Older Android and Amazon Fire devices: WebApp and kiosk

Why the app needs Android 8

• Since 31 August 2026 Google Play requires new apps and updates to target Android 16 (API level 36) – for security and performance. Google does not prescribe a minimum version.
• The minimum version Android 8.0 is our own decision: it lets security updates and the current tools we build the app with run reliably on every supported device. Dragging older systems along would hold back updates and new features for everyone.
• Google Play therefore lists Android 8.0 as the minimum version. You can usually see your device's version under "Settings" → "About phone" or "About tablet" → "Android version".

What works on older Android devices

• From Android 8.0 you install the app from Google Play – with kiosk, NFC and everything the app can do.
• The WebApp runs in the browser at drinklist.app/app with the same features: booking, accounts, bar, cash desk, reports and the kiosk. It needs a current browser – Chrome 119 or later; current versions of Firefox, Samsung Internet and Edge work too.
• Update Chrome and "Android System WebView" in Google Play. According to Google, Chrome 138 is the last version for Android 8 and 9 – it is enough for the WebApp; newer Chrome versions need Android 10.
• If the browser is too old, the WebApp shows a yellow notice instead of a blank screen, asking you to update "Android System WebView" and "Google Chrome" in the Play Store. If Chrome can no longer be updated and the notice stays, the device is too old for the WebApp.

Put the WebApp on the home screen like an app

1. On the tablet or smartphone, open Chrome and go to drinklist.app/app.
2. Tap the menu (three dots at the top right), then "Install app" or "Add to Home screen" – the wording varies with the Chrome version.
3. Confirm with "Install" or "Add". An icon of its own appears on the home screen.
4. From now on always open the WebApp with this icon: it starts full screen without an address bar, like an app.
5. Sign in there if the WebApp asks. When a new version is available, "New version available" appears with a "Reload" button – tap it when nobody is booking.

Amazon Fire tablets

• Fire tablets run Fire OS, Amazon's Android: Fire OS 5 roughly corresponds to Android 5.1, Fire OS 7 to Android 9, Fire OS 8 to Android 11. A Fire HD 8 (7th generation, 2017), for example, runs Fire OS 5.
• Fire tablets have no Google Play Store, and we are not in the Amazon Appstore. The app therefore cannot be installed there – not even on new Fire tablets.
• Try the WebApp in the Silk browser at drinklist.app/app. Update the device first under "Settings" → "Device Options" → "System Updates". If the yellow update notice appears, Silk is too old on this device.
• If Silk offers "Add to Home screen" in its menu, put the WebApp on the home screen like an app that way. You then start the kiosk just as on any other tablet.
• To be honest: App pinning is not reliably available on Fire tablets, and they have no NFC. A Fire tablet is therefore better suited as a simple supervised kiosk at the bar than as a locked kiosk.

Start the tablet as a kiosk

1. First set up the kiosk in the Administration: /admin, choose the list on the left, then "Operations" → "Kiosk" – with a kiosk PIN and "Account display on the kiosk" ("Tiles" or "List (alphabetical)"). The details are in the bar operation guide.
2. On the tablet, open the app or the installed WebApp and sign in with email address and password – as owner or manager of the list. The kiosk cannot be started with a cash or PIN account.
3. Go to "Admin area" → "Kiosk". Leave "Sign out of the management" ticked and tap "Start this device as kiosk".
4. The tablet now shows the list's accounts. The kiosk is only exited with "Exit kiosk" and the kiosk PIN.

Keep the tablet in the kiosk: App pinning

1. Open "Settings" → "Security" (depending on the manufacturer also "Security & privacy" → "More security settings") and turn on "App pinning" – on older devices it is called "Screen pinning".
2. In the same menu, turn on asking for the screen lock before unpinning, and set a device PIN that only the administration knows – not the kiosk PIN.
3. Open the app or WebApp with the running kiosk, then the overview of open apps (square button, or swipe up from the bottom edge and hold).
4. Tap the app's icon at the top, then "Pin". From now on the app cannot be left: no home screen, no other apps.
5. To unpin, press and hold "Back" and "Overview" together – with gesture navigation swipe up and hold – and enter the device PIN. Menu names vary between manufacturers.

So the kiosk tablet lasts the whole evening

• Under "Settings" → "Display", set the screen timeout to the longest value. App 1.2 keeps the screen awake in the kiosk anyway.
• Keep the tablet on the charging cable. An older battery often does not last a long evening with the screen on.
• Make sure there is stable Wi-Fi at the bar. Without a connection the kiosk shows a notice and books nothing until it is back.
• Let app updates run overnight, or update Chrome and the app before the evening, not during it.

Which devices we recommend

• Best: an Android tablet with a current Android that still gets security updates – with the app from Google Play.
• Good: any Android tablet from Android 8.0 with Google Play – with the app, even if it no longer gets updates.
• For chips at the kiosk: a tablet with NFC reads key fobs and wristbands continuously. Without NFC, an inexpensive USB reader that works like a keyboard helps.
• Stopgap: an older device or an Amazon Fire tablet with the WebApp in the browser – as long as the yellow update notice does not appear.