Walk-in Queue & Waitlist App FAQ

They scan a code at the business, or use a link the business shares, then enter their name and, if they want texts, a mobile number. No app, no account.

Only if they choose to. Customers who opt in get a text confirming their place in line and one when it's their turn. You can also turn on optional texts, like asking a called customer if they're still coming, or updates as they move up (which customers choose separately). Texts are only about their visit, never marketing, and they can reply STOP at any time.

Their place in line lives on their phone in a browser tab. They can check it, or wait for a text, from the car, a coffee shop, or a bench outside.

Yes, if you turn it on for that location. The join form lists the team working today, with photos, and "Anyone" comes first for people who just want the next opening. When they're called, the TV and their phone show who's ready for them.

Yes, if you turn it on for a location (optional or required, with a limit per visit if you like). On their phone or the door tablet, they pick services and add-ons from your menu and see the total time and price before they join. If they ask for someone, only team members who do those services are offered.

Tap "Ask if they're coming" on the staff screen and their phone asks, "Are you still coming?" They answer 2, 5 or 10 minutes away, or that they can't make it, and the answer shows on their row. Customers who are running late can also tell you without being asked. You can ask the same person again after two minutes, and "Call again" re-announces them after a short cooldown.

No. Everything customers do works in their phone's browser, on any phone.

As many as you need. Owners and managers are included at no extra cost — there are no per-seat fees.

A staff screen to call the next customer, which updates the TV display and door tablet automatically, plus an owner dashboard for insights across every location.

Each location chooses. The average method uses your average visit time and how many of your team are working today. The services method adds up each customer's own services, counts how long current visits have been going, and knows which team member does what. Insights shows how close quoted waits came to real ones, so you can see which fits you.

No. Start from suggested services for your trade and adjust names, times and prices before adding them, or import a spreadsheet (CSV) and review every change before it saves. You can export it the same way, set prices and times per location, and choose which of your team does each service.

Yes — your logo, your colors, 14 themes and 58 heading fonts (modern, serif, script, vintage, blackletter and playful), applied across the customer phone, TV display and door tablet.

Every plan includes two-factor authentication, owner and manager roles enforced on the server, and an audit trail of sign-ins and changes across every location. Passwords are salted and hashed with PBKDF2, and repeated wrong guesses lock the account for 15 minutes.

Yes. The Clients page lets you look up any client by phone number, see their full visit history and leave notes. Marketing blasts let you send an SMS or email campaign to past clients. Rebooking reminders send automatically X days after a visit to bring clients back.

Yes, with loyalty programs and memberships. Loyalty is a stamp-card style program — set a milestone like "10th visit free" and NextUp tracks it automatically. Memberships are recurring plans with visit packages or discounts. Both work without clients needing an app.

Yes. Digital gift cards can be sold from your dashboard and redeemed by clients at checkout.

You can require a credit card hold or deposit when someone books an appointment. If they don't show up, NextUp charges the no-show fee you set automatically.

None. The TV display works on any TV browser or streaming stick, the door tablet works on any tablet, and staff can use any phone or computer.

Open /tv in the TV's browser and it shows a short code. Enter that code under Connect a TV on your dashboard, from your phone or a computer, and the TV switches to your waiting-room screen. It remembers its location, so you only do it once.

Yes. Set weekly opening hours for each location and choose how long before closing to stop taking walk-ins (20 minutes by default). The join page shows today's hours, and when you open next while you're closed.

Yes, for US locations. Turn on "Show weather on the TV" for a location and the TV shows the temperature now, the next few hours and tomorrow, in °F or °C, from the National Weather Service. It steps back while someone is being called, and if the forecast is ever unavailable the TV simply shows no weather.

About two minutes for your first location — add your business, print or display your code, and you can start taking check-ins right away.

Yes. Add locations any time from your dashboard, and they're billed on a prorated basis for the rest of your billing cycle.

$29/month for your first location and $19/month for each additional one, with 1,000 texts per location included every month. Every screen, role, and feature: walk-in queue, client profiles, loyalty programs, gift cards, memberships, marketing blasts, rebooking reminders, no-show protection and web push notifications.

Yes — 14 days, card required but not charged until the trial ends. Every feature is included from day one: the customer join page, text notifications, TV display, door kiosk, staff screen, branding, and owner insights, client profiles, loyalty programs, gift cards, memberships and marketing tools. At the end of the trial you choose a plan to keep going, or your line simply stops taking new check-ins.

There is no permanent free tier — NextUp is a paid service starting at $29/month per location. The 14-day free trial gives you full access to everything (card required, not charged until the trial ends), so you can run it through a real busy period before committing. If you're looking for a free waitlist app with limited features, NextUp is probably not the right fit; if you want a complete walk-in queue with texts, a TV display and insights, the trial is the place to start.

Talk to us about volume pricing and hands-on setup: email [email protected]. Up to 9, just add them from your dashboard.

Your line stops taking new online check-ins until you subscribe again. Your staff screen and owner dashboard keep working the whole time.

Only what's needed to run the line: a name, the services they pick, a mobile number if they opt in to texts, and a photo only if they add one. Mobile numbers are deleted automatically 24 hours after they join, and messages waiting to send are encrypted in the database.

If you turn it on for a location, customers can add an optional photo from their own phone so your team can spot them. Only staff at that location see it: never the TV, the join page, the door tablet or other customers. Photo metadata is stripped on upload, staff can remove a photo at any time, and it's deleted automatically when the visit ends (within a day at most).

Your team, through the staff screen and dashboard, and each business's data is isolated from every other business on NextUp. Public screens like the TV and join page show only a first name and last initial.

All traffic is encrypted in transit (TLS 1.2+, with HSTS), the database has no public network access, sensitive secrets are encrypted at rest, and the database is backed up nightly. Card payments are handled entirely by Stripe. See the Security page for the full list.