Square says my Android device is rooted BUT its not!

[ConnectMe]

Square you need to allow all android devices that are not rooted which mine is not to have access to the contactless chip reader, I cant connect, 2 months old from the OPTUS store, i've checked the rooting of the device and it comes up with no root. 

You need to upgrade the software please because i'm not the only one getting this message out there. 

[Seamus · Accepted solution]

Hey there,

Thank you for your message! 

The message that you're seeing saying your device is rooted may be related to Developer Options being enabled on your phone. Apps to check the rooting of a mobile device also need to be uninstalled from your mobile device before you can connect a Square Reader.

If you've already disabled developer options, restart your phone, and have another go. I would also recommend checking your phone's compatibility on our page!

We are always working towards having more Android compatibility, but sometimes a mobile device does not meet all the security requirements to support card processing, and we need to be mindful of our customers' private card information being processed securely.

Cheers!

[PeterT]

Hi all. While this may not be a solution for everyone, it's working for me. After trying several Android phones and tablets of different makes and models with no success on most and limited success on one, I have found one that appears to be reliable.

I bought a Nokia 1 Plus in a Vodafone store for $109. I didn't do anything to it except install the Square app and it connected first time to the reader and I successfully made a transaction. It is locked to VF, however, in my case that doesn't matter as it will be dedicated to the card reader and I don't need a SIM. I simply connect to my personal mobile Wifi hotspot to get Internet connectivity to process transactions. For me this is a relatively cheap solution to a problem that doesn't appear will be addressed by Square anytime soon.

Good luck to everyone else still experiencing problems.

[CalN]

I just wanted to say, after running into a similar problem on my verified unrooted Samsung S10, I uninstalled and reinstalled the Square app, and voila, it worked immediately.  Obviously, no guarantee this will work, but an easy thing to try.  Good luck!

[Djm998]

Galaxy S9 here and this problem is doing my head in.

It worked fine initially, then it updated its own software and now it won't connect (root message). I've tried: 

- Uninstalling and reinstalling the square software

- Factory resetting my phone

- Using the Beta App

This problem needs to be fixed 😞

[Terrytell]

Same issue as above. Using a Samsung Galaxy s10+. Error measage says my device is rooted which it is not. Tried reinstalling app, restarting the reader, etc. Nothing works.

Please let me know how to fix.

Thanks!

[Seamus]

Hey @Terrytell and @Djm998,

Sorry to hear you're having trouble with the app on your Samsung devices.

Unfortunately we don't have much more to add here that we haven't already covered in this thread.

The most likely culprit is an app that impacts the phone in such a manner that our app detects the phone as rooted. One app I've heard of that has been causing these issues of late is XRecorder, a screen recording app. If you have this or any other apps that record the phone's screen or alter the way the OS operates I recommend uninstalling them and trying again.

[Terrytell]

Thank you for the response.

I tried uninstalling a bunch of apps but to no avail. Unfortunately i will have to return the card reader as it does not seem to be working properly.

[scrags72]

This exact thing happened to me! Galaxy S9+, was working perfectly fine, then the app has performed an update through Google Play Store and it hasn't worked since...

I can't believe Support are telling everyone it's due to an app on their phones that's causing incompatibility.... 

[vidcel]

Why doesn't Square get there techs to create a small app that scans your phone and reports to us what app if it is an app that is causing the problem so we can remove it.

A little bit of help from Square would be great rather than the it's not our fault answer.

I'm sure if the Square app can work out something is not right then it should be able to tell us what it is.

[PalmPete]

Reinstalling the app that I had migrated from my old Samsung Note Edge to my new Xiaomi note 10 Pro worked.

[AvilaVista]

Thanks for the update, motivated me to try it on my new Xiaomi Redmi Note 8T with NFC, which works with GooglePay and Visa, unlike my old Xiaomi.

Unfortunately it tells me my new phone is rooted, too.

I think the only thing that is rooted here is Square's support. 🙄

[Warinayn]

how do you do this? I have ahd this problem for the last 2 months on my redmi note 10 pro. Reader was working fine, the all od a sudden stopped working. I reinstalled the square app and restarted ohoe which helped for a month but the last 2 weeks i can't get it to work at all. i bought a new reader and same issue.

[pelebonitaspa]

Hello, 
I have the same issue. I have a Google Pixel 3 XL. The contactless reader use to work and not work. And now, it does work at all. When I called in, the only option was to buy a new reader. 
I run a small business that is craziness. It almost makes me want to switch a bigger brand to handle my payments in-store.

There has to be a software fix for this. It does not seem like a hardware issue.

[Seamus]

Hey @pelebonitaspa,

Please note that buying a new reader will not solve this issue - sorry that you received this advice.

We heard a few reports late yesterday of an Android update conflicting with Square's security protocol and our engineers are looking into it - are you able to try again and see if the issue is still occuring?

[pelebonitaspa]

I called in again today, and had a more technical person who filed a ticket with pictures/videos that sent him. He said he is 100% a software issue with Android, since iOS is not facing the same problem.

Please work on this issue. Since it's not working as of 9pm today.

[Seamus]

Hey @pelebonitaspa,

Based on the time you've quoted here you maybe be possibly looking for our US or Canadian Seller Community? You've reached Australia! 

As per the previous post, our engineers are working on the issue 👍

[Justout]

Hi Seamus,

This issue is unfortunately continuing to occur. I have a Samsung Galaxy S7. I am getting the dreaded phone Rooted error. Phone has never been rooted and developer options are Off. Obviously there is an app or phone setting causing this error as I have tried it on other devices and it works fine, But I need it to work on MY device. As it has been a few months since any comments on this thread, I was hoping you could advise that Square have discovered the cause of this issue and we can all amend our devices to now be compatible.

[creativeoutlet]

I just bought a new phone Xiaomi Poco F3 and this same message

would not allow my square to hook up. I went into settings, Portable Hotspots,

and turned on Bluetooth Tethering. Now my Square hooks up to phone 

and i do not get the root phone error anymore. 

[wyck]

Just bought my brand new Square Reader.   I checked before purchasing that it was compatible with my Sony Xperia XZ Premium - Square said 'yes'.  Out of the box it tells me "Device Not Supported - Rooted devices are not supported."  My phone is NOT rooted.  It has never been rooted.  I have run apps to double-check.  So I have a useless reader that is not fit for purpose and does NOT do what it is advertised to do...

[Laurie_]

Hi, @wyck, thanks for reaching out to let us know and sorry to hear you're running into these issues.

While your device is listed as a compatible device, we're unable to confirm on our end whether your Android device has developer options enabled (the setting required to customise your Android operating software).

Each device is different and may come with certain settings already enabled, so we recommend first confirming this option has been disabled on your device in order to be able to successfully run the Square Point of Sale app.

To turn off developer options on your device, you may need to first activate it for the menu option to appear in your device Settings. Please follow the steps below:

1. Navigate to Settings > Developer Options on your device.
2. Toggle Developer Options off.
3. If you can’t see the Developer Options menu:

4. Tap About Device.
5. Tap Software information.
6. Tap Build Number 7 times.
7. You will see a prompt on the screen indicating developer options are enabled.
8. Tap the back arrow to navigate back to Settings.
9. Tap Developer Options.
10. Toggle Developer Options off.

This will disable Developer Options on your device. Please open the Square Point of Sale app and try to connect your reader again.

If the reader still does not pair, please try the following steps.

1. Go to Settings on your device.
2. Tap on More Settings.
3. Disable the button ‘Allow Hisuite to use HDB’.

Note: Since developer mode is activated within the Android system, you may need to factory reset your device, or reach out to your service provider in order to resolve this issue. We can attempt the above troubleshooting steps, but this may require additional assistance from your device’s provider.

[wyck]

Tried the enable / disable developer steps above - made no difference.  The enable hisuite steps are not relevant as my device is a Sony, NOT a Huawei.

[Laurie_]

Hi, @wyck, thanks for giving these steps a go and sorry to hear this hasn't resolved the issue for you.

We're unable to offer further assistance in device troubleshooting outside of what I sent through in my previous comment. At this point, I would strongly recommend reaching out to your service provider or performing a factory reset of your device to resolve the issue.

There may be additional resources online that go through the steps to disable this mode specifically on a Sony Xperia XZ Premium that isn't covered in our general Android steps above, however, I haven't personally come across a device where these steps haven't worked - so this is definitely a first!
 

Should a factory reset or third-party solution resolve the issue for you, please feel free to share this with us in this thread, as other Sellers may find this beneficial. 

Otherwise, the only other advice I can offer you is to try and source another compatible device to use with Square.