Creating a PingBell
Create a PingBell, design how it looks on screen — background, widgets, fonts, and colors — and invite your team. A PingBell can be pure signage or a live counter; this guide covers both.
Step 1: Start PingBell creation
If you haven't created a PingBell yet, you'll see a button on the home page that says Click here to create your first PingBell. Click it.
Existing users can click the bell icon in the bottom right-hand corner instead.
Step 2: Name it and pick a sound
Enter a Name and a Notification Message. These appear on every notification and on the counter view.
Pick a sound from PingBell's library of 70+ built-in options. Click the bubble next to a sound to preview it; switch categories with the dropdown to find the right one. The available sound categories vary by plan.
Click Create when finished. Your PingBell is now created — open it to start designing the screen.
Step 3: Style the panel
A PingBell isn't just a counter — it's a full screen you design. Open your new PingBell in the PingBell web app on a computer to enter the editor (panel design isn't available from the phone or tablet apps). Every change previews instantly and pushes to any paired screen in real time.
Choose a background
Upload any image to use as a full-screen background — a menu, brand artwork, a product photo, a seasonal promo, or a welcome graphic. The image fills the screen edge to edge. Prefer something simpler? Pick a solid background color instead. A background on its own is already a finished signage slide — no data source required.
Add widgets
Layer widgets on top of the background and drag them into position:
- Counter — the live number; included on every paid plan.
- Clock / Date — the current time and date.
- Weather — current conditions for a location you set.
- Marquee — a line of auto-scrolling text for specials, hours, or announcements.
The Clock, Weather, and Marquee widgets are available on the Plus and Pro plans; the Counter is included on every paid plan.
Adjust fonts, colors, and the counter
Tune fonts and colors to match your brand. On the counter itself you can set the label, attach a goal line, and choose when it resets — daily, weekly, monthly, or never.
See it live
Every edit — a new background, a repositioned widget, a color change — appears on every paired screen the moment you make it. There's no rendering step and nothing to refresh on the TV.
Step 4 (optional): Invite users
You'll see an option to invite teammates. Type their email and click Invite. They'll receive a notification on their own phones every time the bell rings, at no extra charge. Click the back arrow when finished.
Step 5: View your PingBell
Your new PingBell appears on the home page. PingBells are listed in alphabetical order.
Next steps
If your panel is static signage, it's ready — pair a TV and cast it. If you added a counter and want it to update on its own, point a trigger at it: a webhook from a tool like Shopify, Stripe, or WooCommerce, or a Zap from one of 9,000+ apps via Zapier. See our integration guides: