How to make classrooms receivers secure by preventing unwanted connections

Preventing unwanted student connections from school-issued or personal devices to classroom receivers can be a real challenge with the number of devices students have these days. There are a few functions in the Ditto Settings Portal that can be done to prevent unwanted connections from occurring on classroom receivers.

Enabling a Security setting for the Receiver

Note:

The Security setting is only available for receivers running the Ditto Receiver application. Legacy receivers do not have the Security setting. For more information about Ditto Receivers click here.

Step 1: Log in to your Ditto Account Portal.

Step 2: Click on the "Receivers" tab.

Step 3: Click the Ditto tvOS Receiver or Ditto Windows Receiver that you would like to enable this setting for.

Step 4: Click the "Settings" tab.

Step 5: Under "Security," select "Onscreen Code" or "One-Time Onscreen Code."

Step 6: Click "Save Receiver."

Disable the Always Show Connection Info for the Receiver

Every Ditto Room will have the option to display or hide the display connection info on your Ditto Receiver(s) paired to the Ditto room. This is where end-users see the room code when there is a mirroring connection to the receiver or digital signage is displayed.

Note:

By default, the Show Connection Info setting will be enabled for all created rooms unless manually disabled.

Users will still be able to mirror to the receiver with the Always Show Connection Info setting disabled. When the Always Show Connection Info setting is disabled, users must know the room code to connect to the receiver.

Receiver screen when mirroring with the Always Show Connection Info setting enabled

When the Always Show Connection Info setting is enabled:

Screen mirroring connection info will be shown while signage is displayed.
Connection info is shown while other devices are mirroring to the receiver.

Receiver screen when mirroring with the "Always Show Connection Info" setting disabled

When the "Always Show Connection Info" setting is disabled:

Screen mirroring connection info will be hidden while signage is displayed
Connection info is hidden while other devices are mirroring to the receiver

How to disable the "Always Show Connection Info" setting in the Ditto Settings Portal

Step 1: In the Ditto Account Portal, navigate to the "Rooms" tab > "Room Name" > Select the room containing the receiver(s) you’d like to edit.

Step 2: Disable the setting next to "Always Show Connection Info.”

Step 3: Select "Save Room."

Pro-Tip

When one user is screen mirroring, up to three more users can mirror their devices at the same time. Additional users will be able to view the Ditto room code and connect.

Using digital signage to hide room code screen

Using digital signage to hide the room code screen can prevent students from connecting without permission.

Reciever screen on a receiver without digital signage:

Uploading a file such as a picture of your school, a school mascot or something related to your classroom into the media layout in the digital signage section of the Ditto Settings Portal will allow you to create a screensaver that will hide the room code from being displayed on the receiver.

Receiver screen with a media file uploaded and assigned to the Ditto room:

By using the steps in the section above to disable the "Always Show Connection Info," you will be able to hide the room code from displaying on the receiver.

Receiver screen with a media file uploaded and assigned to the Ditto room with the "Always Show Connection Info" setting disabled:

Note:

The digital signage function for Ditto is not available in Ditto Lite versions of Ditto. If you have Ditto Lite and would like to use digital signage to hide the room code please contact your Ditto account manager to add this functionality to your account.