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[New] Square launches Tap to Pay on iPhone for US sellers

With new solution, Square makes it even easier for sellers to get started and provide a convenient commerce experience.

 

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Square today launched Tap to Pay on iPhone to its millions of sellers across the U.S. Available within the Square Point of Sale iOS app, Tap to Pay on iPhone lets sellers of all sizes accept contactless payments directly from their iPhone, with no additional hardware required and at no additional cost to the seller.

 

Through Tap to Pay on iPhone, Square is providing a solution that makes it easier for both new sellers and established businesses to conduct in-person commerce. Any Square merchant with a compatible iPhone can accept contactless payments by simply opening the Square POS app, ringing up the sale, and presenting their iPhone to the buyer. The buyer completes the payment by tapping a contactless payment method such as Apple Pay, another digital wallet, or a contactless credit or debit card. Tap to Pay on iPhone uses the built-in features of iPhone to keep the business’ and customers’ data private and secure. When a payment is processed, Apple doesn’t store card numbers on the device or on Apple servers.

 

Today’s public launch follows Square’s Early Access Program for Tap to Pay on iPhone, which began in June. Over the course of the program, a wide range of sellers found new value in the ability to seamlessly and securely conduct business with no additional hardware:

  • Mobile professionals like contractors and caterers gained the ability to securely take contactless payments onsite at their project location.
  • Retailers found new efficiency through line busting and the convenience of helping shoppers complete their purchase wherever they are in store.
  • Hairstylists and beauty professionals benefited from the speed and ease of enabling customers to pay for their services right from their chair.

 

“Deploying Tap to Pay on iPhone has really enhanced the retail experience we’re able to provide our shoppers, in multiple ways,” said Franco Salerno, owner of Warrington, Pennsylvania-based Darianna Bridal & Tuxedo and an Early Access Program participant. “Our young customer base would rather use their digital wallets or contactless cards, and rolling out Tap to Pay on iPhone has helped us meet our shoppers’ preferences with a convenient solution that also brings an air of sophistication to the buying experience. What’s more, given our store’s large footprint, we’ve been able to speed up purchases by bringing the checkout process to wherever our shoppers are.”

 

Powered by Square’s elegant, intuitive software, Tap to Pay on iPhone gives sellers a flexible, mobile solution that can adapt to any environment while meeting evolving consumer preferences for contactless payments. Shoppers also benefit from Square’s software, which creates a smooth, straightforward checkout experience that provides them with all the information needed to help them complete their purchase with confidence.

 

“As commerce continues to rapidly evolve and contactless adoption in the U.S. continues to grow, Square is focused on ensuring sellers of all types and sizes have the technology needed to delight their customers and never miss a sale,” said David Talach, Head of Financial Services at Square. “Tap to Pay on iPhone offers a new level of accessibility for merchants to begin taking payments in minutes and processing transactions in seconds from anywhere in the store or on the go without the need for a separate payments device.”

 

Tap to Pay on iPhone is the latest addition to Square’s growing slate of software-powered commerce tools and provides new merchants with an easy entry point into the company’s broader ecosystem of innovative business offerings. With just the Square POS app and a compatible iPhone, sellers can gain access to a fully integrated technology stack that helps them start, run, grow, or adapt their businesses.

 

Square sellers and new merchants can begin using Tap to Pay on iPhone today by downloading the Square POS app on compatible devices. For more information, please visit squareup.com/get/tap-to-pay.

 

About Square
Square helps sellers more easily run and grow their businesses with its integrated ecosystem of commerce solutions. Square offers purpose-built software to run complex restaurant, retail, and professional services operations, versatile e-commerce tools, embedded financial services and banking products, buy now, pay later functionality through Afterpay, staff management and payroll capabilities, and much more – all of which work together to save sellers time and effort. Millions of sellers across the globe trust Square to power their business and help them thrive in the economy. Square is part of Block, Inc. (NYSE: SQ), a global technology company with a focus on financial services. For more information, visit www.squareup.com.

34 Replies
Admin

Want to learn more about contactless payments and how they can benefit you later this year? Check out this article: 

5 Ways Contactless Payments will Benefit your Business this Holiday Season

 

Square Champion

@Ryan_M This is exciting news and will help a LOT of sellers be able to ring up sales without any additional hardware. Much appreciated. 

 

Will this feature be available on the Square for Retail app or Square Appointments? 

Square Champion

Does this only work on the newest Iphones? I still have a X.  Planning on upgrading this year. 

Square Champion

@Doran Yes, this is the minimum requirement from Apple: "Once Tap to Pay on iPhone becomes available, merchants will be able to unlock contactless payment acceptance through a supporting iOS app on an iPhone XS or later device."

Square Community Moderator

You will need an iPhone 11 or above running iOS 15.5 or later.  Per the FAQ at the bottom of this page. @Doran 

 

Edited to add source

Square Champion

I wonder if the iPhone XR is supported. It was released the same time as the iPhone XS, uses the same chipset as the XS, but has slightly less RAM and not as nice of a display. 

Admin

@TCSlaguna We hope to eventually make this available on all our POS apps, but it's still in development for now. 

Square Champion

Interesting @JJ_Macrumors assumed it was Apple's minimum requirements. Someone should correct them. 

Square Champion

Yay! We'll be so excited when it comes! 🎉🎉

Square Champion

Us here in the UK are still waiting 🤣

Just seeing the graphic though - would it be more intuitive for the info on the screen to be the other way up? So when you're holding out the phone to the customer the earpiece is towards the (with he reader bit) and then the text is the right way up for them. 

Square Champion

This is so cool! 

Did I miss a link to where we can see what iphones are compatible? I'm sure most are, but im over here with a home button still so maybe im not in the running to try this feature out!

Square Champion

(Redacted by OP.  Serious second thoughts…)

 

This is very cool.  Lowering the hardware entry-point for startup businesses is a great thing!  I’m glad that Square jumped on this new Apple capability, and am looking forward to it being available on other, “lesser” phone operating systems soon!

I logged into the Square app on my phone, using the Owner account and turned this on.  My phone is available as the reader.  Then I logged out of the app and back in with an ID with a team member role, and the reader is not available.  Attempting to reconnect to it is unsuccessful.  Is this only available for Owner or Administrator roles?  I was part of the beta tester group, if that matters.

Admin

@Lovewell You will need an iPhone 11 or above running iOS 15.5 or later.  Per the FAQ at the bottom of this page

Square Community Moderator

Hi @TheCatHouse ! This feature should be available even as a team member - since you were a part of the initial beta testing group, were you trying this out while using our testflight app, or with the regular POS app that was downloaded from the App Store? 

Wow, very interested. I'm excited to learn about this!

Hi, @MichelleSQ !  I was using the regular POS app.  I should also mention that I got a new phone (iPhone 14 Pro), which is running iOS 16.0.2. 

 

Thanks,

Faye

Square Community Moderator

Hi @TheCatHouse , I've sent you a DM to continue troubleshooting.

Square Champion

@Ryan_M Ryan the Beta test worked perfect and now it is rolled out that is great news and it is working very well

 

René

Square Champion

we just had our systems go down this week where we were on phone back up- this definitely will be useful for us in those cases or when we're doing a "road" event.

What about if people don’t have the tap option. Can u still have my device connected via Bluetooth? And is there an extra fee for the tap on phone option? Thank you!

Square Champion

This is awesome.  So glad Apple made this feature available and that Square is taking advantage of it.  

Square Champion

Thanks, this is great, Do you know if the feature that the Square Terminal has will be available for the iphone? Where if you ring an item up on Square register you can transfer it to the iphone to take the card. We work fairs and this would be great for us, we have a lot of electric mobility scooters that can't fit in our booth, it would be nice to ring up items then carry the iphone out to the customer to finish the sale.

When will it come back to the appointments app?

Square Community Moderator

Hey @Lphair99,

 

Just to make sure we are on the same page. Are you asking when the Tap to Pay on iPhone will be available on the Appointments app?

 

I look forward to your reply. 

Yes 

Square Champion

It's funny because we have had over the past two weeks now...clients asking us if we accept Apple Pay.  We're going to test this feature out for a week but I'm sure we're going to love it.  Send out a quick email to our clients letting them know they have a couple more new forms to pay and I think it's a win-win-situation lol 🙂

Square Champion

@Ryan_M It is still buggy. On my iPhone 14 Pro after each use when I look at something else on my phone. The tap reader disconnects. The chip reader stays connected. I then have to force close the app and then both readers open quickly.

When I restart the phone, the problem disappears for a week, and then it returns.

 

René

 

Admin

@GourmetOnWheels I'm sorry to hear you've been experiencing this issue. I've reached out to my contacts on the product team for Tap to Pay and provided them with your Merchant Token. They plan to take a look. They also have a few bug fixes rolling out soon that may fix the issue anyway.

 

Feel free to tag me again or DM me if you don't hear anything by mid next week.

Square Champion

Thanks, Ryan if the Marketing and POS team were so speedy it would make my life a lot easier.

René

Admin

Hi @GourmetOnWheels can you please tell me what app version you are currently using? 

Square Champion

@Ryan_M That is Version 6.2 on iPhone 14 PRO OS 16.1

Admin

@GourmetOnWheels The product team just let me know that they have made significant improvements to Tap to Pay in V6.3 which is available to 100% of sellers today. I'd recommend upgrading and maybe some of the bugs will be fixed for you.  V6.4 is also coming very soon and includes more bug fixes. 

Square Champion

I have no way to update it to v6.3

René

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