The Basics For Setting Up App-based Kiosks In Businesses like Hospitals, Restaurants, Gyms and More

Want to set up a kiosk system for your business? Afraid of doing it the wrong way? We understand.

Kiosks have been poorly done for years. We’ve all banged our grubby mitts on unresponsive touch screens at places like national parks and museums for over a decade. We’ve watched them sitting in disrepair and out of order in poorly maintained restaurants and wondered “Is this worth it?”

But today, kiosk tech has improved drastically, and it’s definitely worth the investment IF you can do it right. We’re now fortunate enough to live in the same era that McDonald's decided to grace us with one of the best touchscreen kiosk systems the world has ever seen (they’ve upped sales and even added jobs). The airline industry has also managed to implement them more or less painlessly into their check-in processes with only a few hiccups.

At Appstem, we’ve built full-service kiosk applications for businesses like Tesla and Fitness Connection. Here’s how we recommend you go about it if you want to be a modern McDonalds and less of a museum from 2010.

Step One, Clearly Dictate What Features Your Kiosk System Should Have

Kiosks function best when they are designed to replace certain, high-specific processes. They shouldn’t try to replace all employee functions.

For example:

Most airports today only use kiosks for manual check-in if you have carry-on bags. However, you’ll still need to check in with an attendant for your large luggage at most locations. In a perfect world they wouldn’t need to, but employees need to make sure you're being honest about the weight requirements.

Similarly, you’ll notice with the McDonald’s kiosk system they’ve eliminated most of the order-taking and upselling work with touchscreens. However, orders are still prepared manually in the kitchen.

Before you begin making your kiosks, you’ll want to have a look into:

• Processes that employees are doing over and over again that can be automated (e.g. scanning barcodes, inputting customer data)
• Processes that customers are frequently performing that require little employee oversight (e.g. presenting documents, asking for directions, entering payment information.) One of the biggest examples of failure to calibrate for oversight is the rise of self-checkout thefts.

If you run a hospital, your kiosk functions might include:

Self check-in & registration – At most hospitals, nurses and other employees spend a ton of time manually: 

• Entering patient info into the system
• Verifying insurance and ID
• Printing forms and wristbands
• Collecting signatures and consents

You could consider making a system that lets patients input details manually or scan a QR code that lets them input data on their phones.

• Doctor & appointment lookup – Include an internal registry that lets patients search & book available slots rather than making an employee do it.
• Wayfinding maps – For patients to navigate through the hospital.
• Insurance & payment processing – Create some secure way for patients to enter and process transactions and insurance information (more on that below)
• Emergency alerts – Buttons for immediate assistance from an employee.
• (Internal) Medical charts/room inspection checklists – On the employee side, huge amounts of time and effort often go into updating medical charts and logging room inspections. Internal kiosk systems can be a perfect way to capture this information.

For restaurants, look no further than McDonald's for kiosk inspiration

If you’ve seen McDonalds recently, you’ll know they’ve managed to almost completely eliminate human cashiers by letting customers use kiosks to:

• Select the items they want to buy
• Process payments – McDonald’s lets you pay with a card, through their app with a QR code, or select cash with which you’ll have to have an employee finish the process.
• Let the cashier know which table they’re sitting at – At many location, you can pick up a number with a tracking device inside letting employees locate where you’re sitting inside of the restaurant.

How can you know for sure what features you need for your kiosk?

Unless you’ve got a killer plan to make an even better system than Mickey D’s or Gold’s Gym, we recommend most clients try to emulate the businesses who’ve already spent the money on kiosk R&D instead of reinventing the wheel. Visit a location you want to emulate and take notes on how exactly they do stuff. You can iterate on those for your own business.

Step Two, Choose the Location For Your Kiosks

Before you decide which hardware you’ll be using, you should first get a feel for where you want to place the kiosks. Generally you first want to think about if the kiosks are going to be customer-facing or employee-facing.

Employee-facing kiosks generally need less hardware and location considerations since there is less of a chance they will tamper with or damage the equipment. Try to place them in places out of the way of foot-traffic but not to the point of inconvenience.

For customer-facing kiosks you’re going to want to think almost exclusively about how much customer exposure they will have and where would be optimal for that. Try to find places that are less exposed to the elements and in high traffic zones that don’t block traffic. 

Do you want freestanding or wall mounted kiosks?

Wall-mounted displays are more difficult to tamper with than freestanding displays. A freestanding display might not be a huge deal in hospitals but could be knocked over or damaged in a space with lots of foot traffic like a gym or restaurant.

The big deciding factor here will likely be how often you plan to move your kiosks and their proximity to power supplies.

Kiosk setup tips:

✔️ Place kiosks at entrances, reception areas, waiting rooms, or billing counters. ✔️ Pay attention to things like ADA-compliant height (for wheelchair users). ✔️ Look into ways to securely mount your kiosks to prevent tipping or removal.

✔️ Pay attention to access to nearby power supplies and internet connectivity. You’ll likely need both to run your kiosk.

Step Three, Choosing the Hardware For Your Kiosk

Go ahead and select your kiosk hardware before you design anything part of your software. Your software needs will change drastically depending on the hardware you choose.

As for hardware, it essentially comes down to two large categories: consumer-grade tablets like iPads and enterprise-grade tablets.

Should you get a consumer tablet or a business-grade touch screen for your kiosks?

Many smaller businesses like to start out with kiosks based on Windows, Android, or iOS tablets. Enterprises generally prefer to buy from dedicated kiosk creators like Appstem partner ELO Touch. We’ll discuss the pros and cons of each below.

Why use a tablet? 

Tablets are almost always cheaper than business-grade kiosks and possess a larger range of potential features and applications. They are lightweight, easy to relocate, and have an extremely wide range of software readily available for download through locations like the IOS store.

Why not use a tablet? 

These days, almost everyone knows how to operate a consumer tablet. When left unattended, these may prove bait for pranksters or criminals. You’ll normally need to purchase special software and/or hardware to lock down irrelevant features on your tablets and physically bolt it down.

On the employee side, idle workers may try to use some kiosk hardware – like ipads – for personal amusement if they aren’t properly locked.

Why use an enterprise-grade kiosk?

Kiosks like EloTouch are built to withstand heavy, continuous interaction in high-traffic environments. They often feature scratch-resistant glass and sealed designs that resist dust, spills, and wear. Normally, they will last longer and need fewer repairs than tablets.

Many dedicated touchscreen solutions also come with software ecosystems (like EloView for EloTouch) optimized for business applications. Since they use dedicated kiosk software and cannot be repurposed like an iPad, they are also less of a target for criminals.

Why not use an enterprise-grade kiosk? 

If you’re unsure about how exactly you want to use your kiosk and you’re not particularly worried about it getting stolen or tampered with, you may want to hold off on purchasing an enterprise-grade kiosk tablet. They cost more and are slightly harder to repurpose or resell. We recommend you save the expenditure for when you’re absolutely certain of how you’ll want it set up.

Features to Look for in Kiosk Hardware

✔️ Multi-touch support (the screen can recognize more than one finger touching the screen) ✔️ Antimicrobial screen coating (a silver ion based layer for disrupting bacterial growth) ✔️ High brightness (for variable lighting conditions)

🔹 Security Measures: ✔️ Anti-theft locks for tablets or kiosks (shown below) ✔️ Privacy screens (to prevent data exposure) ✔️ Tamper-proof enclosures (shown below)

🔹 Power & Connectivity: ✔️ Use PoE (Power over Ethernet) to reduce cable clutter ✔️ Battery backup (UPS) for power outages ✔️ Secure Wi-Fi or hardwired Ethernet for fast response time

Step Four, Build or Select the App for Your Kiosks

If you’re a small business owner with a single location just getting started then you likely shouldn’t sweat this part too much. There are hundreds of template apps out there that you can use.

However, if you’re a large-scale enterprise operation, you’re one hundred percent going to want to look into making your own internal application for your kiosks. We’ll tell you why below.

Why Build Your Own Internal App for a Kiosk System

We are admittedly biased at Appstem as our business is building apps for enterprises, however we think every business that has decided to go all-in on kiosk technology can and should build their own app. 

Apps can be designed to meet your exact requirements— Whether integrating with your inventory system, supporting unique payment workflows, or aligning with a niche customer experience, you’ll almost always have more success with your own app.

Having your own app gives you full control over updates – With app store solutions, you’re at the mercy of an unknown dev team. Update delays or the development team abandoning the app will disrupt your operations. Plus, with your own app you avoid dependency on third-party support that might vanish.

Internal apps give you better security – Developing internally gives you full control over data handling, encryption, and compliance with regulations like GDPR or HIPAA (for hospitals). App Store solutions might collect user data, introduce vulnerabilities, or store information on external servers, risking breaches or legal headaches.

Apps give you long-term cost benefits – Most ready-built external apps require monthly subscriptions, per-device costs, or premiums for advanced features. Building in-house is a big upfront investment, but, over time, you avoid these ongoing expenses, which will come in handy when you decide to scale.

 Apps give you scalability – An internal app can evolve with your business. Need to add new features, support a new kiosk model, or expand to 50 locations? You can access and adapt your codebase as needed. No need to bag a third-party team serving hundreds of other customers with different priorities.

Are There Any Reasons to Not Build an Internal Application For Kiosks?

As we mentioned earlier, we don’t recommend enterprise solutions for every business. Internal development requires skilled developers, time, money, and ongoing maintenance by your team. App store solutions, by contrast, offer speed, simplicity, and lower entry costs—ideal for small businesses or those testing the waters.

Read our article on how much software development costs.

How to Build or Select an Application for Your System

Whether you decide to develop your own application or not, here are some of the features we recommend you look for in your kiosk application

Good frontend kiosk software features

• A simple and intuitive UI with large buttons
• Multilingual support for diverse patients
• Accessibility features – Voice, large text, contrast adjustment
• Ability to interface through QR with phone-based web browsers or apps – For more complicated forms of data entry, you might want to have your frontend flash a QR code so that your customer can fill in details on their phone. This can help prevent overcrowding at busy kiosk locations.

Good backend kiosk software features

• Connection to internal records – If you run a gym, you’ll want your kiosk system to attach to your internal customer records. A hospital system may need to use an ethernet system to connect to electronic health records (e.g., Epic, Cerner).
• Connection to cloud-based or on-premise databases – For basic user data there are many cloud-based systems that have passable security. For more secure systems like hospital patient data, you’ll likely need to interface with an internal database.
• Real-time API integrations with various systems – For example, a turnstile system at a gym or hospital that opens and closes once certain information is received.

Security and compliance kiosk software features

• User authentication features – QR code, OTP, or biometrics
• End-to-end encryption for sensitive data like payment information or user data.
• Other, specialized compliance – HIPAA & GDPR for hospital patient data

Interested in Exploring Touch Screen or Self-Service Kiosk Apps? Reach Out!

While our goal here is to simplify the process, it’s tough to do kiosk terminals right on your first try – we recommend you talk to experts like ourselves as you roll out your own systems.

At Appstem, we’ve built long-term relationships with touchscreen hardware manufacturers like Olea Kiosk and EloTouch and have extensive experience building in their ecosystems. We also have over a decade of experience making HIPAA compliant apps for healthcare services and more.

We can help you build the right touchscreen experience for both your customers and your employees – or at least give you the right advice for how to get started

A couple ways we can help you out:

• Requirement-gathering and research 
• Product discovery (we’ll help you identify pain points in your business ripe for tech solutions)
• Requirements gathering
• Integrations
• Project planning
• Budgeting
• Manufacturer sourcing
• And, of course, helping you build the perfect application to hold it all together.

Schedule an exploratory call with us today.