Running your grotto

Everything you need from sign up to the end of the season.

Works best on wifi or a strong 5G signal

Photos are sent from the grotto phone at full quality, so a weak or patchy mobile data connection can make them slow. If your venue has wifi, connect the grotto phone to it. If you have guest wifi, consider putting the details on display so families can use it too.

Your three logins

GrottoSnap has three levels of access, so you can give staff what they need and nothing more.

Owner: email and password

Opens your account hub: grotto details, opening day, photo frame, QR sheets, big screen link and website code. Keep this to yourself. Forgotten your password? Use "Change password" in the hub, or the forgotten password link on the login page, and we'll email you a link.

Manager PIN: 6 digits

Opens everything staff can do, plus Mailing list and account, where you download your mailing list and change PINs. Log in at your staff login page.

Staff PIN: 4 digits

Opens the camera, the big screen and Remove photos. Staff stay logged in until midnight. Give this to your camera team.

Write both PINs down. You choose them when you sign up and we never email them. You can change either one later using the manager PIN. If you lose the manager PIN, email us at [email protected].

Before opening day

Choose your photo frame. In the hub, tap "Change your frame and name". Type your grotto name as you want it on the photos, pick a lettering style and a frame design, and save.
Pick your opening day. In the hub, choose the first day families will visit. You can change it until that day arrives.
Practise. Until opening day you're in practice mode: photos are marked TESTING and can only be emailed to your own team's addresses, so try the whole thing as often as you like. You go live automatically on your opening day.
Print your QR sheets. See below.
Set up the grotto phone. Charge it, connect it to wifi, log in with the staff PIN and take a test photo where Santa sits.
Brief your team. Share the staff guide or print the one page staff sheet.

QR code sheets

Your hub has four A4 sheets to download or have emailed to you:

Camera: opens the camera. Staff only.
Staff login: opens the PIN login. Staff only.
Account hub: opens your hub. Keep this one private.
Get your photos: put this up where families can see it. It lets them type their photo code if they can't scan the code on the grotto phone.

The big screen

If you have a TV or laptop near your photo spot, open the big screen address from your hub on it. New photos appear in a slideshow as families claim them. No login is needed on the screen itself.

You can also show the slideshow on your own website: copy the code from "Show your photos on your website" in the hub and paste it into your site.

Removing a photo

Log in with either PIN and tap Remove photos. Tap the button under a photo once, then again to confirm. It disappears from the big screen and your website, but is never deleted: the family still gets it, and you can restore it at any time.

Your mailing list

Log in with the manager PIN and tap Mailing list and account, then Download mailing list. You'll get a spreadsheet (CSV) with name, email, mobile if given, the date and time they claimed their photos, and their family code.

Only families who ticked the box to hear from you are included.
In practice mode the download has two sample rows, so you can see the layout.
It opens in Excel, Numbers or Google Sheets and imports into Mailchimp and most email tools.
Please keep it safe and only contact families as they agreed.

Changing PINs

In Mailing list and account, type the new PIN twice and save. Changing a PIN logs out every device using the old one, which is useful if someone leaves your team. Avoid changing the staff PIN mid session, as every staff phone will need to log in again.

After the season

When your last day passes, your account shows "Season ended". You can still log in with the manager PIN to download your mailing list.

Need a change?

Your owner email and plan are changed by us: use the "Ask us to change this" links in your hub, or email [email protected] with your grotto name and the account ID shown at the bottom of your hub's details.