Can you connect both the Square Terminal and an iPad to a cash drawer and receipt printer?

[Katcookie]

Can you have both the square terminal as well as the iPad with the cash drawer and the receipt connected together 

[JustinC · Accepted solution]

Hey @Katcookie - 

This type of configuration won't work with the internal printer built into the Square Terminal, but perhaps connecting an Ethernet printer and printer driven cash drawer to both your iPad and Terminal is your best option.

You'll just need to plug the LAN cable in an internet router and create printer stations in-app on both your devices. As long as your iPad and your Terminal are connected to the same network, your printer will communicate via a wifi signal. Learn how to set up a printer station here. 

I hope this helps!

[JustinC · Accepted solution]

Hey @Katcookie - 

This type of configuration won't work with the internal printer built into the Square Terminal, but perhaps connecting an Ethernet printer and printer driven cash drawer to both your iPad and Terminal is your best option.

You'll just need to plug the LAN cable in an internet router and create printer stations in-app on both your devices. As long as your iPad and your Terminal are connected to the same network, your printer will communicate via a wifi signal. Learn how to set up a printer station here. 

I hope this helps!

[bryanbrookes]

I also bought the terminal to use as a customer interface to the transaction. 

The solution I had in mind is I ring up the transaction, and the customer pays and finishes on the terminal. 

What does it take to be heard as a customer? What does it take to get something in the pipeline if so many people are requesting this be done? How many “I bought this because I figured it would do this” replies does it take for someone to hear us and realize they missed the mark on a feature that a ton of us expected it to have?

I just purchased a business that’s processing with a hybrid shopkeep/square setup now and I’m trying to simplify. I’m tired of looking for the perfect POS solution when I already own all of the hardware, we just need you guys to make it work.

[AutoButler]

Can the Square terminal communicate with an IPad for processing credit cards and printing receipts

[nika]

Hey there @AutoButler!

Take a peek at @JustinC's answer on this thread for more information on setting up a printing station with the iPad and Terminal. 

To answer the first part of your question, the Terminal is a standalone Point of Sale that can process payments on it's own- just as the iPad can. So you wouldn't need to connect it to an iPad for the sake of processing payments. Unless you have a unique situation that this would make sense? Feel free to share some more information on your business and set up if you'd like so we can get a better feel for what it is you're looking to do and why!

[crystal-meadow]

I have a similar question, so I'll share my rationale for why I want to be able to hook up my terminal to my iPad. I cannot view the full description of my products on the terminal, so can't tell if I'm choosing the right one! I have an iPad Pro 12.9 that I would like to use to ring up the customer and I'm wondering if I can do that on my side and have the customer insert their card into the terminal and sign, then have the terminal print the receipt for two reasons: 1. social distancing (I don't want both of us to have to touch the terminal if I can avoid it) and 2. I don't want to have to buy a separate receipt printer right now... So, can I have the terminal hooked up to my iPad to process payments and print the receipt, but ring up the sale on my iPad? (WITHOUT parking a ticket on my iPad and then opening the ticket on the terminal)

[isabelle · Accepted solution]

Hey @crystal-meadow.

Thanks for reaching out! As of right now, there isn't a way for the Square Terminal to function as the reader, while the app is processing the sale on the iPad. I can see how this would be beneficial though, so I'll make sure to pass this suggestion along to the appropriate team that already has visibility into Community threads.

Thanks again for taking the time to post about this feature request, and how you would find it beneficial. This is really great insight for us when we look into developing feature requests. 

[DBC1]

I'm with this person, if we could make this happen, it would be very very useful!

[Joe]

Thanks for adding your voice in support here, @DBC1! Should anything come down the pipeline in regards to this feature, we will let everyone know here on this thread. Cheers!

[John-Zinc]

Please create this feature. This can save us a little instead of once again purchasing a brand new set of POS

[TACOMORY]

Would be a fantastic feature! 

[Joe]

Thanks for adding your voice in support of this Feature Request, @TACOMORY. We hope to be able to introduce some helpful integrations for this kind of device communication in the near future. Thank for hanging with us! 

[pastonacre]

Please hurry up and do this - it’s such an obvious flaw to the system 

[Joe]

Hi again, @pastonacre - thanks for adding your voice here again. Still no update for you. When changes do come down the pipeline, we will bounce back here and let you know. 

[pastonacre]

I need this too

[TCDtavern]

Completely agree, I just purchased the terminal expecting it to do this, because it is logical, so very disappointed it doesn't. My staff have given up trying to use it. If the update comes through, would existing terminals be updated or would we have to buy again?

[jbaggott078]

Yes, I would have purchased several Terminal for my new business if I could use my existing iPad Pro with it. The employee should be able to use the iPad and the customer should use the Terminal to view price and swipe/tap/dip credit card. This is critical during Coronavirus rather than sharing the same unit. Please do the moral thing here Square! Your register is outdated because it requires passing a credit card to the cashier to swipe so this is the only real solution for a new world.  

[SCB1961]

+1; this functionality would be ideal as the Gray Square Register is too slow...

[OurBeauty]

Would love this feature as well. I’d love to replace the contactless card reader that comes with the stand with the Terminal so that customers can see what they’re paying for 

[anabia]

Hi, I was informed in the summer when COVID first started and was informed that Square was hoping for this to happen by December.  Is there any news or updates you can provide?  Not only is this a “nice to have” but a true necessity during COVID.

[JustinC]

@anabia

I don't think connecting the Terminal as a keypad or an extension to an iPad is in the pipeline. Sorry for the misunderstanding. If anything changes, we'll update this thread.