Tablets, Printers and Stands That Work With VizPass
This page explains exactly what visitor management kiosk tablet setup you need for VizPass — any Android tablet or phone, an optional label printer, and a basic stand — with no proprietary hardware or biometric kiosk required. It gives Indian plant and office managers practical, price-aware guidance so gate hardware decisions are simple rather than confusing.
Most Indian plants don't struggle with visitor management software — they struggle with figuring out what to actually buy for the gate. A contractor calls asking if he needs a "biometric kiosk," the security agency quotes ₹80,000 for a machine nobody understands, and the plant head is left wondering whether the gate needs a Windows PC, a UPS, a special printer, or all three. This page answers that question plainly, without pushing you toward hardware VizPass doesn't sell and doesn't need.
The Short Answer
VizPass runs entirely inside a web browser. There's no software to install, no Windows PC, no server sitting in a cabin next to the guard, and no printer driver to configure. If you already have an Android tablet or even a guard's personal phone, you can be running gate check-ins today. Everything below is about making that setup comfortable and durable for daily use on a factory floor — not about mandatory purchases.
If you want the full walkthrough of how the gate screen, visitor flow and register actually work once hardware is in place, that's covered separately in How VizPass Works; this page stays focused on the physical setup.
Tablets: Any Android Device With a Camera
There's no VizPass-branded tablet, and there doesn't need to be. Any Android tablet with a rear or front camera and a reasonably modern browser will run the gate screen. Photo and ID capture both use the tablet's own camera — no external scanner, no dongle.
A few practical notes from setting these up at gates that see everything from office visitors to daily contract labour:
- A 10-inch screen is the comfortable choice for a guard who's checking in fifteen people in a shift change — bigger tap targets, easier to read in daylight.
- An 8-inch tablet works fine too, and is the more common choice at a smaller side gate or a visitor desk with lower footfall.
- Indicative retail prices for a suitable Android tablet run ₹10,000–20,000 — this is a one-time hardware cost, not something VizPass bills you for or bundles.
- Any brand works. There's no lock-in to a manufacturer, and if a tablet is damaged or stolen, a replacement from any local electronics shop is set up again in minutes.
When the Tablet Isn't Available
Contract labour turnover, a guard on leave, or a gate that temporarily has no working tablet — these are normal plant realities, not edge cases. Two fallbacks handle this without any extra hardware:
- A guard's own Android phone runs the identical gate screen the same way a tablet does.
- Visitors can self-check-in from their own phone by scanning the QR poster at the gate, which is often the fastest option for a scheduled office visitor who's already standing at the barrier.
Neither of these needs prior setup or an app install — it's the same browser-based screen, just on a smaller device.
Printers: Optional, and Genuinely So
Most plants that ask about printers assume they need one to run VizPass at all. They don't. A visitor pass can be shown on the tablet screen or sent digitally, and many gates run entirely without a printer, especially where the security team is comfortable checking a screen rather than a slip of paper.
Where a printed pass is preferred — because it's tucked into a shirt pocket, clipped to a lanyard, or handed to a transporter's driver — printing goes through the tablet's own print dialog to a printer over Wi-Fi. There's no driver to install on any PC; the tablet talks to the printer directly.
- Six pass sizes are supported, so the printed pass can match what your gate already uses, rather than forcing a redesign.
- A thermal label printer (₹8,000–15,000) is the cheapest to run day to day — no ink or toner, just the label roll, which matters when a plant is printing hundreds of passes a month and wants to avoid a recurring consumables bill.
- An A6/A7-capable printer works too, useful where the plant wants a slightly larger, more formal-looking pass for visiting officials or auditors.
Either way, this is a standard off-the-shelf printer bought from any local dealer — VizPass doesn't manufacture or bundle one, and doesn't require a specific model.
Stands, Power, and Load-Shedding
The tablet needs somewhere to live that isn't a loose object on the guard's desk. Two options cover almost every gate layout:
- A lockable tablet stand on the gate desk, which keeps the tablet upright, visible to the visitor, and harder to walk off with during a shift change.
- A wall mount, better suited to a narrow gate cabin or where desk space is already taken up by a register, an intercom, or a biometric attendance reader.
Stands are inexpensive — ₹1,500–5,000 depending on build — and, like the tablet and printer, there's no VizPass-specific stand to buy; any lockable mount that fits your tablet size works.
Power is the part plants tend to underestimate. A gate cabin at the edge of a plant compound doesn't always have the most reliable supply, and a tablet that dies mid-shift because of a routine outage is worse than no tablet at all. Plan for:
- A dedicated power point at the gate desk, wired in when the stand is installed rather than as an afterthought.
- A UPS or power bank wherever outages are common enough to interrupt a shift — this is standard practice at most Indian plants already, and the same logic applies to the gate tablet as to any other always-on equipment on the floor.
Network: Wi-Fi or a 4G SIM
The gate screen needs a network connection to sync visitor data, but it doesn't need to be a wired connection or a fixed IP. Two options, and they're not mutually exclusive:
- Wi-Fi, if the gate is within range of the plant's existing network — the simplest option where it's available.
- A 4G SIM in the tablet, which works well for a gate that's physically separate from the main building, or where extending Wi-Fi to the boundary wall isn't practical.
Where a gate has genuinely poor signal — common at plants with metal sheds or boundary walls that block reception — a small 4G router placed near the gate cabin gives the tablet a stronger local signal than relying on the tablet's own antenna. This is a ₹1,500–3,000 addition at most, not a networking project.
What This Setup Does Not Include
It's worth being direct about the edges here, because kiosk vendors often aren't. VizPass does not support ANPR cameras, boom barriers, or turnstiles — if your plant's vehicle gate needs automatic number-plate recognition or a barrier that lifts on approval, that's a separate physical system, and VizPass's role stays at the visitor and pass level, not the gate hardware level.
Purpose-built visitor kiosks — the all-in-one units with an integrated printer and scanner that vendors quote at ₹50,000–1,50,000 or more — aren't something VizPass needs either. A tablet, an optional printer, and a stand cost a fraction of that and are just as easy to service, since any local technician can replace or repair standard consumer hardware rather than a proprietary kiosk unit that might have a long spares lead time.
Biometric readers — eSSL and ZKTeco devices on the ADMS push protocol — do connect to VizPass, but only under the Gate & Attendance plan, and only for staff attendance, not for visitor check-in. If your plant is looking at biometric hardware for contract labour attendance rather than visitor management, that's a separate conversation worth having on a walkthrough call.
Putting a Budget Together
For a single gate, a realistic all-in setup looks like: one Android tablet (₹10,000–20,000), a lockable stand or wall mount (₹1,500–5,000), and — only if printed passes matter to you — a thermal label printer (₹8,000–15,000). Add a power bank if outages are frequent, and a small 4G router if signal at the gate is weak. None of this is bought from or bundled by VizPass; it's ordinary hardware from any local dealer, chosen to fit your gate rather than a vendor's catalogue.
The software side of that budget — what VizPass itself costs across gates and plans — is covered in detail on pricing, and the fuller feature list, including how visitor data is handled in line with guidance from the Ministry of Electronics & IT, is on features. If you're weighing this against a plant's existing paper register or a kiosk quote sitting on your desk, the quickest way to see it running on your own tablet is a short walkthrough.
Tablets, Printers and Stands That Work With VizPass FAQs
Does VizPass need a special printer for visitor badges, or will any printer work?
Any printer that already talks to your network or tablet will work — VizPass doesn't require a specific brand or model. The badge is generated as a printable page from inside the browser itself, the same way a boarding pass or invoice would print from any web app. That page can be sent to a thermal receipt printer, a regular inkjet, or a shared office laser printer, as long as the tablet can connect to it over wifi, Bluetooth, or USB. There's no proprietary print driver bundled with VizPass and nothing to install on the tablet to make printing work — it uses the browser's own print function. Because the badge typically carries a visitor's photo and basic details, it's worth treating the print queue the same way you'd treat any other point where personal data is handled, in line with the general guidance from the Ministry of Electronics & IT. If your gate doesn't need a physical badge at all, that's fine too — some sites run check-in purely off the tablet screen and skip printing altogether. The full list of what the badge can carry, and what's optional, is covered on the features page.
Can I use an iPad instead of an Android tablet at the security gate?
Technically an iPad's Safari browser will load the VizPass gate screen, since the software runs as a web app rather than an installed program, but it isn't the setup VizPass is built and tested around. Camera-based photo and ID capture rely on the browser asking for camera permission, and iOS handles those permission prompts differently from Android, so behaviour can be inconsistent depending on iOS version and Safari settings. Android tablets are the tested path because that's what most gates already use and what the camera capture flow is designed against. If you already own iPads and want to try them, there's nothing stopping you from testing the gate screen on one before committing budget to new hardware. If you're unsure whether your existing devices — iPad, older Android tablet, or a guard's personal phone — will behave the way you expect, it's worth confirming before you standardize on one across multiple gates. That's a quick conversation to have through book a walkthrough rather than a guess made on the factory floor.
What kind of stand or mount should I use for a tablet at a factory gate?
Any standard tablet stand, wall mount, or gooseneck arm works, because VizPass places no hardware requirement beyond a screen and a working camera. The gate screen is simply a browser left open on the tablet, so the software itself doesn't dictate mounting height, angle, or material — that decision is purely about what survives your specific gate environment: dust, weather exposure, vibration, or a guard needing to reposition it during the day. A clamp mount on a security cabin desk works as well as a wall bracket at an open entry point, as long as the camera has a clear, steady view for photo and ID capture. Since factory gates often sit in areas with movement of vehicles and workers, it's also worth checking that the mount position doesn't interfere with sightlines or evacuation routes, which falls under general workplace safety practice referenced by DGFASLI. Beyond that, the choice of stand is a facilities decision, not a VizPass configuration — the same tablet and login will work whether it's on a ₹500 clamp or a wall-drilled bracket, which is covered in more depth under industries for different site layouts.
Will the tablet keep working at the gate during a power cut?
The tablet's own battery keeps the gate screen running through short outages, since VizPass doesn't depend on a desktop PC or a local server that would go down with the mains supply. What does matter is network connectivity — the browser needs an active wifi or mobile data connection to load the gate screen and submit check-in data, so a power cut that also takes down your wifi router will interrupt things even if the tablet itself still has charge. For gates that can't tolerate any gap, a simple power bank or a second charged tablet kept as a manual backup covers the physical device side; the connectivity side depends on whether your router or mobile hotspot has its own backup power. There's no UPS or server requirement to plan around, which is the main difference from a traditional Windows-based gate setup. What actually happens to the check-in flow and register during a connectivity gap — and how it recovers once the connection is back — is explained in more detail under how VizPass works.
How many tablets do I need if I have multiple gates or entrances?
One tablet per active gate is the practical setup, since each tablet simply opens the same VizPass login in its browser independently of any other gate. There's no central server or single physical box that all gates have to share — every tablet is just a browser window pointed at your VizPass account, so adding a second or third gate is a matter of placing another tablet there and logging it in, not installing additional hardware or software. Whether that counts as an extra cost depends on how your plan is structured rather than on any hardware licensing tied to the device itself. If a gate only needs occasional coverage — a side entrance used a few times a day, for instance — a guard's personal phone can serve as that gate's tablet without a dedicated device being bought for it. How licensing and usage scale as you add gates, users, or sites is covered under pricing rather than being a hardware question at all.
Does the gate tablet need a SIM card, or is wifi enough to run VizPass?
Either wifi or mobile data works — the tablet just needs one active internet connection, since VizPass is an online platform rather than a program installed locally on the device. The gate screen loads through the browser each time it's used, and visitor details entered at check-in are sent to your account over that same connection, which is what makes the visitor register update in real time rather than syncing later. A wifi connection shared from the site's existing network is the more common setup at fixed gates, while a SIM-based mobile hotspot is a reasonable fallback for gates in areas with patchy wifi coverage or temporary entry points that don't have wired network access. There's no offline installed mode to fall back on, so if the connection drops, the gate screen itself will show that until it reconnects. Beyond having a stable connection, there's no additional networking hardware VizPass requires — no dedicated router, no local server, nothing to configure beyond getting the tablet online, which is covered alongside the rest of the setup under features.
Ordering the right tablet and printer is the easy half of this decision. The harder half is making sure that hardware still works during a monsoon power cut, on the night shift, and after the third guard in six months has taken over the gate. Get the rollout wrong and it's the software that gets blamed for a UPS nobody bought.
Printer and Stand: What to Actually Order
A printer is optional — plenty of gates run photo-and-QR check-ins with no pass printed at all. Where a physical pass matters, VizPass sends it through the tablet's own print dialog to a label printer or an A6/A7-capable printer over Wi-Fi, across six supported pass sizes. A thermal label printer is worth considering first: no ink or toner to source, which matters when the nearest cartridge dealer is a drive away.
For the stand, a lockable tablet stand at the gate desk or a simple wall mount both work; what matters more is the power point next to it and a UPS or power bank for gates where cuts are routine. A tablet with 20% battery at 11pm is a bigger operational risk than the model of tablet you bought.
Where This Setup Does Not Extend
Being upfront here saves a wasted quote later. VizPass does not support ANPR cameras, boom barriers, or turnstiles — if your gate handles heavy vehicle or truck traffic that needs automated barrier control, that's a separate system entirely. Biometric readers from eSSL or ZKTeco do connect over the ADMS protocol, but only for staff attendance on the Gate & Attendance plan, not for visitor check-in. If a vendor is quoting you a barrier-integrated kiosk for the visitor gate, that quote belongs to a different problem.
Mistakes Worth Avoiding Before You Sign a PO
- Buying a purpose-built kiosk (₹50,000–₹1,50,000+) before testing whether an existing Android tablet, checked against pricing for the software itself, already does the job.
- Skipping the UPS or power bank and only discovering the gap during the first outage of the season.
- Testing the camera indoors under office light, then finding it struggles with the glare at an open gate at noon.
- Assuming a Windows PC or IT-managed server is needed at the gate — it isn't; the full list of what does and doesn't connect is on Integrations.
- Locking in one printer brand because a vendor bundled it, when the browser print dialog works with any compatible label or A6/A7 printer on the network.
What's Worth Checking Before You Finalise
Before finalising anything, run the tablet at the actual gate for a few shifts — checking contract labour entry volumes, signal strength in that specific corner of the compound, and light conditions at the times visitors actually arrive, not a demo desk indoors. A gate with patchy Wi-Fi or cellular signal can move to a small 4G router rather than replacing the tablet. And since the gate is handling visitor photographs and ID details, it's worth having your safety and compliance team keep half an eye on how that data is stored, in line with the general direction set by the Ministry of Electronics & IT on personal data handling — a subject covered in more depth elsewhere in this section, not here.
If you'd rather walk through your specific gate — power situation, existing tablet stock, contractor volumes — than guess from a hardware list, book a walkthrough and bring photos of the gate as it stands today.