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How the Spot Social Dashboard Works

A complete, plain-English walkthrough of every page, every number, and every tier — so you always know what you're looking at.

First, the big idea

Your dashboard is a window into who is in your venue, how often, and for how long. It's powered by two sources:

💡 Think of it like a shop door counter: check-ins tell you someone walked in. The captive portal (sessions) tells you they stayed for 45 minutes, came back on Tuesdays, and used an iPhone.

The three dashboard states

Depending on your subscription and whether the portal is installed, you see one of three levels:

STARTER — free

You've claimed your venue and can see the headline counts only. This is intentionally small — it's the appetizer that shows you what's possible.

Upgrade to Verified whenever you're ready — you'll see a lot more of who's walking in your door.

VERIFIED — limited (portal not installed)

You've upgraded to Verified, so your full check-in analytics unlock — but you haven't installed the portal yet, so the session-based numbers (dwell time, devices, live presence) show "—" with a friendly nudge to install.

➡️ Next step: install the portal (about 15 minutes) to unlock dwell time, devices, and live presence.

VERIFIED + PORTAL — fully unlocked

You've installed the captive portal (or your router is reporting data). Now you see everything:

The pages, one by one

📊 Overview

Your front page. Five big numbers on top:

KPIMeaningSource
Check-ins (30 days)How many app check-ins happened in the last 30 daysCheck-ins
Repeat visitorsHow many visitors came more than once — your loyalty signalCheck-ins
Avg dwell timeAverage minutes a device stayed connectedSessions (portal)
Live nowDevices connected right now (last 6 hours)Sessions (portal)
Avg data / sessionHow much internet a typical visitor usedSessions (portal)

Below that, four charts: check-ins by hour (your busy times), by day of week (your busy days), device vendors, and operating systems. Then a Top visitors table so you know your regulars by name.

👥 Visitors

The drill-down. Every session (portal) or nothing (no portal), with filters: minimum/maximum dwell time, minimum data used, device type, date range, and marketing consent (only opted-in folks show their names). Export the filtered list as CSV — great for a CRM import.

📣 Push Campaigns

Write a short message — "Happy hour is on until 7pm 🍺" — pick a target (currently in your venue, or all opted-in patrons), and send. Only people who explicitly opted in at check-in receive it (that's the law, and it's also better marketing — no spam). Requires the portal so we know who's actually there.

⚙️ Settings

Configure your portal page (title, welcome text, logo), the geo-fence radius (how close someone must be to check in), session timeout, whether you require marketing consent, and — importantly — your Wi-Fi network list, where you set the real password so the app always has the current truth.

🔒 Data & Privacy

GDPR/CCPA by design: set your data retention period (Starter: 7 days; Verified: up to 365+), export all visitor data as CSV anytime, and read exactly what we collect. Your patrons can export or delete their own data from the app whenever they want.

What unlocks when — the exact matrix

FeatureStarter (free)Verified, no portalVerified + portal
Basic check-in counts
Marketing materials & QR codes
Set your own Wi-Fi password
7-day retention→ Verified: up to 365+ days
Repeat rate & top regulars
Peak hours / day-of-week charts
Captive portal software✓ installed
Dwell time, data usage, devices
Live visitors now
Visitors drill-down + CSV export
Push campaigns
Loyalty points & custom badges
🤔 Why does the portal gate so much? Because only the router can see how long a device stayed connected and how much data it used — the app can't. The free tier and limited dashboard show you the value; installing the portal switches on the sensor that powers the deep insights. It's also what makes your venue Verified in the app, which earns you the little checkmark customers trust.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need technical skills?

The install guide is written for absolute beginners and takes ~15 minutes. If you can log into your router's settings page, you can do it. If you hit a wall, email [email protected].

Is my customer data safe?

Yes — and we built it that way: patrons must opt in before you see/contact them, we auto-delete old data (7 days on Starter), and every patron can export or erase their data from the app themselves. Your CSV exports are yours.

What if I don't install the portal?

That's fine — Verified without the portal still gives you check-in analytics, repeat rate, charts, loyalty, badges, and marketing materials. You just won't see dwell time or live visitors until your router reports data.