Questions, answered properly.

An iPhone or iPad running iOS 18 or later, and about ten minutes for setup. Download it from the App Store — search for Repair Workshop, or use the download button on this site.

There's no web login and no Android version. One iPad at the counter and a phone in your pocket is the typical setup, and both stay in step through your own iCloud.

1. You're asked to accept the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You type your full name as a signature — that's the record that you're the authorised admin for the business.
2. You sign in with Apple. That's what links your devices later.
3. You set a 6-digit PIN. This is the PIN that unlocks the app every day, and the one that encrypts your backups, so pick something you'll remember.
4. The dashboard opens with example records already in it, so nothing looks empty while you learn your way around. They're all marked DEMO and can be cleared in one tap — see "How do I remove the sample data".

The app has a guided checklist that watches your real data and ticks itself off.

1. From the dashboard, tap the setup banner — or go More → Settings → Shop → Get your shop ready.
2. The screen is titled Get your shop ready and shows a progress ring with twelve steps.
3. Tap any step to jump straight to the screen that finishes it, then come back.

Three steps are required before you can raise your first ticket:

• Accept Terms & Privacy — done during first launch.
• Company details — your shop's name, logo, VAT number, registration number and contact details.
• Activate your plan — start the 30-day free trial.

Nine are optional, and worth doing in this order:

• Staff & managers — add your team and set what managers can reach.
• Email sending — connect your mailbox so invoices and confirmations send themselves.
• Notifications — get alerted when an online booking arrives.
• WhatsApp channel — set your country code for click-to-chat messages.
• Booking link & embed — your public booking page, link and website snippet.
• Workflow lists — your brands, repair types, device types and statuses.
• Booking form fields — which questions the public form asks.
• Data retention — how long closed records are kept.
• Backup & restore — take your first encrypted backup.

More → Settings → Shop → Company Details.

Fill this in before anything else. Your shop name is used on invoices, job sheets, labels, emails and your public booking address — and the app deliberately ships with these fields blank, so an invented shop name can never reach a real customer document.

More → Settings → Workflow → Workflow Lists → Workflow Statuses.

You'll see two sections:

• Built-in (locked) — the default statuses every shop gets. They can't be renamed or deleted, because tickets and reports refer to them.
• Custom (drag to reorder) — your own. Tap Add status to create one, tap an existing one to edit it, drag the handle to reorder, swipe to delete.

Each status is either Active or Archive. Active statuses show on the dashboard; archived ones lock the ticket, the same way Resolved does. The dashboard only displays statuses that currently have work in them, so an unused status never clutters the screen.

More → Settings → Workflow → Workflow Lists. Six lists live there:

• Brands — Apple, Samsung, Google, whatever you actually service.
• Repair Types — screen, battery, charge port, water damage.
• Asset Types — phone, tablet, laptop, console.
• Workflow Statuses — see the question above.
• Repairs per Device — which repairs are offered for which device type.
• Brands per Device — which brands appear for which device type.

The last two are what stop your staff, and your booking form, from offering a screen repair on a device you don't take. Drag to reorder any list; the order you set is the order your team and your customers see.

Yes. More → Settings → Workflow → Dashboard Live Updates lets you choose which cards appear.

Emails go straight from your iPhone or iPad to your own mail server, using your own mailbox. Nothing passes through anyone else's system, which is why you set it up once with your own details.

1. More → Settings → Booking → Email Sending.
2. Under Provider, pick yours: Gmail / Google Workspace, Outlook / Microsoft 365, Zoho Mail, iCloud Mail, cPanel or my own domain, or Custom. The server address and port fill themselves in.
3. If you chose cPanel or your own domain, type your domain (for example yourdomain.com) and the app sets the server to mail.yourdomain.com.
4. Under Login, enter your full email address as the username, and your password — see the next question, because most providers need a special one.
5. Under Sender, set the company name and email address customers will see. Optionally add a Reply-To, and turn on BCC my email on every send to keep a copy of everything.
6. Tap Save in the top right.
7. Under Test, type your own personal email address and tap Send Test Email.

A test send runs the exact same path as a real invoice or booking confirmation, so if the test arrives, everything works. If it fails, the screen names the actual cause and suggests a fix, and gives you a Copy error details button to paste into a support email.

Because most providers no longer accept your normal account password over SMTP. You need an app-specific password:

• Gmail / Google Workspace — turn on 2-Step Verification, go to myaccount.google.com/apppasswords, create a password for "Mail", and paste the 16-character code. Spaces are stripped for you.
• iCloud Mail — create an app-specific password at appleid.apple.com.
• Zoho Mail — an app-specific password is required when two-factor authentication is on.
• Outlook / Microsoft 365 — use your full Microsoft address as the username. If your organisation enforces modern auth, ask your admin to allow SMTP AUTH for that mailbox.
• cPanel or your own domain — your normal mailbox password usually works, with the full email address as the username.

Both are encrypted, just at different moments. 587 starts plain and upgrades (STARTTLS); 465 is encrypted from the first byte (SSL / TLS). If one fails, try the other — that single change fixes most connection problems.

Gmail, Outlook, iCloud and most custom servers use 587. Zoho and most cPanel hosts use 465. Port 25 can never work on mobile networks and the app will tell you so.

Leave Strict certificate checking off unless you know your server has a certificate issued for its exact hostname. Shared and cPanel hosting usually serves the hosting company's certificate, which strict checking would reject.

In your device's Keychain, and it travels with the rest of your workshop through your own private iCloud so your other devices can send too. It never goes anywhere else, and we never see it.

No. Your booking page is hosted and live from the moment you install the app. If you do have a site, one snippet embeds the same form into it.

1. Fill in More → Settings → Shop → Company Details first. Your booking address is built from your shop's name, and it's fixed for good once the first real booking arrives through it — so the app won't hand out a link until it knows who you are.
2. Go to More → Settings → Booking → Booking Link & Embed.
3. Direct booking link — copy it and share it by WhatsApp, email or on your social profiles. Requests land in More → Bookings in the app.
4. Counter QR code — print it or show it on screen. Scanning opens your booking page. Use Share QR to send it to a printer or designer.
5. Embed (recommended) — one line of <script>. Paste it into a Custom HTML block on your page. It resizes itself and survives the security plugins and page builders that strip raw iframes. This is the one to use on WordPress, Wix, Squarespace and Webflow.
6. Embed (iframe) — the alternative, at a fixed 900px height. If your page shows nothing after pasting it, your site is stripping the iframe: use the script embed instead.
7. HTML button — a styled "Book a Repair" button in your brand navy, linking to the same page.
8. Tap Test my booking setup. It sends a hidden booking through the live page and waits for it to arrive in the app. It never becomes a ticket and never alerts your staff.

Always copy the snippet from the app rather than retyping it. Your shop ID has to match exactly or the booking won't reach you.

More → Settings → Booking → Frontend Booking Fields.

• Booking flow order — drag to set the order of the Repair, Device and Brand pickers. The same order applies to your staff's New Ticket flow, so the counter and the website behave identically.
• Form fields — hide any field you don't need, or mark it Required so the form can't be submitted without it. Name, email and phone are always visible.
• GDPR / Data processing consent — edit the consent wording shown above the submit button. Customers must accept it before booking.

Changes are pushed to the live page when you leave the screen.

They land in More → Bookings. Accept one and it becomes a ticket.

To be told the moment one arrives: on Settings → Booking → Booking Link & Embed, use the Booking notifications card to allow notifications and switch on Alert on new booking. You'll get a push even with the app closed. The same toggle appears under Settings → Booking → Notifications, along with Auto-email booking confirmation.

Only until your first real booking arrives. On Settings → Booking → Booking Link & Embed, the Shop identity card holds your Shop ID. Before any bookings have come in you can edit it — the app checks it against every other workshop before saving. Once bookings start arriving it locks, so the links, QR codes and embeds already published on your website keep working.

If you genuinely need a new one, Rotate key on the same card issues a fresh identity. Every snippet already on your website will keep showing a form, but new submissions won't reach you until you replace them with the new ones.

Yes, that's Kiosk Mode. More → Settings → Shop → Kiosk Mode, then switch on Kiosk Mode on This Device.

• You create and confirm a 4-digit kiosk PIN. Nothing locks until it's confirmed.
• That device then shows the booking screen only — no dashboard, no settings, no staff login. The form resets itself after each submission.
• A small cross in the top corner asks for the kiosk PIN to get out. Your admin PIN also works, so you can't be locked out.
• The setting applies to that device alone. Your other iPhones and iPads keep full access, and a kiosk device doesn't hold the shop's dashboard session.

Examples, so the dashboard, tickets list and reports have something to show on day one. A fresh install includes 5 example customers, 6 devices and 7 tickets, all labelled DEMO throughout. Your company details are never part of it — those fields stay empty until you fill them in yourself.

Two moments, same result.

When you create your first real ticket, the app offers first: a screen titled Clear the examples first? with Clear examples and start fresh or Keep them for now. Keeping them is a perfectly valid answer.

Any time afterwards:

1. More → Settings → Data → Remove demo data.
2. Confirm Remove demo data? by tapping the button naming what will go (for example "Remove 5 customers, 6 devices and 7 tickets"), or Keep it to back out.

Only records marked as examples are deleted, along with their notes, photos and history. Nothing you created yourself is touched, even if you attached one of your own tickets to a demo customer — that link is simply dropped and your ticket stays. Once the examples are gone, your next ticket is #00001, and your reports and dashboard counts start from zero.

The card disappears for good once there's nothing left to remove.

Change a ticket's status and choose to open WhatsApp with the message already written. You send it from your own WhatsApp, so replies come back to you as normal.

Set your country code once at More → Settings → Booking → WhatsApp Channel. Leading zeros are stripped automatically when the chat opens, so numbers saved in local format still work.

There is no SMS. Customer updates go by WhatsApp, email or print.

Five on either plan: one admin plus four staff. Add them at More → Settings → Shop → Team → Add staff member.

Three roles:

• Admin — the owner. Everything, including billing, security and account deletion.
• Manager — day-to-day running, with access decided by you.
• Staff — the bench. Tickets and customers, not settings.

To tune what managers reach, go More → Settings → Shop → Manager Permissions and set each area — repair types, device brands, branding, email, booking, reports — to no access, view only, or can edit. Pages a person can't use are hidden rather than greyed out, so nobody hunts through screens that aren't for them.

Yes. More → Settings → Shop → Security & Unlock, then switch on Face ID (or Touch ID, depending on the device). You'll be asked to authenticate once to confirm. The same screen changes your admin PIN and sets a recovery question.

1. On the lock screen, tap Forgot PIN?.
2. If a recovery question was set, answer it and choose a new 6-digit PIN.
3. If not, sign in with Apple again on the same device. That re-establishes who you are and lets you set a new PIN.

Set the recovery question early — Settings → Shop → Security & Unlock — so you're never relying on the second route.

The dashboard runs one session at a time, and the screen names the device holding it so your team knows whose session they'd be taking over. Check or release it at More → Settings → Shop → Device Session. A kiosk device never claims the session, so a counter iPad never blocks anybody.

1. More → Settings → Data → Backup & Restore.
2. Enter your admin PIN — the screen is locked behind it, because the file holds your whole customer list.
3. Tap the backup button and the share sheet opens. Send the file to Files, AirDrop it, or email it to yourself.

The file is encrypted with AES-256, using a key derived from that same PIN. There's one secret to remember and it's the one that already guards the app. Keep the PIN safe: without it the file can't be opened, by you or by us.

To restore, use Restore from file on the same screen and pick the backup.

Either route works:

• iCloud sync — sign in with the same Apple ID on the new device and switch sync on at More → Settings → Data → iCloud Sync. Customers, tickets, photos, invoices, settings and staff come across through your own private iCloud.
• Backup file — restore your encrypted backup at More → Settings → Data → Backup & Restore.

The iCloud Sync screen reports what iCloud has actually done — the last time records provably made the trip, and the last thing that went wrong — rather than just telling you an account is signed in.

Yes. More → Settings → Data → Import / Export.

• Export writes CSV files for customers and devices.
• Import auto-detects the file type from its column headers, matches existing customers by email or phone and existing devices by serial, and shows you a preview before anything is committed.
• Templates gives you empty CSVs with the right headers — open them in Numbers or Excel, fill in the rows, save as CSV and import.

Private technician notes, attachments, ticket history and invoices are never exported.

Yes, and it's off-by-default in the places that matter. More → Settings → Data → Data Retention:

• Closed tickets — kept between 1 and 10 years (2 by default). "Closed" means Ready, Collected or Cancelled. Open tickets are never auto-deleted.
• Attachments on closed tickets — kept between 1 and 60 months (12 by default).
• Delete dormant customers — off unless you turn it on. When on, customers with zero tickets older than your cutoff are removed.
• Run cleanup now applies the policy immediately.

The policy belongs to the business, not to one iPad, so it reaches your other devices through iCloud.

On your device, and in your own private iCloud if you switch sync on. We never receive a copy of your workshop records, there are no third-party analytics, and there is no advertising tracking. The full detail is on our Privacy Policy page and in Settings → Support & Legal → Privacy Policy.

Thirty days, on either plan, with nothing charged until it ends. You start it through the App Store like any subscription, so Apple already has your details, and cancelling before the trial ends costs nothing.

Business Starter €29.99 a month and Pro €59.99 a month. Both include unlimited tickets, customers and devices, and five seats.

Pro adds invoices and estimates, trade-ins, and reports.

Prices are set on the Irish store and converted by Apple, so a shop outside Ireland sees the local equivalent. Billing is handled entirely by Apple; we never see your card details.

Open the iOS Settings app, tap your name, then Subscriptions, then Repair Workshop. Switch between Business Starter and Pro whenever you like — Apple handles the difference — or cancel to stop future renewals.

Nothing disappears. Every ticket, customer, invoice and photo stays visible, printable and exportable. Only creating new records is paused until you start a plan again. And if a renewal fails for a technical reason, you keep full access for seven days while it sorts itself out.

More → Settings, then Delete Account at the foot of the screen — it's never folded away behind a heading. It permanently deletes your workshop and all of its data, and only the admin can do it. Take a backup or a CSV export first if you might want the records later.

Email support@repairworkshop.net, or send it from inside the app: More → Settings → Support & Legal → Contact Support, which attaches your app version automatically.

Include these four things and we can usually answer in one reply:

1. What you were doing when it happened (for example "changing a ticket status to Ready").
2. The screen you were on, and a screenshot if you have one.
3. Your device and iOS version.
4. Whether iCloud sync is switched on.

For a formal data-protection request, email privacy@repairworkshop.net.