Clockie now lets staff clock in with an NFC badge tap, a rotating QR code on their phone, or a printed ID card. Here is how each one works, which kiosks support them, and how to choose between speed and verification for your team.
The fastest clock-in is the one nobody has to think about. Clockie's new Tap to Clock option gives your team three ways to get there: tap an NFC fob on the kiosk, show a rotating QR code from their phone, or scan a printed ID card. Each one clocks the person straight in or out — no PIN, no face check.
That speed is a deliberate trade, and it is not the right trade for every business. This guide explains how each credential works, which kiosks support them, and how to decide whether the convenience is worth it for your team.
| Credential | What staff carry | Works on | Enrolment |
|---|---|---|---|
| NFC fob or badge | A small fob or card, tapped on the kiosk | Android kiosks | Self-serve at the kiosk |
| Rotating phone QR | Their personal clock page, open on their phone | Any kiosk with a camera, including iPads | None — it is already there |
| Printed QR ID card | A card with a printed QR code | Any kiosk with a camera | Generated and printed from the staff page |
All three feed the same clock path: the tap or scan identifies the person, Clockie toggles them in or out, and everything else — job selection, photo capture, offline queueing — carries on exactly as it does today.
NFC fobs and cards are the credential most people picture: hold it near the kiosk, hear the beep, walk in. They are cheap third-party stock (Clockie sells no hardware), they survive worksites, and they suit staff who do not carry a phone on the floor.
Enrolment is self-serve. The first time someone taps a new fob, the kiosk asks who they are, confirms it with their PIN if your business uses PINs, and binds the fob to them. From then on a tap is all it takes — and it keeps working offline, because the kiosk recognises badges locally.
The catch is the reader, not the badge. Reading NFC in a web app is only possible on Android, so badge taps work on Android kiosk tablets and not on iPads. That is not a Clockie limitation — iPads simply do not let web apps read NFC badges, and a phone cannot present itself as an NFC badge to a web app either. If your kiosks are iPads, NFC is off the table, which is exactly why the next two options exist. And if you are weighing Clockie against a dedicated badge system, the TimeDock comparison covers how the two approaches differ.
Every staff member's personal clock page can show a QR code that changes every 30 seconds. Held up to the kiosk camera, it clocks them in or out on any kiosk with a camera — iPads included. There is nothing to hand out and nothing to enrol; if someone can open their clock page, they already have their badge.
The rotation is the interesting part. A static code can be screenshotted and shared, which would make buddy punching trivial. The rotating code is computed from a secret only Clockie and the kiosk know, so a screenshot goes stale in about a minute. Someone would need live access to the person's actual clock page at the moment of scanning — at which point the phone itself is the thing being borrowed, the same risk as any personal login.
Of the three tap credentials, this is the strongest, because it cannot usefully be copied.
Some teams want a physical card without the NFC dependency: iPads at the door, staff without phones, or simply a preference for a lanyard with a name on it. For them, admins can generate a QR ID card from any staff member's page and print it — business name, staff name, and a code the kiosk recognises. If a staff member already has an NFC badge bound, you can print a matching QR card so the same credential works by tap on Android and by scan on iPad. Pre-printed combo cards — NFC chip plus a printed code — work too, straight out of the packet.
Be clear-eyed about what a printed card is: a possession credential. The code is static, so a photo of the card works just as the card does. That is the same trade every swipe card and badge system has always made — the card proves someone holds the credential, not who they are. If that trade does not sit right for your business, printed cards are easy to skip; nothing requires them.
This matters enough to say plainly. All three credentials answer "who is this?" with "whoever holds the credential". A tap or a scan skips PIN and face verification entirely — that is what makes it fast, and it is why Tap to Clock is off by default.
If preventing buddy punching is the reason you use Clockie, PIN plus photo capture or on-device face matching remain the strongest options, and nothing about this release changes them. Verification-focused businesses can simply leave Tap to Clock off and keep the checks they rely on. You can also land in between: photo capture still runs on tap and scan clock-ins when you have it enabled, so there is a record of who was standing at the kiosk even without a live check.
A rough guide:
Turning it on takes one switch in Settings > Kiosk, and the setting spells out the trade before you flip it. Badges and cards live on each staff member's page, so removing a lost fob or reprinting a card takes seconds.
Tap to Clock is included with Clockie's kiosk. Turn it on when the speed is worth it, leave it off when verification matters more — and mix credentials freely across the team either way.
Try Clockie free — see current plans at clockie.nz/pricing.
Clockie is NZ-built time clock and visitor sign-in software with PIN/face verification, offline sync, and direct Xero & Crystal Payroll integration. Built for New Zealand businesses that want accurate hours without the paperwork.
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