Add on-screen apps
Browse the app store, configure weather, feeds, counters and social apps, and style them to your brand.
An app is a module that puts live information on a screen, such as Weather, RSS feed or Now Serving. Use this guide to find an app, to set the app up, and to put the app on your brand colors. Every app you save joins the My apps tab, ready for a playlist or a screen.
What you can do
- Find an app — Search the App store, or narrow the store with a category chip.
- Add an app — Fill in the fields of one app and save the app to your workspace.
- Preview an app — See the app at whole-screen size, at zone size and as a ticker strip.
- Feed an app with live data — Point an app at a data source or at a connected account.
- Set the colours — Follow the workspace brand, or give one app its own colors.
- Share a control link — Let a phone change the number on a Now Serving or Goal Tracker app.
- Copy an app — Duplicate an app to make a variant with different settings.
- Remove apps — Take apps out of the workspace, one at a time or in bulk.
Find an app in the App store
- Select Apps in the Content group of the sidebar.
- Select the App store tab.
- Type part of the app name in the Search apps box.
- To browse instead, select a category chip such as Live data.
- Read the tagline and the description on each card.
️ The heading collapses as soon as you type in the search box or pick a category. The search row and the app count stay.
️ The store lists stable apps. A beta or an alpha app stays hidden until the Brix team gives your workspace early access.
️ An app that is not stable carries a badge such as v1.2.0 · Beta, on the store card and on the My apps card. A stable app carries no badge.
️ The Add app button belongs to the My apps tab. On the App store tab, the store itself is the picker.
Ask for an app the store does not have
- Open the App store tab.
- Search for the app you want.
- When no app matches, select Tell us what you’re looking for.
- Describe the app you need in the message box.
- Select the send button.
️ A search that matches nothing is not a dead end. Clear search puts the whole grid back.
Add an app to your workspace
- Open the App store tab.
- Select the card of the app you want.
- Fill in the fields in the Configuration column.
- Check the Preview pane on the right.
- Select Add to my apps.
- Check that the new app appears on the My apps tab.
️ Brix blocks the save until you fill every field the app needs. The footer reads Finish setup to save and names each missing field.
️ A new app starts from your profile preferences, so the temperature units and the time format follow your own settings. An edit to an existing app never re-seeds those values.
️ The Owned by picker appears only in a workspace that has locations under the top level.
️ If the save fails, the panel stays open with your entries in place. Select the save button again.
Set up the Weather app
- Open the App store tab.
- Select the Weather card.
- Select the app name in the panel header to rename the app.
- Start typing a city in Location.
- Select a suggestion from the list.
- Select °F or °C under Units.
- Select Today only (compact) or Current conditions under Layout.
- Check the Preview pane.
- Select Add to my apps.
️ To use the location of each screen, leave Location blank. A suggestion you select also stores the coordinates. Empty the field again to drop them.
️ The Weather app has no Appearance section, because the app paints its own full-screen scene.
Check how an app looks in a zone or a ticker
- Open the configuration panel of any app.
- Select zone above the Preview pane to see the app in a square box.
- Select ticker to see the app on one line.
- Select fullscreen to go back to the whole-screen layout.
️ The preview is an approximation. The player does the final rendering.
Point the RSS feed app at a website
- Open the App store tab.
- Select the RSS feed card.
- Paste a website address or a feed address in Feed URL.
- Select Find feeds.
- Select the feed you want in the results list.
- Select Ticker (one-line scroll) or Cards (rotate) under Style.
- Set Rotate every, in seconds.
- Set Max items.
- Select Add to my apps.
️ Rotate every takes 4 to 120 seconds. Max items takes 1 to 50 headlines.
Share the control link for a counter app
The Now Serving app and the Goal Tracker app carry a number that changes during the day. Anyone with the control link can set that number from a phone.
- Open the app from the My apps tab.
- Find the Control code field.
- Select Copy link to copy the address of the control page.
- Send the link to the person who updates the number.
- To update the number yourself, select Open control page.
- Select Save changes.
️ Anyone who holds the link or scans the QR code can change the number. The control page asks for no sign-in.
️ A control code exists only after the first save. Before the first save, the field reads Save the app to generate a control code.
️ Duplicate gives the copy a new control code, so the copy never shares its number with the original.
Feed an app from a data source
The Agenda, Notices, Welcome Board and Spotlight apps can read a live list instead of the text you type.
- Open the configuration panel of the app.
- Find the Or connect a data source field.
- Choose an existing source in the dropdown.
- To add a new source, select Connect.
- Choose a connector in the Connect a data source dialog.
- Type a Name for the source.
- Fill in the fields of the connector.
- Select Run test to check the connection.
- Select Connect & sync.
- Select Save changes.
️ A data source overrides the list you typed into the app. Agenda and Notices read the source instead of your own slides.
For every kind of source, and for the sources that drive a design, read put live data on a screen.
Point a social app at a connected account
- Open the configuration panel of a social app such as YouTube Stats or Instagram Feed.
- Choose the account in the dropdown.
- If no account appears, select Connect a … account under the field.
- Connect the account in the Connected accounts panel, which opens in a new browser tab.
- Return to the configuration tab.
- Choose the account in the dropdown.
- Select Add to my apps.
️ A social app needs a connected account before Brix saves the app.
️ The Bluesky and Mastodon apps need no connected account. Type a handle in the app instead.
Change the settings of a saved app
- Select Apps in the sidebar.
- Stay on the My apps tab.
- Select the thumbnail of the app to open the configuration panel.
- Change the fields you want.
- Select Save changes.
️ A card you added or changed a moment ago can show a plain placeholder tile. The server draws the thumbnail, so the picture arrives a few seconds later.
Copy an app to make a variant
- Point at the card of the app on the My apps tab.
- Select the actions button at the bottom right of the card.
- Select Duplicate.
- Change the fields in the configuration panel that opens.
- Select Save changes.
️ Duplicate appears only for a member who can create apps. Remove app appears only for a member who can delete apps.
Set the colors of one app
- Open the configuration panel of the app.
- Scroll to Appearance.
- Expand the section.
- To follow the workspace brand, leave Use brand colours on.
- To color this app alone, turn Use brand colours off.
- Select a Primary colour swatch, or open the color well for any other color.
- Select a Secondary colour swatch.
- Select Dark or Light under Theme.
- Select Aurora, Dots, Grid or Solid under Backdrop.
- Drag the Colour intensity slider.
- Select Save changes.
️ When you turn Use brand colours off, Brix copies the workspace colors into the app. A later change to the workspace brand no longer reaches the app.
️ When you turn Use brand colours back on, Brix clears the two colors only. The theme, the backdrop and the intensity stay until you select Reset to brand.
️ Reset to brand appears above the section only once the app carries one override or more.
️ The collapsed summary of the section names the theme, then brand colors or custom colors.
️ With Use brand colours on, the panel points you to Settings → Brand. Edit the workspace brand there, not in the app. Read workspace settings.
Rename an app this CMS does not recognize
- Find the card headed Unrecognised app.
- Select the actions button at the bottom right of the card.
- Select Rename.
- Type the new name.
- Press Enter.
️ A card headed Unrecognised app has no preview and opens nothing. This CMS holds no catalog entry for the key of that app.
️ An unrecognised app offers Rename and Remove app only. Edit and Duplicate both need the missing catalog entry.
Remove apps you no longer need
- Point at the card of an app.
- Select the checkbox at the top right of the card.
- To take a run of cards, hold Shift and select a second checkbox.
- Select Delete 2 in the bar at the bottom of the page.
- Read the warning about the playlists and the schedules that use the apps.
- Select Remove 2 to confirm.
️ To remove one app, select Remove app in the card actions menu. The same confirmation opens, with Remove 1 on the button.
️ Every playlist and every schedule that uses the app stops playing the app at once.
️ Brix keeps a removed app in the recycle bin for 30 days.
️ After you select one card, a plain select on another card ticks that card instead of opening it. Clear the selection to open apps again.
Put an app on a screen
An app does not reach a screen from the Apps page. Add the app to a playlist, or assign the app to the screen on the Screens page.
️ A screen plays one playlist, schedule, layout, media file or app at a time. A new choice replaces the old one. Read put content on a screen.
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