New Square Stand

[Woodcrest]

Any plans for a new Square Stand? Ideally one that is adjustable in terms of iPad size and connectors?

It seems like these should be adjustable so when the iPad's change, we can still use our existing stands.

e.g. the iPad 2019 (7th generation) is not supported since the size has increased to 10.2.

Holding off on adding a second location if there is new hardware coming out in the near term for "future proofing".

[Joe]

Hi there, @Woodcrest. Thanks for posting this here. Love seeing new faces around the Community, especially when they bring strong content - so welcome! 

From what I gather, you are not the only one with this on your mind. Apple has brought a lot of change to the iPad as of late, so I agree that a change may be needed soon. 

All of this to say, we don't have any timeline for a new Square Stand or update to share at the moment. We will be sure to update this thread if anything changes down the road. 

[Woodcrest]

Yes, would be useful.

We recently were forced to buy an ipad 2018 (6th gen) since we needed the stand. These are actually discontinued by Apple. So they are pretty hard to find now. Retailers no longer carry it so we're left to 3rd party marketplaces. I'm sure Square's supply will dwindle as well (unless you guys have some special arrangement with Apple).

[BensBrewingCo]

Completely agree. I have spent lots of time trying to compare old iPad pro specs vs iPad 6th generation only because Square Stand requires me to find something in that 9.7" size..... I still haven't bought, but need to to expand our workflow. Like anything else, if Square would just communicate on a timeline, we could all save ourselves a lot of time trying to hack our way through.

Also to buy a 6th generation iPad on Amazon I basically have to buy a refurb for the same or more money as a new 7th generation would be.

[MMVintage]

The square stand is not technically outdated but it can use improvements. Not to mention the fact that it uses an iPad that was released two years ago (and is now difficult to buy) is preventing me (and probably a lot more business owners) from fully switching to square. I’m relatively new to square and I don’t plan on purchasing a 2 year old stand for a 2 year old device. 

I’m sure square wouldn’t force its users to use a device that is quickly becoming obsolete so there must be an update in development. On that note, I have some hardware suggestions/requests. 

Ethernet support. I would definitely prefer the reliability and speed of Ethernet over WiFi. 

A built in customer display or support for a wired external display. I would love for customers to be able to see the price of each item as I’m ringing them up. This is especially important when giving discounts. If they could sign on this screen, that would be a plus. The current iOS customer display solution is great but a wired “plug and play” solution would be preferable. If I lock the iPad or have to use another app, I don’t want to have to reconnect the devices. 

I’m not an engineer but would it be at all possible to use the iPads camera as a barcode scanner? Theoretically you could even integrate a small mirror in the stand to “point” the camera straight down for a more traditional feeling barcode scanner setup (instead of holding up a tag behind your iPad rather awkwardly). 

More than three USB ports. There’s a sizable list of accessories I would like to use including the standard printer/drawer combo, a usb connected reader, and bar code scanner in case my previous suggestion is not feasible. Hooking up a cash drawer to a printer means that if my printer malfunctions, my cash drawer cannot be used so I would prefer to use a usb cash drawer over a printer based one. 

An easier way to remove the iPad from the stand. I’ve read that it’s hard to do and requires some elbow grease. I understand that this is for security and to prevent the iPad from being stolen but there has to be a way to do this without making it a pain for sellers to remove their own iPads from the stand. 

That’s all that’s on my mind but I’m sure other sellers have more feedback/suggestions so if y’all want, feel free to add them here!

[Joe]

Hi there, @MMVintage 👋 Welcome here to the Seller Community! We are happy to have you join us and make your first post. We hope that this space can prove to be a valuable resource as you grow your business with Square. Welcome! 

First things first - I am tagging all of our Hardware Product Teams here on your post to get visibility. These teams monitor specifically what our Sellers are asking for in regards to their needs and ideas, and this is definitely something they will want to get eyes on.

Each of your suggestions are great! Specifically, I think the barcode scanner option working in conjunction with the camera software on the iPad would be phenomenal. We have also fielded a lot of feedback here on the Seller Community about how the iPad was difficult to remove from the Stand - so we hear you on that one, as well. 

We agree that there are quite a few improvements we can implement into the next generation of the Square Stand. Our Engineers and Product Teams are in the process of exploring and developing what this new product will entail, and while we don't have a shareable timeline just yet, we hope to be able to share some positive updates soon. 

I've gone ahead and merged your post into an existing thread of Sellers who also shared some thoughts on a new Square Stand. This will help us keep track of those we can reach out to when we have more to share.

Thanks, again! Hope to hear more from you soon!