How to use the SalaryBox app: the short answer
To use the SalaryBox app, the business owner or admin adds employees from My Team, chooses each person's attendance mode (selfie, QR or GPS) and sets the office radius under the branch settings. Staff then install SalaryBox, log in with their registered mobile number and the 6-digit code sent on WhatsApp, set a 4-digit PIN and tap Punch-In on the home screen.
Attend Mitra isn't affiliated with SalaryBox; we make a competing attendance app, and the steps below come from SalaryBox's own help centre as it read on 22 October 2026. Menu names can differ slightly between the Android app, the iPhone app and the web portal, and your admin decides which attendance options you see.
Add staff in SalaryBox (web, Android and iPhone)
Every employee has to be added before they can mark attendance; until then the Punch-In page simply won't appear on their phone. On the website only the name, branch and mobile number are compulsory, so you can fill salary and bank details later.
- On the web portal, go to My Team, click Add staff, then Add one staff, fill in the details and click Save.
- For many people at once, choose Add multiple staff, select the branch, download the template, fill it in and upload it under Upload Staff Details.
- To let staff fill in their own details, choose Invite staff and share it by Invite via Link or Invite via QR Code. You approve each person before they can punch in.
- On Android, tap Add Staff at the bottom right, enter the name and mobile number (or use Add From Contacts), pick a role under Permissions and tap Add Employee.
- On iPhone, tap Add Employee, enter the name and mobile number, select the branch, fill in Salary Payment Info and tap Add.
Choose how staff mark attendance in SalaryBox
SalaryBox sets attendance rules per employee, which is handy when office staff and field staff sit in the same company. Open My Team, tap the employee, scroll to Attendance and open Attendance Modes (on the web it's Attendance Details, then Update Attendance Mode).
- Keep Allow punch-in from the Staff App on. If it's off, the selfie, QR and GPS options stop working for that person.
- Turn on Selfie Attendance, QR Attendance or GPS Attendance, depending on how you want them to punch.
- For GPS, choose From Office to restrict punches to the branch, or From Anywhere for sales and delivery staff on the move.
- Set the office radius under Settings, then My Branch: click Edit next to the branch, enter the radius and click Update.
- On the Business plan, Settings then Attendance Settings also has Device Verification, Liveness Detection and Block Fake GPS Attendance to stop proxy punching.
How staff mark attendance on the SalaryBox app
For employees the daily routine takes a few seconds. The first login needs the phone's Location and Camera permissions (and Storage for documents); once they're allowed, the Punch-In button appears.
- Install SalaryBox from Google Play or the App Store and enter your registered mobile number.
- Enter the 6-digit code sent on WhatsApp and create a 4-digit PIN for future logins.
- Tap Allow Access for location and camera when asked.
- For selfie attendance, tap Punch-In, take a clear selfie and wait for the success message. Tap Punch Out the same way at the end of the shift.
- For QR attendance, scan the QR code at your workplace, then tap Punch In. Scan again and tap Punch Out when you leave.
- If breaks are switched on, tap Start Break and later End Break, each followed by Confirm.
- To check your record, tap My Profile at the bottom right and select View Attendance to see present, absent, half days, leave and week-offs.
Set up a SalaryBox kiosk or attendance machine
Where staff don't carry smartphones, such as on a factory floor or in a hotel back office, SalaryBox offers two shared options. The AI attendance kiosk runs on any phone or Android device with a front camera, while the biometric attendance machine is a fingerprint device sold as an add-on. Both are worth weighing up; our comparison of an attendance machine versus an attendance app covers the trade-offs.
- Create a kiosk: go to Settings, then Attendance Settings, then Attendance Kiosk, and enter the 10-digit mobile number of the employee who will manage it.
- Enrol faces on an Android device: go to Settings, Attendance Settings, AI Face Recognition, search the employee, tap Enrol Face and capture their photo.
- For a biometric device, buy it from inside the app (the pricing page lists it as an add-on without a price), connect it to Wi-Fi so punches sync to SalaryBox in real time, and add the employee in SalaryBox before enrolling their fingerprint on the device.
- Note that AI face recognition and the kiosk are listed on the Business plan, not Starter.
Shifts, punch corrections and SalaryBox attendance reports
Shifts are created under Settings, then Attendance Settings, then Shifts, where you can also limit how early staff may punch in (Allow punch-in before shift) and set a punch-out time limit.
If someone forgot to punch out or the time is wrong, go to Attendance, then Attendance Dashboard, open the employee and date, click the punch time, correct it (watch AM and PM) and save. If payroll for that month is already finalised, you first have to Unfinalize it under Payroll, then Run Payroll, and finalise again afterwards. A short monthly routine of fixing missed punches before you finalise salary saves most of this back-and-forth.
Reports sit under Reports, then Attendance on the web. The Daily Attendance Report and the Attendance Summary Report (XLSX) can be filtered by branch, department and month, and admins, branch admins and the company's CA can download them.
SalaryBox attendance not working? Fixes from its help centre
These are the punch-in errors SalaryBox's own FAQ addresses, with the fix for each:
- Move closer to the radius: the phone's GPS is outside the branch radius. The admin should check the branch address and radius under Settings, then Branches.
- Distance shows 600 metres or more while you're inside the office: open Google Maps to refresh the phone's location, then try Punch In again.
- Request Permission error: press and hold the SalaryBox icon, open App Info, then Permissions, and allow location and camera.
- You can mark attendance after your admin approves your request: you're on a new phone. The admin approves it under Pending Requests, then Device Verification.
- Punch-in not allowed before the shift: the shift only allows early punches within a set window, which the admin can change in the shift settings.
- Still showing Punch In after you punched in: a punch-out time limit is set on the shift; ask the admin to check it.
- Punch blocked by a fake GPS app: uninstall mock-location apps. Our article on preventing GPS spoofing explains why companies switch this check on.
- Can't log in or no Punch-In page: use the mobile number your employer registered, and ask the admin to confirm you've been added and approved.
Doing the same in Attend Mitra
Attend Mitra covers the same ground with a different setup. Staff are added from Employees in the web dashboard or imported from Excel, and each person clocks in with a face check, a GPS geofence or office Wi-Fi, depending on what you turn on.
- Add employees one by one or by Excel import from the web dashboard.
- Turn on face, geofence or Wi-Fi checks through the Verified Attendance module.
- Staff clock in on the Android or iOS app, which keeps working offline and syncs later.
- Use kiosk mode or QR code attendance for a shared device. If a clock-in fails, our face, GPS and Wi-Fi troubleshooting article lists the fixes.
Which is the better fit
SalaryBox suits owners who want one app for attendance and salary and are comfortable with quarterly billing and a base fee. Attend Mitra charges per employee with no base fee, which tends to work out cheaper for small teams, and adds offline clock-in; existing fingerprint machines only connect through a custom setup on larger plans. Our breakdown of whether SalaryBox is free and what it costs and the hub on marking attendance in popular HR apps can help you decide.