

A paired device has no name worth putting on a check-off, so it asks. When someone saves work on a shared tablet, the tablet asks who is completing it and shows a crew list sized for a gloved finger. The person's name goes on the record, not the tablet's.

Members who set a tablet PIN must enter it. While they are signed in, the tablet acts as them, with their own access, and the work is marked as verified.
The rest of the crew are picked from the list. The record names them, and the activity log also names the tablet.
A single-operator tablet with a default person skips the question.

Nobody has to be a member with an account: anyone on the department's personnel roster can be picked, which is how volunteers without logins still get credit for the work they do.

Keeping a Device Signed In

A paired device stays signed in as long as it keeps being used, so a tablet in daily service is never re-paired on a schedule. One that is put away, or left off for a long stretch, eventually needs pairing again, and the screen explains how when that happens.

To stop a device, open Department Settings → Paired Devices:

Sessions → Sign out ends its session now. The next person to pick up the tablet sees the pairing screen.
Archive retires a device you no longer use, and signs it out too.

Signing out also ends any PIN sign-in on the tablet.

What a Tablet Should and Shouldn't Hold

Grant the narrowest preset that works. A rig tablet rarely needs the roster or the budget.
Keep the tablet physically sensible. Mounted in an apparatus, or in a staff-only room. Use the device's own screen lock.
Personal information stays off shared screens. Dates of birth, home addresses, licences and emergency contacts are never reachable from a paired device, even by someone signed in with their PIN.
Sign out a lost tablet immediately. From Paired Devices, on any phone or computer. Its cached data is cleared the next time it reaches the network.

Troubleshooting

The tablet says it isn't paired any more

Its session ended: an admin signed it out, the device was paired onto another tablet, or it went unused long enough for the pairing to lapse. Ask an administrator for a fresh code and pair it again.

Someone's name is missing from the crew list

The list comes from active personnel records. Check that the person has one and that it is active.

A page says this tablet doesn't have access

The device's permissions decide what it can open. An administrator can widen them under Advanced on the device's row; the page comes back without rebooting the tablet.

Can two people use the tablet at once?

No, and they don't need to. The tablet acts as one person at a time; picking someone else switches it. Each person's unsaved work is kept separately, so switching does not hand your half-finished form to the next person.

Need Help?

If you're planning tablets for a station or a fleet, contact support.