Run QueueHamster like a pro.
Every screen, every option, every touchpoint — exactly as it works in the app. Bookmark this page; it grows with the product.
From download to first customer
One account, one short wizard, one QR code. Here is the exact path — every label below matches the app.
Register your business
Install QueueHamster Business from the App Store or Google Play and tap New business? Register here on the login screen. Registration asks for five things: Business Name, Business Category, Contact Email (this becomes your login), a Password, and its confirmation.
We send a verification email right away. It never blocks you — a gentle banner sits above your dashboard until you verify, with a Resend email button if it went missing.
Three steps and a QR code
Right after registering, the app walks you through Set Up Your First Queue: 1) name the queue (pre-filled as "Your Business Queue"), 2) set the average service time in minutes (default 20, anything from 1 to 240 — it drives the wait estimates customers see), and 3) optionally add your operating hours as free text.
The success screen hands you the queue's QR code — share it, or print it from the QR screen later. Tap Skip in the top corner at any point; everything here can be created or changed later.
Your dashboard at a glance
Home has three tabs along the bottom: Queues (every active queue as a tile — name, service time, and status — with a QR shortcut on each), Analytics (activity metrics once clients start joining), and More.
The More sheet is where the rest of this manual lives: Staff, Business Profile, Subscription, and What you can do (a plain-language list of what your role allows). The + button creates a new queue; tapping a queue tile opens its live dashboard.
Starter, Business, and how billing behaves
Both plans are monthly subscriptions billed by the App Store or Google Play — the store shows the final price, handles taxes, and owns the cancel button.
| Feature | Starter | Business |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly price | $9.99 | $29.99 |
| Active queues | 1 | Unlimited |
| Clients per month | 500 | 3,000 |
| Client join methods | App (QR scan) | App + web link — no install |
| Team members | Owner only | Up to 50 staff |
| Rotating QR codes | ||
| Manual check-in for walk-ins | ||
| Analytics dashboard | ||
| Data & reports | Local CSV export | Cloud backup + weekly email report |
| Support |
Final price, currency, and taxes are shown by the App Store / Google Play at checkout. Need more than 3,000 clients a month or more seats? Ask about Enterprise at support@queuehamster.com.
Buying, upgrading, restoring
Only the owner sees billing. Go to More → Subscription, pick a plan, and the store's own purchase sheet completes it. Your plan banner then shows "Current plan: … — renews on …".
Changing plans works differently per platform, by store rules:
- iPhone / iPad: upgrades apply immediately in the app; downgrades go through the Change in App Store button and take effect at your next renewal.
- Android: both happen in the app — upgrades apply now (remaining time is credited), downgrades switch at the end of the current billing period.
New phone, reinstalled the app, or the plan looks wrong? Tap Restore purchases on the Subscription screen — it re-links the store subscription to your account.
Unsubscribing on iPhone and Android
Subscriptions are cancelled with the store, not with us. The fastest route from inside the app: More → Subscription → Manage or cancel subscription — it opens the right store page for wherever you subscribed. Or go direct:
On iPhone / iPad
- Open Settings → tap your name → Subscriptions (or App Store app → your profile → Subscriptions).
- Choose QueueHamster Business.
- Tap Cancel Subscription.
Direct link: apps.apple.com/account/subscriptions
On Android
- Open Google Play → your profile icon → Payments & subscriptions → Subscriptions.
- Choose QueueHamster Business.
- Tap Cancel subscription.
Direct link: play.google.com/store/account/subscriptions
If a payment fails
A banner appears on your dashboard with an Update payment button that opens your store's subscription page. The store gives you a short grace window where everything keeps working — fix the card and the banner disappears on its own.
When you near your monthly limit
At 80% of your monthly clients you'll see a heads-up banner with your exact usage. At 100%, new joins pause until the counter resets on the 1st of each month — or instantly on upgrade. Your queue never closes; it just stops taking new names.
Your details, your message templates
More → Business Profile. Owners and admins can edit everything here; changes save instantly for the whole team.
Name, category, and contact info
Four fields: Business Name (what customers see everywhere), Business Category, an optional Support Email, and an optional Contact Phone. The email and phone are what waiting customers reach when they tap Contact Business — worth filling in.
This screen also hosts your notification templates: the pre-filled SMS body, email subject, and email body used when you nudge a customer from the queue (see Running the line). Edit them once; every send starts from your wording. Clear a template to go back to the default.
Deleting your account
At the bottom of Business Profile. Deleting permanently removes your account, your business, all of its queues and customer data, and every staff member's access. A confirmation dialog spells this out before anything happens, and you may be asked to sign in again first — it cannot be undone.
No longer have the app installed? You can request deletion from the web.
Creating and configuring queues
A queue is one line of waiting customers — a chair, a station, a service window. Owners and admins create them; every option below lives in Queue Settings (the gear on the queue dashboard).
Every queue option, explained
- Queue Name (up to 40 characters) — the app warns if another queue already uses the name.
- Queue Description (optional, up to 200 characters).
- Average Service Time (1–240 minutes) — drives the wait estimate customers see: position × service time.
- Operating Hours (optional free text) — shown to customers on the join screen.
- Notification Alert Threshold (1–10 positions) — how far from the front a customer is when their "head over soon" alert fires.
New queues start from the + button on Home. On the Starter plan you run one active queue; Business removes the limit.
Rotating QR codes
With rotation on, the QR refreshes itself on a schedule you pick — 30 minutes, 1 hour, 4 hours, 12 hours, 1 day, or 1 week. A screenshot of your code shared in a group chat simply stops working after the window passes, so only people actually at your door can join. The QR screen shows a live "Rotates in MM:SS" countdown.
Regenerate QR Code Now instantly invalidates the old code — useful if a code leaked or you printed a new poster. The fullscreen QR keeps your device awake (perfect for a counter tablet), and offers Share and Export PDF from the top bar.
Accepting new joins by QR, web link, or manual check-in. This is the everyday state.
Intake stops, but nobody loses their place. Waiting customers get a push and an in-app banner saying the queue is paused — you can keep serving the line.
No new joins. People already in line stay there and are notified; serve them out, then reopen tomorrow.
Pause, Resume, Close, and Reopen live in the action bar at the top of each queue's dashboard — one tap, with a confirmation where it matters.
Archiving and deleting a queue
Both live in Queue Settings' danger zone, and both require the queue to be closed first. Archive hides the queue from the dashboard; archived queues sit in a separate section on Home with a Restore button and auto-delete after 30 days. Delete Permanently is immediate and irreversible — the app makes you type the queue's exact name to confirm.
Day-to-day queue operations
Tap a queue tile on Home to open its live dashboard. Everything below updates in real time on every staff device.
Reading and working the list
Each waiting customer shows a token number (their ticket — it never changes), their position, name, and a live waiting timer. Walk-ins you added yourself carry an "Added manually" badge.
- Served — done; the customer gets a friendly "you've been served" screen.
- Skip — not ready when called? They move to the end of the line; their position updates live.
- Remove — takes them out of the queue entirely (confirmation asked; they're told politely).
The action bar up top holds Pause / Close, the QR screen, and Settings. The Add Client button handles walk-ins.
Walk-ins: manual check-in
Add Client opens a tiny form: Client Name (required), phone and email optional. They join the line like anyone else — same tokens, same notifications if they gave contact info. Works only while the queue is Open, and manual joins count toward your monthly client total.
Reaching a waiting customer
Tap any entry to open the contact sheet: Resend notification (a fresh push), Call, Send SMS (opens your phone's composer, pre-filled from your saved template — sent from your own number, no per-message fee from us), or Send email. Every nudge is recorded on the entry — you'll see "Nudged 2m ago" so the team doesn't double-ping.
Invite and manage staff
More → Staff. Staff management is a Business-plan feature; owners and admins run it. Everyone works from the same live queue — no shared passwords.
| What they can do | Owner | Admin | Manager | Agent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Serve, skip, remove customers | ||||
| Pause, close & edit queues | — | |||
| Create new queues | — | — | ||
| View analytics | — | |||
| Edit business profile | — | — | ||
| Invite & manage staff | — | — | ||
| Subscription & billing | — | — | — |
Managers and agents see only the queues you assign to them. The in-app "What you can do" sheet (More menu) shows each member this same list for their role.
Adding a team member
Tap Invite and fill in four things: name, email, a role (Admin, Manager, or Agent), and — for managers and agents — the queues they're assigned to. Admins automatically cover every queue.
The invite arrives by email as a link. Your teammate opens it, creates their own login (or signs in if they have one), accepts, and gets a 30-second tour of their screen. Until then they sit in the Pending tab, where you can Resend or Revoke — invitations expire on their own if never used.
Changing or pausing access
Tap a member to change their role or assigned queues — it applies immediately, everywhere. Suspend pauses their access on the spot; Remove takes them off the team. Both ask for confirmation. The owner's row (and your own) can't be edited.
What they see when access changes
Suspended or removed members get a clear full-screen notice ("Your access has been paused" / "You're no longer on the team") the moment it happens — no half-working app, no stale data. Role changes simply return them to their home screen with a short note.
What your customers see
Two ways in: the free Client app (every plan) or straight from the browser with no install (Business plan). Either way, they wait from anywhere — not in your doorway.
Scan, join, wait, get called
They scan your QR with the free QueueHamster app (or their camera — the link opens the app). The join form asks for a name, with optional phone and email under "Add contact info" — shared with you only so you can reach them, never sold.
The waiting screen shows their live position, an estimated wait (position × your service time), and their token number. The app asks permission to notify them, then they can put the phone away. Contact Business and Leave Queue are one tap away.
Web join — no install at all
On the Business plan, the same QR also works without any app. If your customer doesn't have (or want) the app, the link offers "Join in your browser": they enter a name and phone number, and get a live position page that updates in real time — estimated wait, their token, and a leave link included.
Browser joiners don't get push notifications — the page itself is their window into the line, and it tells them the moment it's their turn.
The three alerts app customers receive
Fires when they reach the front of the line.
Fires at your queue’s alert threshold (you pick 1–10 positions, in Queue Settings).
Fires when you pause or close the queue — everyone waiting is told at once.
You can also resend a fresh alert to any individual customer from the contact sheet — see Running the line.
| When you… | Your customer sees… |
|---|---|
| Tap Served | A cheerful "You’ve been served — thank you!" screen. |
| Tap Skip | They move to the back; their position updates live. |
| Tap Remove | A polite "You’ve been removed from the queue" screen. |
| Pause or Close | A banner plus a push — "you keep your spot" while paused. |
| They tap Leave Queue | A confirmation first, then a farewell screen with a Rejoin button. |
Quick answers
The situations that come up at a real counter, and the one-tap fixes.
