Pairing with the workspace

A phone is paired from the workspace — the one you sign in to on your computer: on buff.systems or in your company’s installation (Buff Community, Enterprise). There is no separate registration in the app: the phone gets your permissions in that installation.

Steps

1. Install the Buff app on your phone and open it. The first screen, “Connect an installation”, offers “Scan QR” and “Enter link and code”. If you already have installations, the same choice opens from “Add installation” (the “+” button on the home screen or the side menu item).
2. In the workspace on your computer, open “Settings → Phone”. There are two ways there: “QR code” and “Link and code”. The QR code is valid for 5 minutes, the link and code for 15; the time left is shown on the page (“Valid for another …”). If it has expired, press “New code”.
3. Pair the phone in one of the two ways:
   • QR code. On the phone — “Scan QR”, point the camera at the code on the screen. The phone says “Waiting for confirmation on the computer”, and the workspace says “Confirm the phone” with the phone’s name. If this is your phone, press “This is my phone”.
   • Link and code. Handy if the camera is unavailable or the workspace is open on another device. On the phone — “Enter link and code”: take the link and the eight-character code of letters and digits (shown as XXXX-XXXX) from the workspace page. After five wrong attempts, entry is locked for 15 minutes. The phone and the workspace show the same six digits — compare them and press “They match” in the workspace. If they do not match, press “This is not my phone”: the pairing is cancelled.
4. Done: the phone shows the installation on the home screen with the status “Online”, and in the workspace it appears in the “My phones” list.

What the phone gets

• Your permissions in the installation: what you can do in the workspace you can do from the phone; what you cannot, the phone cannot either. If your permissions change, so do the phone’s.
• The phone does not know your password and does not sign in to the workspace: it has its own key, created on the phone and never leaving it.
• What you have read on the phone is stored encrypted so that screens open without a network — more in Several installations.

The list of phones

In “Settings → Phone”, under the pairing panel, is “My phones”: name, when it was paired, when it was last online, and status. Here you can also disconnect a phone — for example, if it is lost. A phone’s name is set on the phone itself; a paired phone can be renamed in Buff Code — Pairing with Buff Code.

The owner of an organisation on buff.systems also sees “Organisation’s phones” — all employees’ phones — and can forbid phones in the organisation (“Forbid phone pairing in the organisation”). In Buff Community and Enterprise this is managed by the installation’s administrator. More in Access policy.

If it does not work

• “The organisation has forbidden phones”, “Mobile access is turned off”, “The administrator has forbidden pairing phones on this installation.” or “Only roles assigned by the administrator can pair phones.” — pairing is closed by policy; contact the organisation’s owner or the administrator.
• “Too many attempts — wait 15 minutes” — the code was entered wrongly five times; wait and get a new code.
• “The code has expired” — get a new one in the workspace and try again.
• A Buff Community or Enterprise installation must have outbound access to buff.systems: the phone and the installation meet at its gateway. Without it, the app will not pair with that installation.