Resources
The digital car tag
A digital car tag replaces the laminated number that hangs from a parent’s rear-view mirror. The family’s roll number appears full-screen on their phone as they join the car line, and staff read it through the windshield exactly as they read the paper one.
Built for a windshield, not a desk
A phone screen is only a car tag if it can be read at four in the afternoon, from outside the car, by someone walking past. That is a engineering problem, not a design flourish, and it is where most “we have an app” answers fall down.
- Numbers and nothing else. No name, no logo, no lane letter. Anything else on the screen steals width from the digits, and the digits are the only thing being read.
- True black on true white — the highest contrast a screen can produce, and it does not follow the phone’s dark mode.
- Full brightness, held awake. The display is turned up and stopped from sleeping while the tag is open, then handed straight back when it is closed or the app is backgrounded.
It shows only the children actually being collected
A paper hangtag is a household number. It sits on the mirror whether or not anyone is being picked up today, and it says nothing about which child. The digital tag shows the roll numbers for the children that parent has actually requested, this afternoon — so what staff read is a live request, not a standing sticker.
What it replaces
| Approach | What it costs |
|---|---|
| Printed mirror hangtags | Printing and laminating every year, plus reissuing the ones lost, faded or left in the other car. |
| RFID fobs | Hardware for every family, readers at the gate, and a replacement process when one goes missing. |
| License plate cameras | Installation and maintenance, and a conversation with families about recording vehicle movements. |
| Digital car tag | Nothing to print, install or replace. The parent already owns the screen. |
Common questions
- What is a digital car tag?
- A digital car tag is a school pickup number shown on the parent’s phone instead of printed on a card that hangs from the rear-view mirror. Staff in the car line read the number from the screen exactly as they would from paper, and the school never prints, laminates or reissues a tag again.
- Can staff actually read a phone screen in daylight?
- Yes, provided the app does the work. AuthExit shows the roll number as large black digits on a plain white screen, and while the tag is open it forces the display to maximum brightness and stops it sleeping. Both are released the moment the tag is closed or the app is backgrounded, so the phone is not left burning in a pocket.
- What happens if a parent forgets their phone?
- Staff can still find the family in the queue by name or student ID from the pickup screen. A digital tag removes the printing, not the fallback.
- Is this the same as license plate recognition?
- No. Plate recognition needs cameras installed at the school entrance, and it raises questions about recording vehicle movements that many schools would rather not have to answer. A digital car tag needs no hardware at all — the parent already owns the screen.
- Does it work for a grandparent or a sitter collecting?
- Yes. Anyone the family has nominated and the school office has approved gets the same tag on their own phone. Approval happens once, in the school’s own approvals queue.
The car tag is one part of AuthExit, which also runs classroom attendance and the school library from the same roster.