Turn any tablet into an employee time clock

You don't need a $500 wall-mounted punch clock. Any iPad or Android tablet — including a $60 refurbished one — can be a full time clock kiosk: workers tap their name, enter a PIN, the front camera snaps a photo, and the punch is recorded with a server timestamp nobody can fudge. Here's the complete setup.

What you need

• Any tablet with a front camera and Wi-Fi — an old iPad or a cheap Android tablet both work.
• A wall mount or stand near the door everyone walks past (~$15–25).
• A free HoursBooks account — the kiosk is a web page, so nothing to install.

Setup in five steps

1. Create your account at hoursbooks.com and add your employees with their hourly rates and a 4-digit PIN each.
2. Open hoursbooks.com on the tablet, sign in, and tap Kiosk. The screen switches to the punch clock: big name buttons, a live clock.
3. Lock it down. Exiting the kiosk requires your account password — workers can't reach timesheets or pay rates. Then turn on the tablet's own lock so the browser can't wander: Guided Access on iPad (Settings → Accessibility), screen pinning on Android.
4. Mount it and done. Punching takes two taps and about three seconds. If the tablet reboots or the page reloads, it comes back locked in kiosk mode.
5. Optional — field crews: workers who never pass the shop can punch from their own phones with a personal link; each phone punch records GPS at the moment of the punch and only works within range of a job site you define.

Why the photo matters

The weak spot of every PIN or badge time clock is buddy punching — one worker clocking in for another. A camera that fires on every punch ends the argument: each entry in the punch log carries a face, the server's own timestamp, and (for phone punches) a map point. You'll likely never need to check the photos — the fact that everyone knows they exist is what stops the games.

What it costs

The tablet you may already own, a mount, and the software is free while HoursBooks is in beta — including the kiosk, phone punch, photo verification, weekly overtime math, and printable timesheets. Commercial time-clock systems charge $3–5 per employee per month plus hardware; a small crew saves several hundred dollars a year doing it this way.