Why is "Tap to Pay on iPhone" no working?

[caseyhillwell]

I recently purchased a new iPhone 15 Plus.   Since then the "Tap to Pay on iPhone" option has not been working. First it says, "We encountered an error when connecting to Tap to Pay. Select the button below to try again."  When I click on the aforementioned "button below" it immediately says "We're unable to connect to Tap to Pay. Please restart Square Point of Sale or your iPhone."   I've tried both, restarting the app and restarting the phone and it doesn't work.   Likewise, I have also gone into Settings > Account > Tap to Pay on iPhone > Enable.  I have also clicked on "Manage your Apple ID" and linked Square with my Apple ID.  I received an email from Apple saying that my phone should be ready to go and receive contactless payments.  But alas... the cycle repeats and "Tap to Pay on iPhone" still isn't working. 

[JK_Fiber_Art]

Hi Caseyhillwell,

Sounds like you did the best troubleshooting you could do from your end.  As the Community is not the same as Tech Support, you may want to consider contacting them for assistance.   Tap to Pay is a great feature for sure as you don't need any additional hardware but, it can be a bit fickle sometimes.  It does need a reliable internet connection and does not always like to cooperate if you have other apps open.  Something to consider as an option down the road - Square's contactless and chip reader works great (at least it has for us) - you can connect it to your smart phone via bluetooth.  It beats loosing a sale !  Note, it's an extra investment but, it's worth it.

[Summer2024]

Hi there @caseyhillwell ! I see this is your first post here, so I would like to welcome you to the community! 😀

Going off of what @JK_Fiber_Art has said, I would like to provide you with this article that goes through some troubleshooting steps. 

If this does not work, I suggest reaching out to our Support team at 1-855-700-6000. They are available Monday-Friday from 6am PST- 6pm PST.

Please let me know if you have any other questions and once again welcome to the community! 

[wsbolen]

I was just told by Square tech support that this is a known issue and stated it was a problem with the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max on Apple's side. It has been an issue for 6 months but Apple "has not fixed it". I, personally, do not know who to believe on this as Apple states it is a Square software issue. Either way, we are all stuck in the middle.

[SFIngrid]

I have the same problem and neither square support or apple has been able to fix the problem.  Have you had any luck? 

[davidtuan]

Has your device suffered a strong impact? One time I broke my NFC chip due to a strong impact and couldn't pay. And used the Apple care service then used it normally again

[SFIngrid]

I have the same problem and neither square support or apple has been able to fix the problem.  My problem also started in October.  My iPhone 15 worked fine and tap to pay on iPhone worked.  I think there was a square app update in early October, and since that time, I get the exact same error messages that you do. Have you had any luck getting it fixed? 

[Haircutnow]

Same problem here. 

[ChilliProject]

Mine used to work seamlessly, then one day it stopped working altogther.

We're unable to connect Tap to Pay. Pleas Restart Square Point of Sale on your iPhone.

Pic - https://ibb.co/VTtJ3f0

I have restarted the app, updated the app, reinstalled the app, restarted my iphone. None of which help. 

[TheParchedGoat]

We are having the exact same issue. We have spent hours on the phone with tech support and they can't figure it out. We have multiple phones on the same phone plan and same square app and only one phone isn't working. 

[ChillyZ]

All the same phones? Apple? Which model? 

[Amanda10]

Any resolution to this?  I've been messaging with square customer support and they can't figure it out.  Ever since I got my iPhone 15, the phone has not been able to connect to square.  

[Emasnj]

same with us....we have multiple employees and tap to pay works on their iphones but mine (owner) does not.  Was with Square support for couple hours and in the end they said to contact Apple.  Apple checked iphone and no issues.  Don't know what to do next?

[Tmsnnn37]

Same problem for me as well. Square and apple support are of no help after numerous calls and have no solution for me. 

[ChillyZ]

Having the same problem. iPhone 15 

Some have posted they have the problem but others at work or in family don’t have the problem. What phones are used for those without issue? 
anyone tried it on iPhone 16? 

[Roxyred609]

I am currently having the same problem with my iPhone 13 Pro Max. I was at work on a Friday and it worked perfectly and then on Tuesday when I return to work the tap to pay on the phone will not work. It keeps saying there’s an error. I am waiting on my new phone to come through the mail to see if that makes it work, and if not, then it’s definitely something through Square.

[GSmomma]

UGGGGHHHH. 

I hate the gaslighting.

[deboraham12]

I’m curious if all of you have Square Appointments or Square Point of Sale? I was having reader issues. Same runaround and no help from Square. I decided to stop checking out through the Appointments App and start checking out of the Square POS App. No reader  issues for 2 days now. I’m wondering if Square Appointments is the problem? 

[Adrian_au]

Hi, I used to receive "Tap to Pay" from my customers on my iPhone 13 with no problem, but since I replaced to iPhone 16 I started to  encounter the same problem. I was tapping the customer card on different positions and nothing. After a while the error message would come up to try it again later. So I started to think what was the difference from my new iPhone 16 from my previous iPhone 13, and I realized it was my iPhone case. I have an magnetic wallet case, so I completely removed the iPhone from the wallet case to try it. For my surprise it worked. So the magnetics on the wallet was causing problems to the NFC chip receiver. Interesting is that it doesn't interfere on the NFC when I'm making payments myself at the shops. So try that removing it from the case and let me know if it works?

[mikevandoorn]

I have the exact same problem. Just updated my phone to iOS 18.3.1, and......drumroll....it WORKED again. So in my case having a pending update for iOS might have caused the problem, maybe...