Frequently Asked Questions

Search for Paddl Assist in the App Store (iPhone/iPad) or Google Play (Android), or use these direct links: App Store | Google Play. Log in with the same email and password as the admin panel.

In Ask Paddy, use the Talk to a human option under an answer and the chat switches to a live conversation with the Paddl team. Paddy will also offer it if you simply ask for a person. You can also use the chat widget at help.paddl-ai.co, or email support@paddl-ai.co. If nobody is online, leave the message anyway and we will come back to you.

In the Paddl Assist app. Log in, check in to your location, and your tasks for the day appear on the home screen. Tap a checklist to open it and mark each item complete. If you do not see a task, make sure you have checked in to the right location.

Go to Team > Team Members, click Invite Staff, enter their email, choose their role (Owner, Manager, or Staff) and locations, then send. They get an email to set up their account and download the app.

Yes. Open the routine under Routines, edit the assigned locations, staff groups, or individuals, and click Save changes. To unassign, remove the relevant assignment and save.

Yes. Click + New category on the routine form, or go to Routines > Manage categories and click New category. Give it a name, an icon, and a colour. You can optionally tick Add to a compliance score to link it to a compliance area (Food Safety, Fire Safety, Location Monitoring, Equipment, or Team). Custom categories show as a filter tab on the Routines page and in the staff app, and you can open a category's records from the View Records action on a routine.

Usually because the routine is assigned in two overlapping ways, for example to a location and to a group the same person is in, so it shows once for each. Check Routines and remove the overlap. If duplicates remain afterwards, contact support.

Staff log temperatures in the app as they complete their checks. In the admin panel, use Alerts > Reports > Create Report > Log Temperature: pick the location and equipment, enter the reading, and submit. Add your fridges and freezers under Equipment first so they can be selected.

You can only assign a routine to locations you are assigned to, so if a venue is missing from the list it is because you are not on it. An owner can add you under Team > Team Members: open your profile and tick the extra location(s). Once you are assigned to a venue it appears when you create or edit a routine. If your business has only one location, there is no location to pick because routines apply to that location automatically. (Adding a brand-new venue is different and may need a plan upgrade under Settings > Subscription.)

Go to Deliveries and click Record Delivery, or use the app at goods-in. Capture the type, location, date and time, temperature, quality check, and any batch numbers and use-by dates for traceability. Past deliveries appear under Food Safety > Delivery Records.

Open the plan under Food Safety > HACCP Plans. Click Edit to change the scope, process steps, review frequency, or sign-off settings, and Export PDF to download a copy for printing or for an inspector.

Go to Team > Training > Modules, choose the module (for example Allergen Awareness), click Assign Module, and assign it by role, staff group, or location. Track completion under Team > Training > Modules > Compliance.

There is no menu item literally called "end of day report". Staff submit handover / end-of-shift reports from the app, and managers find them in the admin panel under Alerts > Reports, where you can filter and acknowledge them.

Go to Food Safety > SFBB and click Generate SFBB Pack. Paddl builds it from the active template and your business context. Open the pack to assign it and have staff sign off in the app. SFBB is a UK system; other regions see the equivalent tools.

Account owners go to Settings > Subscription and adjust the number of locations, additional users, or 10GB storage blocks, then confirm at checkout (changes are prorated). Each location includes 5 users and 10GB of storage.

Yes. Go to Team > Team Members and click Send Announcement. Write a title and message, set the priority, and choose everyone or specific staff groups. It goes out as an in-app notification and a push notification. For something staff must read and acknowledge, upload a document with required sign-off instead, so you have a record they have seen it.

Open the location under Locations and set the day-by-day operating hours there. Opening hours are not the same as licensed hours; licensing documents live under Licences & Permits.

No. When a new version is released, update the app through the App Store (iOS) or Google Play (Android). You never need to re-download it.

Yes. The admin panel (manage.paddl-ai.co) works in any browser on a laptop, tablet, or phone. The Paddl Assist app is for day-to-day staff use on mobile. Both use the same login.

Yes. Use the same account for both: the admin panel for management and the app for completing tasks. In the app, tap the briefcase icon to reach manager features.

No. Use an individual email address for each person. Compliance scores, task assignments, sign-offs, and training records are all tracked per person, and a shared login skews your data.

Documents are formal items that need a signature (handbook, hygiene policy, certificates) with sign-off tracking. Knowledge Hub pages are searchable reference content that Ask Paddy answers from. You can use both for the same content.

Ask Paddy is the assistant built into the app, and it does two jobs. It answers questions using your Knowledge Hub, documents, allergen data and records, so anyone on your team can ask. If you are an owner or manager it also does the work: book a pest control visit, set up a routine, draft a risk assessment, chase overdue checks, build an audit pack. It shows you exactly what it is about to do and waits for you to confirm. It never fills in a compliance record, completes a check, or signs anything, because an inspector asks who did the work. See What Ask Paddy can do for you.

When creating or editing a risk assessment, tick "Requires staff sign-off". All current staff are notified, and new starters are asked automatically. Track who has signed in the admin panel.

No. Paddy always shows a Confirm this action card setting out exactly what it will do, and nothing is written to your account until you press Confirm. Only the person who asked can confirm it, the card expires after an hour, and every action Paddy carries out is recorded in your audit log against your name. See Confirming and cancelling Paddy actions.

No, and that is deliberate. Paddy will not log a temperature, complete a check, approve a record somebody else submitted, or sign a risk assessment, SFBB pack or HACCP plan. Those are the evidence an inspector looks at, and they have to belong to the person who actually did the work. What Paddy will do is set the work up, chase what is outstanding, draft the paperwork for you to review, and build your audit pack.

Usually a sync delay. Ask them to reopen the document in the app once they have a connection, and the signature should appear. If it still does not show after syncing, contact support.

Staff can ask Paddy questions and get answers from your knowledge pages, documents and allergen data. Only owners and managers can have Paddy make changes, such as booking a visit or setting up a routine. Actions are also admin-panel only: in the mobile app Paddy answers questions but does not carry them out.

Make sure you are visiting manage.paddl-ai.co/login (not just the root domain). If it persists, clear your browser cache and cookies, or try a different browser or a private window.

Open the business selector at the top of the sidebar and pick another business you belong to. Your email can belong to several businesses, each with its own data and subscription, and you work in one at a time.

Open the business selector and choose Add new business (or go to Settings > Business). Enter the name and country, pick a plan, and complete payment. The new business gets its own subscription, billed separately from your existing ones.

Go to Settings > Profile and click Enable 2FA. Scan the QR code with an authenticator app (such as Google Authenticator or Authy), enter the code to confirm, and save your backup codes somewhere safe.

Go to Settings > Profile. Use Change Password (you will need your current password) or Change Email (you will get a verification link at the new address, and the change applies once you click it).

Regions group your locations (for example North and South) for cleaner multi-site management. On enterprise accounts, the account owner can create them under Settings > Regions and assign locations to each. If you do not see the option, it is not enabled on your account.

Yes. Under Savings > Tax Reliefs (UK accounts), answer a few questions about your business and Paddl estimates reliefs such as capital allowances, embedded fixtures, employment allowance, and apprenticeship funding. These are estimates to show where it is worth looking; confirm any claim with your accountant.

Completed routines and checks collect under Food Safety: temperature, probe calibration, and food safety checks appear in Food Safety Records, and cleaning, opening, and closing checks appear in Hygiene Records. You can filter by date, status, type, and location, and export them.

Yes. On the Allergens page, click Export and choose Export as PDF for a colour-coded matrix ready to print or share, or Export as CSV for a spreadsheet of every item with its allergens, may-contain flags, supplier, and notes. The export uses the matrix exactly as it stands, so save any recent changes first.

Use the Audit Pack. Under Food Safety Management, click Generate Audit Pack, choose the location and date range, tick the sections you need (HACCP, SFBB, temperature and cleaning records, training, COSHH, allergens, and more), then Generate & Download to get a single ZIP ready for an inspector. For a live on-screen view during the visit, use the EHO Visit Dashboard instead.

Open the record under Alerts > Reports (or from the relevant list, such as Incidents), and click Export PDF. The PDF includes the full record and its amendment trail, which is what insurers and inspectors expect.

Yes. Under COSHH, click Export COSHH Register and choose either a Quick Reference Chart (a single-page summary with pictograms, hazards, and PPE) or the Full COSHH Register (the complete document with SDS detail), then Generate PDF and print it.

Usually it is paused, the person is not assigned, or the routine is assigned to a location they have not checked in to yet. Work through the checks in A routine is not showing up in the app.

When nobody gets a routine, the cause is usually the routine setup: it is paused, has no valid schedule, has no location to run at, or a location is missing its timezone. See A routine is not generating any tasks at all.

Check the phone is logged in with notifications allowed, the notification type is switched on under Settings > Notifications, and the task is assigned to the person or their group (tasks assigned only to a location do not send a personal notification). Full steps are in Staff are not getting push notifications.

Most sign-in problems come down to the account being deactivated, the invite never being completed, the wrong email, or a lapsed subscription, rather than the password. Work through A staff member cannot log in.

You have reached what your current plan includes. Account owners add locations, users, or storage under Settings > Subscription. See I hit a limit or got a payment prompt.

The equipment is probably switched off, marked offline, or sits at a location the person has not checked in to. See Equipment is missing or not raising service alerts.

Check the document is not archived, that the person matches its assigned people, groups, or location, and that they have checked in if it is assigned to a location. See A document is not showing for staff to sign.

For questions, Paddy answers from your business content and the Paddl help guides, so if the information is not in your account yet, add it as a Knowledge Hub page or upload the document and give it a moment to become searchable. For actions, check that you are in the admin panel rather than the mobile app, that you are an owner or manager, and that the confirmation card has not expired (they last an hour). Some refusals are deliberate: Paddy will not fill in records, sign anything, or remove an allergen. See Ask Paddy cannot answer a question or will not do something.

Open the plan under Food Safety > HACCP Plans, go to the Verification & Reviews tab, and click Review with AI. Paddl checks the plan against your current menu, allergens, and COSHH chemicals and suggests specific changes. Click Apply on the ones you want, then Complete review with these findings to sign off a review. Updating keeps the plan's history and sign-offs, so there is no need to start a new one. See How do I review or update my HACCP plan?.

When you start the HACCP builder and a plan already exists, Paddl asks whether to update the existing plan or create a new one. Choose update unless you genuinely need a separate plan, so you keep the original's history and sign-offs. If you already have a duplicate draft you do not want, open it and delete it under Food Safety > HACCP Plans.

Two routes, depending on what you need. For the data, go to Food Safety Management > Food Safety Records, filter by date range and location, and click Export Excel for a spreadsheet of your temperature, cooking, delivery, and hot-holding checks. For an inspection, use Generate Audit Pack and tick Temperature Records to get them as a PDF inside your audit ZIP. (Logging a new reading is a different thing, done under Alerts > Reports > Create Report > Log Temperature or by staff in the app.)

Use the Audit Pack. Under Food Safety Management, click Generate Audit Pack, pick the location and date range, tick the sections you want to evidence (temperature and cleaning records, training, HACCP, COSHH, allergens, and more), then Generate & Download. You get one ZIP with a summary cover page and a PDF per section, which is what an inspector or auditor expects to see.

In the Paddl Assist app, open Profile > Documents, tap +, choose the file, set the type to Certificate, add an expiry date, and upload. You can also do it on the web under Team > Team Members > your profile > Certificates. This is for certificates you earned elsewhere; ones you complete through Paddl training appear automatically under My Certificates. If you cannot see the option, ask your manager to enable "Can upload own documents" for you.

Go to Team > Team Members, open the person, and use the Certificates or Documents tab to upload, adding an expiry date so Paddl reminds you before it lapses. Staff can also upload their own from Profile > Documents in the app when they have the "Can upload own documents" permission. Everyone's uploads are listed together under Team > Documents.

Go to Maintenance > Areas. A hotel, B&B, care home or hospital gets an Add rooms button. Give it the number of floors, the rooms on each floor, the floor to start at and a prefix, and it shows you exactly what it will create before you confirm: three floors of twenty rooms gives you Room 101 through Room 320. Re-running it will not duplicate anything, so you can add a floor later. The limit is 500 rooms in one go.

Open the job on the Maintenance board and look at Assign to, or filter the whole board by owner: a person, a team, yourself, or Unassigned. A job belongs to a person, a team or a contractor, never more than one at a time. Jobs on your own name also show on your dashboard, with a count of how many are past their deadline. You can just ask Ask Paddy too: "what maintenance is on Dave?"

Because it passed the deadline that its priority gave it: urgent 24 hours, high 3 days, medium 10 days, low 30 days, counted from when the job was booked. You can set a deadline by hand if the standard one does not suit. Note that moving the visit date does not move the deadline, which is deliberate: rescheduling work is not the same as being given longer to do it. If the job is genuinely blocked, put it on hold with a reason rather than leaving it looking simply late.

Drag the card to On Hold on the Maintenance board, or open the job and use the hold button. You have to give a reason: waiting for parts, a quote, access, the landlord, or an approval, plus a note if there is more to say. Staff can also do it from the job on their phone. Held jobs keep their place in the list, greyed with the reason showing, and the time they spend on hold is tracked separately so a three-week wait for a part does not read as three weeks of nobody caring.

The checks and services that happen because a date came round rather than because something broke: the annual gas safety check, weekly flushing of unused taps, the monthly fire door walk. Paddl has a catalogue of them under Maintenance > PPM, filtered to what your venue actually needs, showing how many of your sites already have each one covered. Press Schedule and Paddl sets it up as a recurring routine for your own staff, or as dated appointments for the ones somebody visits to do. Each task is labelled statutory, guidance or good practice so you can see which are required by law.

No, and that is deliberate. The notes, photos and cost on a completion are the record of work somebody actually did, so the person who did it enters it themselves on their phone. Paddy will do everything around it: raise a job, give it to a person or a team, put it on hold with a reason, move it to another date, and tell you what is outstanding or overdue.

No. Paddl works out the hours and gives you a file to hand to whoever does run it: a generic CSV, or a format for Xero Payroll, Sage Payroll or BrightPay. There is no RTI submission, no PAYE or National Insurance, no auto-enrolment, no payslips and no bank file. Those are a regulated product and your payroll software or bureau already is one.

It can. Each location is £69 a month and includes five users; beyond that it is £2.99 per additional user. Somebody who only exists to be rostered still uses a seat. When you add people in bulk under Team, Paddl shows you the new monthly figure before you confirm, so a 25-person kitchen never turns into a surprise on the next invoice.

Because Paddl warns rather than blocks, deliberately. A rota gets built at five on a Friday by somebody who already knows their chef's Level 2 lapses on Tuesday and has a plan; a hard stop at that moment does not make the kitchen safer, it makes people work around Paddl. What Paddl does instead is save the warnings onto the shift, so the record shows what was known at the time.

Timesheets are rebuilt overnight from your published shifts and everyone's clock-ins, so anything worked today appears tomorrow morning. This is on purpose: a figure that recalculated live would change under a manager while they were reading it. Locked periods are left alone entirely, and a clock-in that arrives after a period is locked lands in the next one with a flag on it.

Paddl closes the check-in for them: half an hour after their rostered shift was due to end if it knows which shift they were on, and a couple of hours after the site closes if it does not. The line is flagged Closed automatically on the timesheet so you check it before approving, because a time the system worked out is not the same as one somebody recorded. Use Adjust to set the real figure, with a reason.

Because an unpaid break is unpaid whether or not anyone remembered to tap the screen, and staying clocked in through it is what usually happens. If Paddl did not deduct it you would be paying for the break and every shift would show a phantom hour of overtime. Where somebody did clock out and back in, the gap is treated as the break and nothing is deducted twice.

Not on the shift rota, no. Contractors are booked through contractor events, which carry the credential checks and the site access rules that scheduling does not. Putting one person on both would give you two competing records of when they are on site, and the one you looked at would decide what you believed.