HalqaSupport
Halqa for iPad
Halqa has help built in — tap the ? in the sidebar. It covers running a session, the projector, and the things that most often go wrong. What follows is the same ground, for anyone deciding whether the app suits them.
For the long version — every feature, how scoring works, authoring, themes and the full troubleshooting list — read the handbook.
Getting started
Start the server on the iPad, have each team scan the code on the board, then pick an activity. The bundled Run a Session teaches the app by being one, and is worth running with colleagues before a class.
To present your own lecture, send a PDF to the iPad — it becomes an activity, one page per round, that you page through and can draw on as you talk.
Common questions
Do students need to install anything?
No. A phone browser is all it takes — no app, no account, no sign-in. Students scan a code or type an address.
Does it need internet?
No. Everything runs on the local network. A school Wi-Fi with no route to the internet works perfectly.
Students can't open the join page.
Almost always the network. Phones must be on the same Wi-Fi as the iPad, and guest networks usually stop devices talking to each other, which stops this too. Scanning the code avoids typos in the address.
Nothing appears on the projector.
Set the display to mirror rather than extend. In extend mode iPadOS keeps the screen as a desktop and never hands it to the app. Alternatively, open the board address in a browser on a laptop that is already connected to the projector.
A phone locked mid-round.
Nothing is lost. The phone remembers which team it is and picks up where it was. Only restarting the server ends a session.
Where do results go?
Nowhere. Scores live on the iPad for as long as the session does. A facilitator can export a log of the session, but it is a record of what happened, not a grade book. See Privacy.
Can I make my own activities?
Yes — that is what the app is for. Turn on Authoring mode and connect an AI assistant, then describe the activity you want. It writes it onto your iPad, with no developer and no app update. Activities are single files you can send to a colleague.
Can I use my own slides?
Yes. Send a PDF to the iPad and it becomes an activity — one page per round. You page through it from your panel and can draw on any page as you talk; the room watches the line appear. Export from PowerPoint or Keynote to PDF first.
Can students keep the slides?
Yes. A link on their phone opens the whole lesson as one page — every slide with what was drawn on it, and every question with its answer and the reasoning. It is one document for the room and it names nobody. Their browser's print sheet saves it as a PDF.
Checking an activity before you share it
Drop a .halqapack on the checker to
confirm it is well-formed and ships nothing that could run in a browser. It
works entirely in your browser — nothing is uploaded.
Still stuck
Email support@halqa.education. If something went wrong during a session, the iPad can export an error log — the ⋯ menu in the sidebar, under Debugging — which is far more useful to include than a description.
Email support