Setup packs for partners and events
vablet Across for iPhone and iPad · Version 1.5 · Updated 13 November 2026
Set up an event kit once. Install it on every device in one step.
A setup pack is one zip file that carries a collection of files and, if you choose, Booth Mode playlists, email templates and branding. An agency, a distributor or your own marketing team makes it once. Each person who receives it taps Install, reads a short readiness list, and has the same setup on their own iPhone or iPad.
Setup packs arrive with Across version 1.5. There is no account, no portal and no server: the pack is a file, and it moves the way files move.
- What a pack holds
- Make a pack
- Hand it out: file, link or QR code
- Install a pack
- The readiness list
- Updates, rolling back and removal
- Sizes and limits
- Privacy
- For developers
- Questions
What a pack holds
A pack is built from one collection in Across. It carries copies of the collection's files, so the person who installs it has them on the device at once, with no link back to the maker's Google Drive, OneDrive or Files folders. It can also carry:
- Booth Mode playlists from that collection: the slide order, times on screen, what Info opens, the lead form, the consent line and a suggested address for session reports.
- Email templates, for the booth's Share button and for follow-ups.
- Branding for the loop: a logo and the line shown when someone taps it.
- HTML pages, such as a quote calculator or a survey, which run in the same sandbox as any HTML content in Across.
A pack never holds leads, notes, receipts, business cards, Activity, passwords, cloud sign-ins, the Booth Mode exit code, branding keys, a signature or My Record. The export screen lists everything that goes in before you tap Export.
Make a pack
- Make a collection and add the files. If the pack is for a booth, set up the Booth Mode playlist and its settings as you want them.
- Open the collection, tap the menu at the top right, then Export setup pack.
- Give the pack a name, your company or your name, and a line about what it is for. The people who install it see these first.
- Tick the playlists and templates to include. A template a playlist uses is included on its own. If your device has a branding key from vablet, you can include the branding.
- Check the list under What goes in, with each file's size and the total. Every file must be on your device; a Download first button fetches any that are not.
- Tap Export. The zip goes to the share sheet, so you can save it in Files, send it by AirDrop or Mail, or upload it to your web hosting.
The file is named after the pack and its version, such as Acme-Event-Kit-v1.across.zip. Export the same collection again later and the version number goes up by one, so the people who installed it get an update rather than a second copy.
Hand it out: file, link or QR code
There are three ways to get a pack to a device, and they all end at the same preview screen.
As a file. Send the zip by AirDrop, Mail or a shared folder. The person taps it, taps Share, then Across. On an iPad or iPhone that already has Across, this is the quickest route.
As a link. Upload the zip to web hosting you control that serves the file itself, such as your website or a content delivery network. The person pastes the link under Settings, Setup packs, Paste a link. Across downloads it and opens the preview. A share page from OneDrive, Google Drive or SharePoint does not work for this, because it opens a web page rather than the file; download the zip from there and open it as a file instead.
As a QR code. Under Settings, Setup packs, tap Make a QR code for a link and paste the same download link. Across makes a high-contrast code on the device and lets you share or print it, with the link written underneath. Scanned inside Across (Settings, Setup packs, Scan a QR code), the pack downloads and its preview opens. Scanned with the Camera app, the link opens in Safari; the person downloads the zip there, then taps Share and Across. The code holds the link, not the pack, so one printed code can serve a whole event.
Links must start with https. Across refuses links with a user name or password in them, links to local or private network addresses, and links that forward to one of those. A download is never an installation: the preview and the Install step are the same whether the pack came from a file or a link.
Install a pack
- Open the pack from Files, AirDrop, Mail or a link, or scan its QR code.
- Read the preview: the pack's name and maker, its version, the download size and the size on the device, the collection, each file, the playlists with their consent line and suggested report address, the templates, any branding, and any web links the slides open. Nothing runs and nothing is sent while the preview is open.
- Tap Install. Across checks every file against the size and digest written in the pack, copies the files in, and adds the collection, playlists and templates together. If anything fails, nothing is added.
- Work through the readiness list that opens next.
The maker's name is shown as written in the pack. Across does not verify who made a pack, so install packs from people you know.
The readiness list
Each installed pack has a list under Settings, Setup packs, called Ready to use? Across checks what it can on the device, and you tick the rest yourself:
- Every file is on the device.
- HTML pages unpacked and slides prepared, so the loop runs with no connection. If slides are missing, the list says how many and where to prepare them.
- A way to send email: Apple Mail set up, or Microsoft 365 connected.
- Your email signature reviewed.
- The lead form and consent line approved. The line is shown so you can read it; change it in the playlist settings if your rules differ.
- The report address confirmed. A pack can suggest one, but it is a suggestion until you confirm it, and it never changes an address you already use elsewhere.
- A rehearsal with a test lead, using Preview, which records nothing.
- The staff exit code set on this device. Device lockdown with Guided Access is separate, in iOS Settings.
Nothing on this list is reported anywhere. It is a checklist on the device for the person who will run the booth.
Updates, rolling back and removal
When you open a newer version of a pack already on the device, the preview says what changes. Files that changed are swapped. Templates, playlists and the collection are updated unless you edited them since installing; for each of those, you choose Keep my changes or Use the partner's update, and keeping your changes is the default. Leads, notes, past sessions and sent-message records are never touched by an update.
Opening the same version again does nothing except tell you it is already installed. A pack with the same version number but different content is refused until the maker raises the version. An older version is refused too, except through Roll back: the version before the current one stays on the device, and Settings, Setup packs offers to go back to it. Forget version removes that retained copy when you are done.
Remove this setup pack takes out the pack's collection, playlists, templates and the files nothing else uses. Files that are also in another collection or playlist stay. Leads, notes, past sessions and sent-message records stay, and you delete those through Activity and Booth Mode's past sessions if you need to.
If Across is closed in the middle of an install, the next launch removes the half-finished records and says so. The previous installation, if there was one, is as it was.
Sizes and limits
| Limit | Value |
|---|---|
| Pack size, zipped and unpacked | 250 MB each |
| One file | 100 MB |
| Files in a pack | 2,000 |
| Link in a QR code | 512 characters |
| Redirects on a download | 5 |
The export screen shows the total before you export, and disables Export when the files come to more than a pack may hold. Videos are usually the largest part; shortening or re-encoding a video, or splitting a collection into two packs, is the way under the limit. Before an install, Across checks that the device has the pack's size plus 100 MB free.
Privacy
A pack is a file. Making one does not upload anything, and installing one does not create an account, connect a cloud folder, or send anything to vablet or Meiotic. A pack downloaded from a link goes from the maker's web host straight to the device; that host sees the download the way it sees any download, and nothing about the device, its leads or its activity is sent to it. Across keeps the host's name with the installed pack, and keeps no part of the link beyond that.
Every file in a pack is checked against the size and digest the pack lists, so a damaged or altered download is refused before anything is installed. The check tells you the file is intact; it does not tell you who made it. HTML pages in a pack run in the same sandbox as any HTML content in Across, and nothing in a pack runs while you look at the preview.
Leads and notes taken at a booth stay on that device, as the Booth Mode page describes. A pack update never deletes them. The privacy policy covers the rest.
For developers
A setup pack is an ordinary zip with a JSON manifest named across-setup.json at the top level. The manifest lists every file with its size and SHA-256 digest, the collection, the templates, the playlists with one-based page numbers and times in seconds, and the branding. Files are referenced by stable ids, so a new version of the same kit keeps the same pack id and raises the version number. Across refuses a zip whose manifest it cannot read, a file the manifest does not list, a listed file that is missing, a digest that does not match, a page a file does not have, and any path that would write outside the pack's own folder. If you would like to generate packs from your own systems, write to support and we will send the format notes.
Questions
Do the people who install a pack need an account or a subscription?
No account. A setup pack installs into Across on the device with no sign-in. The files in the pack open with or without a subscription; adding sources, sharing and Booth Mode follow the same subscription rules as the rest of Across.
Does a setup pack keep syncing with the partner's files?
No. The files in a pack are copies. They do not change when the partner's originals change, and the partner cannot see or change anything on the device. To send a change, the partner exports a new version of the pack and the device installs the update.
Can a pack change my email signature or my report address?
No. A pack never carries a signature or My Record. It can suggest a report address for its own playlists, and that address waits in the readiness list until you confirm it. Any address you already use for other playlists stays as it is.
What happens to leads when a pack is updated or removed?
Nothing. Leads, notes, past sessions and sent-message records are kept through updates and through removal. Delete them yourself through Activity and Booth Mode's past sessions when you need to.
Can I install the same pack on several devices?
Yes. Each device installs its own copy from the same file, link or QR code, and each keeps its own leads and activity. There is no limit on the number of devices and no shared sign-in between them.
Why does a OneDrive or Google Drive share link not work?
A share link opens a web page, with a preview and a Download button, rather than the zip itself. Across needs the file. Download the zip from that page and open it in Across, or host the zip on a web server that serves the file directly and use that link.
What if the pack is larger than 250 MB?
Across refuses it and says so. Ask the maker to shorten or re-encode the largest videos, or to split the collection into two packs. The export screen shows the total before exporting, so a maker sees the problem first.
When are setup packs available?
Setup packs are part of Across version 1.5. Download Across now and the feature arrives with the update.