Schedules and automatic start

How automatic start works

Two things work together: your service times on the dashboard's Schedules page, and automatic start turned on in the Mac or Windows capture app. Saving a schedule doesn't start anything by itself.

Add your service times

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   Step 1: Open Schedules

   In the dashboard, open the Schedules page (its heading reads Service schedules) and click + Add service time.

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   Step 2: Fill in the service

   • Label: a name you'll recognize, such as “Sunday 9am Service”.
   • Day and Start: when the service begins. Schedules repeat every week.
   • Duration: how long to stream, in minutes. Leave room for a long sermon; the app also offers to keep going.
   • Time zone: your church's time zone (next section).
   • Speaker language: leave on No change, or pick a language if this service is always preached in a different one.
   • Campus and Applies to appear when you have campuses or more than one booth computer. Choose which computers follow this service, or All devices.
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   Step 3: Save and check

   Click Save schedules; nothing is saved until you do. The Coming up card then lists the next services, and the Sunday dashboard page shows the next one.

Time zones and daylight saving

Each service time has its own Time zone, and the time you type is the clock time in that zone. A 9:00 service stays at 9:00 all year: when the clocks change for daylight saving, the schedule moves with them and there's nothing to update.

• Pick the zone where the church meets, such as America/Chicago, not where the person typing happens to be.
• Arizona doesn't change its clocks: pick America/Phoenix rather than Denver.
• The app lists the dashboard's service times in the church's time, as typed. Keep the booth computer's clock set automatically so it knows when that is.
• If your time zone isn't in the list, email us.

Turn on automatic start in the app

The app follows the dashboard's times once the dashboard has at least one service for that computer. It picks up changes every hour.

Keep the booth computer awake

The capture app can only start if the computer is on and awake. The app doesn't keep the computer awake by itself, so set that up once:

• Never sleep while plugged in. On a Mac, look in System Settings under Energy (Energy Saver on some versions; on a laptop, Battery → Options) and prevent automatic sleeping when the display is off. On Windows, open Settings → System → Power and set sleep to Never when plugged in. The screen itself may turn off.
• Keep it plugged in and on the booth's internet connection, wired if you can.
• Leave the app open and signed in. Turn on Open at login (Mac) or Launch at startup (Windows) so a restart doesn't leave it closed.
• Keep system updates away from service times, so the computer doesn't restart on a Sunday morning.

Auto-start checklist

Everything that has to be true for a service to start on its own:

• The service is saved on the Schedules page, with the right day, start, duration and time zone.
• The computer is on, awake, plugged in and online.
• The capture app is open and shows your church's name.
• Automatic start is on, using the church schedule.
• The audio input is chosen, and the meter moves when someone speaks.
• Languages are set on the Languages page.
• With several computers: this one is in the service's Applies to list. Others stand by.
• Someone knows to check a phone when the service starts.

Run a rehearsal

Test the whole thing once, the way it will run on Sunday.

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   Step 1: Add a practice service

   Add a service time for today, at least an hour from now, with a short Duration such as 15 minutes, and click Save schedules. The hour gives the app time to pick it up; on a Mac, opening Settings picks it up right away.

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   Step 2: Leave the computer as it will be on Sunday

   App open, nobody touching it, screen allowed to turn off. If you can, let it sit idle past its usual sleep time: that's the real test.

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   Step 3: At the start time, check it started

   On the Sunday dashboard the status card leaves Idle. Open your listener page on a phone and check you hear the translation while someone speaks.

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   Step 4: At the end, watch it stop

   When the window ends the app shows Scheduled stop time reached with Stop now and Keep streaming. Do nothing: five minutes later it stops, and says it stopped on schedule.

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   Step 5: Remove the practice service

   Back on the Schedules page, click Remove on the practice row and Save schedules.

If a scheduled start is missed

The Connected devices page shows each booth computer's Last seen time with a status line underneath. It refreshes on its own while you watch.

Hand the booth team the Sunday volunteer card, so someone knows what to do if the computer doesn't start on its own.