Alerts and messages on screen

When you’re done, your screen will react to things as they happen — and rotate your own messages in between.

The four things that can appear

  • A new follower — a short celebration when your follower count goes up.
  • A tip — shown as it lands, which is the part that makes other people tip.
  • Your own messages — anything you want the room to know, rotating on a timer.
  • The Hype Display mark — on free screens only.

Follower alerts

Before you startFollower alerts is included on Performer and up. Compare plans.

These need Instagram connected. Once it is, the screen watches your follower count and celebrates when it moves.

Follower alerts count new followers — they never name them. Instagram doesn’t tell us who followed you, so an alert can say “+1” but never who it was. What the alerts can show.

Tip alerts

Before you startLive tip alerts is included on Performer and up. Compare plans.

A tip alert is the most direct piece of social proof on the screen. One person tipping in front of a room reliably produces more.

Your own messages

Before you startRotating messages is included on Performer and up. Compare plans.
  1. Open Display settings and choose the Engage tab.
  2. Add a message. A short line and a supporting line is the shape that reads.
  3. Choose whether it shows your QR code alongside. For anything asking people to do something, it should.
  4. Set how often the rotation comes round and how long each message holds.

Check it workedWait for one rotation in the preview. Your message should appear, hold, and clear on its own.

Messages worth having up:

  • “Follow for the tracklist” — the most reliable one there is.
  • “Playing here again on the 14th” — a date the room can act on.
  • “Requests? Scan.” — turns a tap on the shoulder into a page visit.
Leave a long gap between rotations. A message every few minutes is a presence; a message every thirty seconds is a billboard, and rooms stop seeing billboards.

The mark on a free screen

A trial never removes the Hype Display watermark, whatever plan it gives you. Only a paid plan does. Why.

If it didn’t work

Alerts never fire. Follower alerts need Instagram connected, which is a Performer feature. Tip alerts need tips turned on.

Two things appeared at once. They queue rather than stack, so the second waits for the first. If a lot happens together, expect a short backlog rather than a pile-up.

Last updated 2026-08-01