What are the troubleshooting steps for the Contactless and Chip Card Reader?

[Gav]

For the past few months my contactless chip reader won't process payment. It connects to my Note5, but when I press the charge amount and the reader green light goes on, it won't accept the payment. I leave the chip card in the reader for a while then a red light goes on and the phone says need to re-connect the reader. But the app says the reader is connected when I go back to the register screen. I'm thinking something is wrong with the reader but nowhere does it show there is an error. Very frustrating! 

[#2]

Hey @hairninja76, I'm sorry your reader is taking longer than usual to connect - that sounds pretty frustrating! These pairing troubleshooting steps usually help. It's also important that your phone's software is up to date, and the Point of Sale app is up to date too! 

If those troubleshooting steps don't resolve this issue for you, please don't hesitate to call our team who can take a closer look. 

[Phibetapaca]

Battery won't stay charged. Using an electrical outlet and charging overnight, all I get when I press the button are four green lights that go on and three seconds later they go off. Help

[Sean]

Hi @Phibetapaca. Sorry to hear about the trouble. I went ahead and merged your post with another on the topic. If you've already tried all of the troubleshooting steps outlined here, you may need to initiate a warranty exchange. 

[Indigohands]

 I am trying to pair my iPhone with my square chip reader and will my device show up under the Bluetooth column it just looks like it's searching and has not come up with a device. My device, chip reader Seems to be working properly with the flashing orange lights.

[Russell]

Hi @Indigohands - 

Sorry to hear about this. This thread has troubleshooting steps that should get your device paired. I also recommend taking a look at our Support Center article about pairing the Contactless + Chip Card reader.

[needtotalk]

I cannot figure how to install the chip reader with my Iphone 7 plus. So frustrated!!!

[Russell]

Hi @needtotalk - welcome to the community!

I moved your post to this thread. Make sure to check out the Best Answer provided by @Kelly for ways to get your Contactless + Chip Card reader connected. 👍

[Melissala5]

This reply was created from merging an existing thread: “Contactless Chip reader won't pair. Why?” 

My contactless chip reader will not pair with any of my devices. It shows up on POS, but wond't pair. I keep getting the message that it didn't pair & to try again. Still will not pair! It's fully charged. 

[emilygaiser]

We started having problems with our card reader disconnecting about a month... or 6 weeks ago.  Our tablet & Chip Reader happened to get stolen 2 weeks ago and we replaced them.  We have not been able to keep the new Chip Reader connected to the new tablet long enough to use it.  We are only open for business 2 or 3 days a week, and in different locations.  I hoped we just had bad reception, or something... but this weekend was the same.  All that to say, we are - & have been - struggling with ours repeatedly.  We've used them since the initial roll-out and never had much trouble until a little over a month ago.

[EJ_]

@emilygaiser @Melissala5 Sorry to hear you both have been having trouble with your Square Contactless and Chip Card Reader. 

I'm especially sorry to hear that your tablet and and reader were stolen 😢 . That's a terrible thing to go through. 

Have you tried any troubleshooting? Check out this Support Center article to see if any of the listed tips help: 

Square Contactless and Chip Card Reader Troubleshooting

Let me know if this does the trick for you, and if not we can try investigating a bit further. 

[noonehere]

 it would it would help to know what kind of a device you're trying to pair it with if it's a Samsung Note or Galaxy, I believe they just recently(2 months ago) had a software update that knocked out the Bluetooth low energy part that the reader used to connect... for whatever reason it affected the card readers  and would cause them not to pair..... I'm not sure if this was just a Verizon issue or whether other providers were having the same problem.  just two days ago I went in and checked and it showed there was an update available for my phone even though I was not notified of it and I had to go and look for it.  I have since done the update Andrea tempted to pair my wireless reader and it pairs just fine,  I noticed when I did connect and it paired that it also updated the reader somehow so I think they've made some kind of change in the reader software as well as the phone software but I'm no expert.   good luck hope it helps

[Homemart]

Chip reader doesn't blink orange to connect ??

Been using for a while , without much issue my reader. It just disconnected from the iPad and to reconnect I can't get it to blink orange, while pressing the button .

any idea?

[Russell]

Hey there @Homemart - I'm sorry to hear about the trouble. 

I went ahead and moved your post to this thread. Take a look at @Kelly's post sharing troubleshooting steps for the Contactless + Chip Card reader. Hopefully these steps will get you back up and running. If for some reason you still have trouble, please get in touch with our Support Team by email or phone. 

[PTCLLC]

My reader won't pair with my iPad and the orange lights no longer flash. Goes straight to red. Is my reader dead? It worked yesterday.

[puka]

@PTCLLC - I've merged your post with a thread on the same topic. I would double check that your chip reader is fully charged first and if the tips on this thread doesn't help, you can check out more at My Reader won't pair with my device. Definitely feel free to let us know if you have any further questions!

[DoughChicks62]

My chip reader stopped pairing. I have used it consistently for the past year.

[RHatch]

@DoughChicks62 - What device are you using? iPad, iPhone, Android

Here are a few things to look at:

Obviously make sure the reader is fully charged.  

Make sure your device software is up to date

Make sure the Square app are up to date.

Go to your bluetooth settings and remove it by clicking on it and selecting "Remove this Device".  Turn off Bluetooth, Turn it back on and pair the reader again. 

[DistrictSpice]

I recently updated the Android OS on our phones (Samsung Galaxy S5 - software version G900VVRU2DQF2, and Samsung Note 4 - software version N910VVRU2CQF2), and now our chip card readers will not connect to the phones. I followed the steps to connect the chip card reader to the phones, but the 4 orange lights continue blinking indefinitely.

I have already attempted the following steps to mitigate the issue but without any success.

1) Restart the phone.

2) Log out/in to Square.

3) Turn off/on bluetooth.

4) Restart card chip reader.

5) Uninstall and reinstall Square app.

Our card swipe sensors work just fine, but I want to get our chip card readers reconnected asap. Thank you.

[Helen]

Sorry for the frustration!

I've moved your post here so you can see Kelly's Best Answer that includes some additional troubleshooting steps. These usually do the trick! 

If the readers still aren't pairing you can submit a warranty claim.

[LBHeintz]

I am having issues with my wireless square reader as well after my Note 4 update. It is definitely a software issue with Samsung, as I did a warranty replacement and the new reader is doing the same thing. My Note 4 updated first and would no longer pair.  My wife's phone would still connect, as it was not yet updated to the latest software version. After updating my wife's phone to the new version from Samsung, it would no longer pair with our square reader. Any help would be great, as Samsung needs to fix this issue. 

[noonehere]

I am not aware of any fix yet.  I'm in the same boat with my Note 4.  The only work around I have found was to pair it with an old Elipsys tablet that is technically outdated since it can only be updated as far as jellybean...bummed my kids tablet off of him and paired it with that so I can still process cards and not have to do a manual key in...

Still waiting 😞

[Hopewell]

Both of my Galaxy S5 phones received a software update this morning.

Since then, I have not been able to use or pair my Contactless + Chip reader with either of my phones.

I have gone thru the procedure in the Square app to pair the phones with the reader.

Reader is fully charged.

Serial number checks.

Orange lights on reader flash for over a minute but does not pair with either phone.

I have powered off / on my phones several times 

I have turned the bluetooth on / off several times

Any suggestions