Hi Jennifer,
Your assumption is correct: you will use your smartphone during the check-in process only to take pictures of your workplace and the surrounding environment. I do not remember the exact procedure, but you will get a code on your phone, allowing you to establish a connection with the OnVUE system. As soon as I submitted the pictures, I put my smartphone away.
If you would like to become more familiar with the procedure, I'd recommend you to run a system test at the following link (
home.pearsonvue.com/pmi/onvue
). This includes a test on your computer and the procedure to take pictures of the test environment. I was a bit anxious about it, so I run the test many times before the exam day ;P
I hope this helps,
Gabriella