FlippityBoard · Screens
Put it on a TV
Publish a board, turn on its screen link, and open that URL on whatever is plugged into the screen. The board fills the display on its own — no header, no footer, no cookie banner — and picks up new versions when you republish.
Step one, on every device: stop the screen sleeping
Do this before anything else. The board asks the browser for a wake lock, but a wake lock cannot beat an operating system lock screen or a panel that dims its own backlight. Set display sleep, screensaver, and any power-saving timer to Never in the device settings, and turn off the TV’s own eco or auto-off timer while you are there.
Get the screen link
Publish the board
In the editor, use Share to publish the current design or a sequence as an embed.
Turn on the screen link
Open the Embeds panel, expand the embed, and open “Put it on a TV”.
Send it to the screen
Copy the URL, or scan the QR code with the tablet or phone that is going on the wall.
Screen links are on the paid plans — Personal, Business, or Complimentary. Anyone holding the URL can watch the board and nothing else; reset the link any time and the old URL stops working.
What to run it on
Anything that can open a URL and stay on it. These are the four setups that hold up.
Best for always-on
Mini-PC, Chromebox, or Raspberry Pi
The most reliable option and usually the cheapest per screen. Install Chromium and launch it with the kiosk flag pointed at your screen link.
chromium-browser --kiosk https://www.flippityboard.com/display/YOUR-TOKEN
On Raspberry Pi OS Bookworm, put that line in ~/.config/labwc/autostart so it comes back after a power cut. A Pi 4 or 5 handles a 1080p board comfortably.
Best for a screen you already own
Android tablet, Android box, or Fire TV
Install Fully Kiosk Browser, set the screen link as the start URL, and enable its keep-screen-on and auto-launch-on-boot options. Good for a countertop tablet or a stick already behind the TV.
Best for a fleet
Commercial panels (Samsung, LG)
Samsung SSSP panels have URL Launcher and LG webOS Signage has the same idea built in. Type the screen link once in the panel settings and it boots straight into the board with no extra hardware.
Best for tonight
A laptop and an HDMI cable
Open the screen link, press F11 for full screen, and plug in. Perfectly good for an event or a trial run — just remember the laptop is now the sign, so it cannot go to sleep or get carried off.
Three things worth knowing first
Casting is a demo, not a deployment
Tab-casting from desktop Chrome to a Chromecast is a fine way to show the board to someone. It is not a way to leave one running: the source machine has to stay awake and on the network for as long as the screen is up.
Smart-TV browsers are not supported
The browsers built into consumer TVs are old, differ by model, and rarely keep a page in the foreground. Plug a mini-PC, Pi, or streaming stick into the same TV instead.
On iPhone and iPad, add it to the Home Screen
Open the screen link in Safari, share, then Add to Home Screen. Launching from that icon drops the browser chrome. Set Auto-Lock to Never as well, and keep it on power.
Questions about running a board on a screen
How do I get the screen link?
Publish a board as an embed from Share in the editor, open the Embeds panel, expand the embed, and open "Put it on a TV". Turn on the screen link and you get a URL plus a QR code. Screen links are on the paid plans — Personal, Business, or Complimentary.
Why does my TV go black after a few minutes?
The device is sleeping, not the board. Set the display-sleep and screensaver timers to Never in the operating system before anything else. The page asks the browser for a wake lock, but a wake lock cannot override an OS lock screen or a panel that powers its own backlight down.
Can I just cast it from my laptop?
Chromecast tab-casting is fine for showing someone the board, but it is not a deployment: the laptop has to stay awake and on the same network the whole time. For anything unattended, run the screen link on a device that lives at the screen.
Will it run in my smart TV's built-in browser?
We do not support the browsers built into consumer smart TVs. They are old, they vary by model and firmware, and most of them have no way to keep a page in the foreground. Use a cheap streaming stick, mini-PC, or Raspberry Pi plugged into the same TV instead.
Does the board update on its own?
Yes. The screen polls for a new version, so republishing the embed from the editor reaches the screen without anyone touching it.
What if someone gets the URL?
They can watch the board. That is all a screen link does — it is read-only and carries no account access. If a link ends up somewhere it should not be, reset it from the Embeds panel and the old URL stops working.
One URL, one screen, left alone
Publish the board, turn on its screen link, and point a device at it. Republish whenever the message changes and the screen catches up on its own.
Open the Embeds panel