Every device shows a pairing code on the display when it starts and has no workspace yet. Entering that code in the dashboard is what makes it a screen.
Get the device to that point first: Screenly players arrive ready, ScreenlyOS needs writing to a card or a stick, and Screenly Anywhere needs its app or its URL.
Pairing
- Open Screens and choose Connect screen.
- Enter the code from the display.
- Give the screen a name and a location, and confirm.
The screen appears in the list within a minute or two and starts downloading whatever is assigned to it.
About the code
A pairing code is eight lowercase characters, and it deliberately leaves out the ones people misread across a room.
| Never in a code | Because it is mistaken for |
|---|---|
0 | the letter o |
1 | the letters l and i |
i l | each other, and the digit 1 |
m n | each other |
o | the digit 0 |
v w | each other |
So if a character looks like one of those, it is something else. Read it again rather than guessing.
A code is good for 30 days. After that the device needs a fresh one, which it gets by being connected to the internet and left to pick one up. There is nothing to reset on the device.
What pairing does
It takes one license from your pool. If you have none free, the connection fails and the dashboard tells you so rather than partially working.
It also creates a label matching the screen’s name, which is how a playlist can be assigned to this one screen rather than to a group. See Labels.
When it will not pair
The code is rejected. Either it has expired, or a character has been misread. Reboot the device to see a current code.
No code appears on the display. The device is not online, or it has not finished its first round of updates. Give a new device fifteen minutes before deciding something is wrong.
Nothing appears on the display at all. That is a display or a cable problem before it is a Screenly problem. Setup issues covers the usual causes, including captive portals and a device clock wrong enough to break the connection.