Recently, Square Reader disconnects from Samsung Galaxy Tab A8

[jgorman0]

About two weeks ago our Contactless Chip reader began disconnecting from our tablet after less than 10 minutes of connection time. Everything has worked fine prior to this time. The message says Reader Failed to Connect. I don't have permission to upload the Screen Shot

I have worked with Square Support but none of their suggestions fixed the issue. I was told to upgrade to the Ver 2 Reader which we did, but we are still facing the same issue.

Anyone aware of a recent change to Android or Square that would cause this issue? Thank you.

[SilverStarArt]

Samsung Tab 7A (old) and Samsung Tab 9+ (new). Square lists them both as compatible, of course, yet here we are.

[MayaP]

Good Morning @SilverStarArt,

I'm sorry to hear about the difficulties you've been experiencing with your Square Reader disconnecting from your Samsung Galaxy Tab A8, Tab 7A, and Tab 9+. I can understand how frustrating it must be to deal with these interruptions, especially when Square lists them as compatible devices.

If you've followed all the troubleshooting steps and are still experiencing issues, please contact our support team for further assistance. 

If our team is unable to resolve the problem, as mentioned earlier, the reader may need to be paired with a different device. Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.

[Yumasnow]

I have a Samsung Galaxy tab A8( sm-x200)

I have both generation 1 and generation 2 readers and my tablet will not stay connected to neither generation of card readers. I spent over an hour with tech support with no solution. I had a conversation via seller's community which was an ongoing conversation for 2 weeks. Did not have my problem resolved and they marked it as resolved. Still cannot connect with my tablets. Yes have updated everything. Yes I've done factory resets. Yes, uninstalled and reinstalled all software for tablets need help

[RobynR]

Hey @Yumasnow,

I went ahead and merged your post to an existing thread where you and other Square Sellers have discussed this topic as well. We merge duplicate conversations together to keep like comments in one place, and to make it easier for others to find the thread in the future. 

Please check out the Best Answer from above.

[jgorman0]

Thanks for the article Keith. I connected my tablet to my ear buds and they stay connected for hours w/o any activity so I don't think there is a sleep mode issue.

John

[MayaP]

Thank you for your patience, @jgorman0 @Yumasnow.

Our team has identified an issue with the Bluetooth stack on the Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 (SM-X200). They confirmed that the 1st generation contactless reader connects successfully with the device. We recommend continuing to use the 1st generation reader with the Samsung Tab A8.

If you're using the 2nd generation contactless reader, it will need to be paired with a different device. To help you identify which reader you have: the 1st generation Square Reader for contactless and chip has a micro USB charging port with the power button on the left side of the port.

The 2nd generation reader has a USB-C charging port with the power button on the right side.

Thank you guys again for bringing this to our attention. If you need any further assistance, please don't hesitate to reach out.

[Yumasnow]

 I have two first generation readers. They quit working on my tablet that's why I bought two more readers. So now I have four readers. None of them work unless I'm using my phone

[Yumasnow]

I still need further assistance. The issue has not been resolved for me. Still cannot connect using my older generation 1 readers

[sbf_admin]

Hi, I'm wondering if this issue has been resolved yet? I am noticing it is also an issue with our Galaxy Tab A7 which was not mentioned in the thread here. Is there a fix planned for readers disconnecting? We are usually able to reconnect but it does take us significant time each day. We currently have 8 tablets that we use and, as a non-profit, we are not able replace them all at one time.

[Candlestore]

@sbf_admin ;

From above someone else found this on a Samsung board:

I had the same problem with 1st and 2nd Gen Card Readers on both a Samsung tablet and a Samsung phone. Finally found a post on a Samsung user board that solved the problem:

On your Android device, go to'Settings'

Scroll down to  'Apps'
Select your 'Square Point Of Sale' app.

Search down for the "Battery" setting and change the option to 'Unrestricted.'

This will likely tax your battery more, but should let your device go to sleep and wake up and still have a Square connection.

See if this helps, I am thinking its some Power Savings feature either with the Tablet / Phone as descibed above or power savings in Square reader that we can not adjust besides leaving the Bluetooth reader Plugged in.

These suggestions and see if they help at all.

[MayaP]

That is super frustrating. I am letting our team know @Yumasnow.

[Yumasnow]

The first generation will connect for about 5 or 10 minutes. Then the next time I ring something up I have to click on more then click on settings and it will connect generation 2. I have to do a factory reset on the reader and then it will work for about 5 minutes

[jgorman0]

I received this email from Square Application Support Engineering:

Thank you for the detailed information regarding your experience with the Square App update and your Samsung Tab 8. I appreciate the time you took to provide this feedback.

Our engineering team has investigated the issue you've encountered with the Square Reader and the Samsung Tab 8. Unfortunately, this specific tablet model has some unique configurations that can occasionally conflict with the reader. This appears to be a limitation on the tablet's side, which has been observed in both past and current investigations.

Based on our findings, we recommend using the slightly older version of the reader with the serial number 134LS14605001284. While this may have caused issues previously, recent logs indicate that this version has been the most successful in maintaining a stable connection with the Samsung Tab 8.

I understand that this may not be an ideal solution, but it seems to be the most effective option given the tablet's limitations. If you need further assistance or additional support, please don't hesitate to reach out to me.

[Yumasnow]

Why is this issue marked as solved my issue has not been solved I tried using first generation card reader on my tablet and I'm still having the same issue as before

[jgorman0]

Right now our first generation reader remains connected to our tablet when the tablet is plugged in. This started happening after I downloaded an update to the Square App from Google Play on Monday.

[Yumasnow]

Glad they resolved your issue which I was as lucky

[jgorman0]

They did not resolve the issue. I just stumbled into a less than perfect solution...keeping the tablet plugged in keeps the connection for some reason.

[Yumasnow]

Wish they could resolve my issues. Seems like I've been ghosted. Guess I'm just going to go out and buy a tablet instead of being ran around in circles

[MayaP]

Hello @Yumasnow,

I'm still here and followed up with our engineering team last Thursday. They’ve confirmed that the issue isn't related to our software and that pairing the reader with a new device is necessary. I completely understand that having to purchase new hardware is far from ideal, and I sincerely appreciate your patience as we work through this.

Please know that our team is actively working on updating our support pages to prevent similar situations in the future. Your feedback has been invaluable in helping us improve, and I can’t thank you enough for bringing this to our attention.

If there’s anything else I can assist with, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

[Yumasnow]

I'm confused because the last update for my tablet was over 3 months old when this issue started and I had just installed a new update for square right around the time that I started having these issues. But whatever I'll just go buy another tablet through all this frustration and having gone through many contactless readers, I will say that I do like the new boss tab. Docking station seems to be a lot more waterproof and I won't be frying any more of my readers. Seems like I've purchased many of those

[jgorman0]

I asked the exact same question. Something happened recently to cause this and there has been no updates to the tablet. I don't know how we can buy a new tablet with confidence when the list of compatible devices is not up to date,