What this is
Many small operators keep one iPad in each truck rather than asking every driver to run PortaPro on their own phone. Until September 2026 that iPad had to be signed in as one person, so whoever was loaded got credit for every stop, photo, inspection, unit placement and time punch made on it, no matter who was actually driving.
Shared devices fix that with the model every restaurant point-of-sale terminal and in-cab fleet computer uses: the truck is the account, and the PIN is the person.
Drivers never need the truck's password. Their own phones keep working exactly as before.
Where: Settings → Shared Devices for the switch and the device list. Truck accounts are invited, and PINs are set per person, in Team Management → Users.
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Turn it on
The How Shared Devices Work button on the card opens a side panel that walks through the whole model.
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Invite a truck device
A truck account is invited exactly like a driver, so it gets the same password setup, terms acceptance, revoke and profile sync every other user gets. Nothing is created by hand.
- Device name and Number: what the roster and dispatch will call it, for example Truck / 32.
- Login email: any address you control, for example truck32@yourcompany.com. The invitation lands there.
- Truck (optional): the vehicle this iPad rides in. Drivers who sign on are given that day's vehicle assignment automatically when they don't already have one.
A device account is a normal PortaPro login with the driver role, flagged as a shared device when the invite is accepted. It costs nothing (plans have unlimited users), and it is filtered out of every people list: it never appears as an assignable driver, in the team roster counts, or in the dispatch driver strip. Revoking the pending invitation, resetting its password (Forgot password on the sign-in page) and deactivating it all work the way they do for any user.
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Give drivers their PINs
Drivers can change their own PIN afterwards from the profile screen in the app (Settings & Help → Device PIN). You can reset or clear a PIN here at any time.
Five wrong PINs within fifteen minutes lock that person's tile for a short while. Setting a new PIN clears the lockout.
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What the office sees
Every completion, photo, DVIR, unit pin move, time-off request and preference change made from the iPad is attributed to the driver who was signed on, not to the truck.
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Manage a device
From the row menu on a device account:
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Edit | Rename the device or change its truck |
| Send back to roster | Ends the current driver's session on that iPad. Their open shift stays open; they PIN in again to continue |
| Retire device | Locks the login and deactivates the device account. Nothing is deleted; punches and completions that reference it keep resolving |
If an iPad ever signs out (an iOS update, a cleared browser), sign it back in with the device email and password. A forgotten password is reset with Forgot password on the sign-in page, like any user's. Drivers cannot do this themselves.
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How sessions end
A driver's session on the iPad ends when any of these happens:
The idle lock, when enabled, does not end the session. It asks the same driver for their PIN again and offers Switch driver for the next person.
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Phones and tablets together
A driver can sign in as themselves on their own phone at the same time as they are signed on to the truck iPad. Both write the same records. Someone who clocks in on their phone and then PINs in on the iPad sees Welcome back, you're already on the clock; PortaPro refuses overlapping shifts, so there is never a double punch.
Push alerts for a driver's jobs go to their phone and to any iPad they are currently signed on to.
Face ID and fingerprint unlock are skipped on shared devices, because they would unlock for whoever enrolled the iPad rather than for the driver holding it. The PIN is the lock.
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Security notes
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Troubleshooting
| You see | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| The iPad shows a normal driver home instead of the roster | The login was invited as a plain driver, or shared devices are off | Check the Device accounts list and the Turn on shared devices switch; a plain driver login has to be re-invited as a Shared truck device |
| Shared truck device isn't in the role list | Shared devices are off | Turn on the switch in Settings → Shared Devices first |
| Shared devices are turned off in Settings banner on the iPad | The feature was switched off while the iPad stayed signed in as a truck | Turn it back on, or sign the iPad in as a person |
| A driver isn't on the roster | They aren't an active driver or mechanic | Check their role and status in Team Management |
| Ask dispatch to set your PIN | No PIN on that person | Team Management → Users → Edit → Device PIN |
| A driver is locked out | Five wrong PINs in fifteen minutes | Wait, or set a new PIN for them |
| Two drivers say the iPad thinks they're the other person | The first driver never clocked out or switched | Send back to roster, and consider an idle lock |
| The device account shows up in a driver picker | It shouldn't; device accounts are filtered everywhere | Contact support |
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