To make an airport pickup sign on your phone, open an LED sign app, type the passenger's surname (or a short welcome) in capitals, choose yellow or white letters on black, turn the phone sideways and set the text to stay still if it fits. Then change two settings so the screen doesn't dim or lock while you wait: Auto-Lock to Never and brightness to full. It takes a minute, and it reads from further away than a printed A4 sheet held at chest height. The rest of this guide covers what to write, colours, settings and where to stand.
Why use a phone instead of a paper sign
A paper sign needs a printer or a marker, gets folded in the car and is unreadable if your handwriting isn't large and neat. A phone sign has none of those problems. It's lit from inside, so it stays clear under mixed terminal lighting. You can fix a misspelled name in a second, and change the sign from "MR TANAKA" to "WELCOME HOME" between two pickups. The limit is size: a phone is smaller than a sheet of paper, so everything below is about making a few letters as large and clear as possible. If you have an iPad, use it. A bigger screen is the single best upgrade.
Step 1: Write the right thing
What goes on the sign depends on whether the passenger knows your face.
| Who you're meeting | Write | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| A guest or client you've never met | Surname in capitals: MS LEE or J LEE | Full name plus company and hotel |
| A group or event | The group name: ACME OFFSITE | A long event title |
| Family coming home | WELCOME HOME or their name | Paragraphs of in-jokes |
| A partner or friend | Their name, a nickname or one emoji | A string of emoji, which blur at distance |
| Someone who doesn't read English | Their name in their own script, if your app's fonts support it | Translations you're not sure of |
Two or three words is the target. For people you haven't met, a surname alone is safer than a full name: anyone in the hall can read the sign, and someone who knows a name and a company has enough to pretend to be your driver. If you agreed a code word or a company name with the passenger in advance, use that instead.
Step 2: Keep it still if it fits
A passenger walking out of customs, pushing a trolley and scanning a wall of faces gives your sign about a second. A still sign can be read in that second; a scrolling one may be halfway through the name. So if the text fits across the screen in landscape at a large size, set it to static. Only scroll if it doesn't fit, and then scroll slowly. If you're not sure where the line is, our sign checker was made for concerts, but it answers the same question for any short phone sign: whether to hold it still or scroll it, and what to cut.
Step 3: Pick colours for a bright hall
This is where an airport is different from a concert. A concert is dark, so any bright text wins. An arrivals hall is bright: ceiling lights, glass walls and daylight all hit your screen. You need maximum contrast.
- Yellow on black reads furthest, and looks like the signs professional drivers use.
- White on black is nearly as good.
- Black on yellow is a good alternative, and looks most like a printed sign.
- Avoid dark blue or dark red letters, pastel colours and photo backgrounds. They all wash out under bright light.
Tilt the screen slightly down toward the passengers' eye line, not straight up at the ceiling. That cuts the reflection of the lights above you.
Step 4: Change these settings before you leave home
- Auto-Lock → Never. Settings → Display & Brightness → Auto-Lock. Flights land late and immigration queues are long, and you don't want the sign to go dark just as the doors open. Set it back afterwards.
- Low Power Mode → off. On iPhone, Low Power Mode limits Auto-Lock to 30 seconds, which overrides the setting above.
- Brightness → full. Drag it up in Control Center. If Auto-Brightness keeps lowering it, turn it off under Settings → Accessibility → Display & Text Size.
- Charge it. A screen at full brightness for an hour uses a lot of battery, and you'll still need your phone to call the passenger. Bring a power bank if the flight is delayed.
Before you hold the sign up, check the flight on the airline's app or the arrivals board. "Landed" is not "out": on an international flight, passengers with checked bags usually come through 20 to 45 minutes after landing, sometimes longer.
Step 5: Use an app that won't put an ad on the sign
Many free LED banner apps show full-screen ads, lock basic colours behind a weekly subscription or need an internet connection. That's annoying at home and a real problem when the passenger is walking out of the doors. We built LiveMarquee so that doesn't happen. Type the text, pick the colours, set the scroll speed to Static or a slow scroll, and tap play. It never shows ads, works fully offline (handy if airport Wi-Fi asks you to sign in) and doesn't upload what you type anywhere. It runs on iPhone and iPad.
To be upfront about the free version: it plays your sign 3 times in a row, then pauses for 30 minutes. At the airport, that means you should get the sign ready, then start playing it when passengers from the flight begin coming out, instead of testing it over and over while you wait. The free colours are black and white, so white on black is free and yellow needs Premium. Premium removes the play limit and unlocks the full colour palette and themes, weekly, yearly or as a one-time lifetime purchase. If you'd like to compare it with the other options first, we rounded them up in the best LED marquee apps for iPhone and LEDit alternatives.
Step 6: Stand where the passenger will look
- Find the right door. Big airports have several arrival halls. The arrivals board, or the airline's app, shows the terminal and sometimes the exit.
- Stand at the barrier, slightly to the side. Passengers look straight ahead as they come out, then sweep left and right. Being just off the centre line puts you in that sweep without blocking the walkway.
- Hold it at chest to face height, sideways. Landscape gives you the biggest letters. Higher than your head and the passenger has to look up; lower than your chest and the people in front of you hide it.
- Watch the bag tags. When people with the same airline tags start coming out, that's your flight. Start the sign then.
Frequently asked questions
What should I write on an airport pickup sign?
For someone you haven't met, write the surname in capitals, or a first initial and surname, plus a company or group name if it helps them recognise it. For family or friends, a short welcome such as WELCOME HOME or their name with a heart works well. Keep it to two or three words so the letters stay large, and leave out phone numbers and flight details, which strangers can read too.
Can I use my phone as an airport sign?
Yes. An LED sign app shows your text full screen in large letters, and a phone at full brightness is easy to read from the arrivals door. It also means no printing, no cardboard to carry and no wasted paper. Turn the phone sideways, keep the message short, and set Auto-Lock to Never before you start waiting so the screen doesn't switch off.
Which colours are easiest to read on an airport sign?
Arrivals halls are bright, so the screen competes with ceiling lights and daylight. Yellow or white text on a black background reads furthest, and black text on yellow is a good alternative that looks like a printed sign. Avoid dark blue or red text, pale pastels and any background picture, which all fade under bright lights.
Where should I stand with a pickup sign at the airport?
Stand near the barrier facing the doors passengers come through, a little to the side of the exit so you are in their line of sight without blocking the walkway. Check the arrivals board for the right terminal and hall, and hold the sign up once the first passengers from that flight start coming out, which is usually 20 to 45 minutes after landing on an international flight.
A pickup sign with no ads on it
LiveMarquee turns your iPhone or iPad into a bright LED sign. No ads, no account, and it works offline.
Download LiveMarquee on the App Store →Related: How to Make a Concert Sign on Your Phone · The Best LED Marquee Apps for iPhone. Questions? Email us.