Connect a display to your account

Before a device can show your content, it needs to be connected to your STQRY account. This process — called adopting — links the device to a display record so it takes its content and schedules from STQRY Builder.

There are two ways to do this, adopt with a screen code and connect with an activation key. The screen code is easier and is what you'll use almost every time.

Method 1: Adopt with a screen code

This is the recommended route. Nothing has to be typed on the device.

On the device

Open STQRY Signage. The provisioning screen shows a screen code — six characters after an S-, like S-K4M2XP.

The code stays the same across reloads and restarts until the display is adopted, so you can restart the device without losing it. There is a Copy button if the device has a pointer or a touchscreen.

To avoid confusion, the code only uses characters that are easy to tell apart — you won't see 0, O, 1, I, or L.

The screen code identifies this device until it's adopted.

In Builder

1. Go to Manage Account → Displays. This is the account-wide list, not a project's own — a display is adopted into the account first and assigned to a project afterwards.

2. Click Add display, then the Adopt display tab. (The Link display button inside a project does something different: it attaches a display the account already holds.)

3. Type the screen code and confirm.

The device polls every five seconds, so it picks up the adoption almost immediately and redirects itself. You do not need to restart it.

What happens next

The display now shows "This display is connected — waiting for content" until you assign it a project and some content. See Assign content to a display.

Method 2: Connect with an activation key

Use this when the device has already been paired to a display record, or when you're re-provisioning a screen you can't easily read a code from.

Every display record has a six-character activation key. You'll find it on the display record in Builder, and the device uses the same name for it.

On the device's provisioning screen, the right-hand side has:

1. An Activation key field — type the six characters. Case doesn't matter.

2. A Region stepper — choose the region your account lives in. See Regions and activation keys.

3. A Connect display button.

The device connects as soon as the key resolves to a real display.

Typing on a TV remote

On a Fire TV Stick, an Android TV box or anything else driven by a remote, the provisioning screen switches to remote mode automatically:

• Up and Down move between the fields. The hint at the bottom of the screen reads ↑ ↓ to move · OK to select.
• OK on the activation key field opens an on-screen keyboard.
• Left and Right step through the regions.

The on-screen keyboard has a number row, a QWERTY layout, Delete and Done.

On a remote-driven device, pressing OK on the activation key field opens a keyboard.

After connecting

The display saves its credentials on the device itself, so a reload, a reboot or a power cut brings it straight back to its content rather than to the provisioning screen.

Credentials are only saved once the server has confirmed the key points at a real display, so a mistyped key never becomes the one the device remembers.

Moving a display to a different screen

If you replace the hardware but want to keep the display record — its name, its schedule, its history — install the app on the new device and connect it using the same activation key. The old device should be reset first so two screens aren't claiming the same record.

Disconnecting a display

On the device, open the settings overlay and choose Change activation key. This returns the screen to the provisioning state so it can be adopted again.

The settings overlay is behind a PIN. See Open the on-device settings overlay.

If the device is unresponsive or you can't get into the overlay, holding OK / Select on the remote for five seconds does the same thing — but it will ask for the PIN first on any display that has previously been online. See Using a remote control.

Troubleshooting

The code isn't accepted in Builder. Check for a mistyped character — the code has no 0, O, 1, I or L. If it still fails, restart the app on the device to generate a fresh code.

The device sits on the provisioning screen after adoption. It polls every five seconds; give it ten. If it still hasn't moved, the device probably can't reach the internet. Check its network connection.

"Display with activation key … does not exist." Either the key is wrong, or the region is wrong. A key from a US account will not resolve against the EU region. See Regions and activation keys.

The device shows a screen code again after working fine. Something reset it — most likely a five-second hold of the OK button on a remote, or someone using Change activation key. Reconnect it with its activation key.