If you've heard about "secure child check-in" and aren't sure whether you have it or need it, this article clears it up. The short version: every plan can check children in. The secure flow adds guardian drop-off safety and is a Pro feature.
Regular check-in vs. secure child check-in
Regular check-in is available on every plan. Children are treated like any other attendee — you record who showed up, with a timestamp. No labels print, and no pickup code is created.
Secure child check-in is for guardian drop-off. When it runs, it:
Captures guardian and emergency contact details
Generates a unique pickup (security) code for each child
Prints a Child label and a matching Guardian label, each with a QR code
Emails the guardian a confirmation with the same pickup code
Lets staff verify the code at pickup so a child is only released to an authorized adult
What you need for the secure flow to run
Secure child check-in runs only when both of these are true:
It's enabled on the event — turn on Enable secure child check-in when creating the event.
Your church is entitled — you're on the Pro plan or an active trial.
If either isn't true, children check in plainly — same as regular check-in, with no labels and no pickup code. This is intentional: it stops churches from being pushed into the secure flow by accident, and a church that downgrades from Pro automatically falls back to plain check-in.
💡 Tip: New events default secure child check-in on for Pro-entitled churches and off otherwise, so you usually don't have to think about it.
Before your first secure check-in
To print labels, set up your printer ahead of time:
Install your printer's driver — see Setting Up Label Printing for Secure Child Check-In (Printer Drivers).
Pick the right label size and print settings — see Setting up secure child check-in label printing.
⚠️ Note: No labels printing? Either the event doesn't have secure child check-in enabled, or your plan isn't entitled. See Check-in troubleshooting.
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