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

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! 

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Re: Anyone else having the chip reader take a long time to connect?

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. 

1 Best Answer
Square

Best Answer

That's no good!

 

We have an article that outlines some of the best troubleshooting tips for Contactless reader trouble: Square Contactless and Chip Card Reader Troubleshooting

 

Try these steps below to get your reader up and running: 

 

  1. Force quit the Square app and reopen it.
  2. Delete and reinstall the Square app. Note: If you’ve recently accepted payments while in Offline Mode and haven’t uploaded them, don’t delete and reinstall the app or you’ll lose these transactions. Connect your mobile device to the Internet to complete these payments before deleting the app.
  3. Turn your mobile device off and back on.
  4. If the reader and device are more than 10ft apart, the reader will have trouble maintaining a consistent connection. Move your reader and device closer when in use.

If these tips don’t solve the trouble, force shutdown your reader:

 

  1. Plug in the reader for at least 20 minutes to be sure it’s charged.
  2. While the reader is charging, use a bobby pin, pen cap, or paper clip to firmly press and hold the button on the reader for 20 seconds.
  3. After 20 seconds, release the button and wait 10 seconds.
  4. Press the button again to turn the reader on and observe any lights on the reader.

 

If the reader lights turn on, you’re all set. If the lights don’t turn on, please try again and make sure to firmly press and hold the reader’s button for a full 20 seconds.

 

If that doesn’t do the trick, you can submit a warranty claim to receive a replacement.

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This reply was created from merging an existing thread: Anyone else having the chip card reader take a long time to connect?


It takes a long time to connect whether im connected to wifi or using my phones wifi. I use it when im charging my contactless chip reader.

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Admin

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. 

️ Helen
Seller Community Manager

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We've been having an issues with people trying to use their debit cards/debit visas for payments. Td/rbc debit and debit visa seems to be giving the most issues.

 

We were thinking of upgrading to the newest square payment system but these errors are costing us business.

 

 

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We just started operating, and are having the same issue.

 

I've used square insert at other stores and worked but for some reason its not working on our reader either.

 

Very frustrating if I'm trying to close out a transaction in a short time span.

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Square Community Moderator

I'm really sorry to hear the issues you guys are having! This isn't normal behavior, so I believe some troubleshooting may help us narrow down what was going on. I've merged your thread to another one that has been very helpful. 

AshleyK
Community Moderator, Square
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My reader is rejected. Wont pair on androud

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Square Community Moderator

Hi @dhodiak

 

I moved your post to a board with visibility!

 

Check out the best answer on this post for ways to troubleshoot your reader. 

 

Let me know if those did not do the trick and we can take a deeper look!

Kassi
Community Moderator, Square
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I thought My second phones bluetooth was turned off.  apparently it was not.  I was having the non linking of the contactless reader problem.  Once I had the other phones bluetooth turned off.  Connection was easy as it should be.

 

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Square Community Moderator

This is a great tip, @TaserPrime - glad to hear you were able to get your Square Reader connected!

 

As always, feel free to stop by The Community with question, concerns and even feature requests. We are more than happy to assist. 🙂

 

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my reader is not working

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Square Community Moderator

Hi there @ddw1

 

Welcome to the Seller Community!

 

Check out this thread's Best Answer for troubleshooting steps for your reader. If those don't do the trick, I would recommend reaching out to our Customer Support team directly.  http://squ.re/contact/

 

 

Kassi
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I have the same problem, only I use samsung android products (very new so no issues). I have a tablet and galax S phone - all updated and work fine with all other apps I have on them. I have used square for quite a while no with no issues until recently after I recieved the email from square that the chip contactless reader can now take debit, tap, credit card etc. I have customers who prefer debit card as not everyone has a credit card. 

 

Now when trying to use it, my tablet and phone keep saying they need to be paired for an update. Its orange at the top and says 'Press Button Reader to Connect' - anyway I took the appropiate steps to connect - pressed the button on the chip reader until the 4 orange lights came on - then I stopped pressing the button so it could connect.  It did connect successfully (according to the message on the screen) - SUDDENLY after successfully connecting within seconds it disconnected itself,  it says 'Reader update failed'   

However it does not mention WHY this happened or how to troubleshoot the problem and again Square has not offered any real solutions to this issue either.

 

Still trying to figure out how to get it to update itself or what the issue is to begin with?  Why all of a sudden is this happening? 

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Square Community Moderator

Hi @legalwork123

 

Try doing a hard reset on the reader. Here is an article to help with the steps on how to do that.  

 

Also, I have moved your post to a board with other sellers that provided some troubleshooting steps. 

Kassi
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Hi @Kassi_  

 

I tried your link and I tried that method, it did not work - everything remains the same, as soon as it begins it immediately stops pairing/updating itself - within seconds of successfully pairing itself to begin with.

 

If anyone has the cure I would love to hear from you - does anyone know why all of sudden this is happening? 

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Square Community Moderator

@legalwork123 

 

I am sorry to hear that! I would recommend reaching out to our Customer Success team directly on this app issue. Use this link to get your Customer Code- http://squ.re/contact/

 

(Tip: after clicking the link above, hit More > I Don't See My Issue. There, our phone number will generate along with your customer code).

Kassi
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I took your advice and called square's customer service to see if that would help, it did not. 

 

In fact I learned a few things. The customer service agent walked me through several steps, we discovered that my app was fully updated, as it shows in google play store the date and time stamp that the app was last updated. We tried to updated it several different ways through the square app, none worked. 

 

In the end what I learned from the customer agent was that there was nothing wrong with my apps at all and the issue was with the reader itself, the issue is with the technology inside the reader. Square's technology.  The agent said square offers a warranty for (I think) 1 year when you buy it new, however my device was over 1 year old so I no longer had any warranty coverage. I mentioned to her that square never, not even once, offered me any extended warranty, not by email, verbally or any messaging system, nor was I ever told that the warranty would be ending on so and so date (not even out of common courtesy).  Basically I was never given any opportunity whether I wanted the warranty or not.  I asked her about square sending me a new contactless chip reader, she said not without the warranty (which I have none at this point), and if I wanted to use it I would have to buy a new one.  I asked about getting a discount if I was to purchase a new one, she said no, I would have to pay full price again. It didn't matter that I already bought one that worked fine until their recent update and that it was their technology that failed. 

 

Square readers are designed to last a certain amount of time (in my case just over 1 year). I never had any issue with it until the latest email blast about square unlocking the readers to accept debit card, tap and such through the contactless reader. As it has an insert part to it that never worked before, I guess, because square did not have permission to accept debit and such in Canada.

 

Someone mentioned to me just in a general conversation, how they were sure the way technology works now-a-days is that all devices are designed to fail within a certain amount of time. This is how they get people to keep buying new devices at a much higher cost. Basically they force people into a corner where they have no other choice but to buy or go without. Looks like the person who told me this was right, as the failure in my case is on square's side, it is their technology that failed me, not the other way around.  I did inform that agent that I fully intended to share the information I learned from that telephone call. 

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Please help

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Square Community Moderator

Hey @Tish2

 

I moved your post to a board with visibility!

 

Here is a article on troubleshooting steps to help your Contactless + Chip Reader.

 

Also, you can check out the Best Answer on this post for troubleshooting tips.

 

Let me know if those did not do the trick and we can take a deeper look!

Kassi
Community Moderator, Square
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my iPhone is updated, reader is charged, Square software is updated.

 

Square reader is connected via bluetooth on iPhone but not recognized as connected when attempting to process payment in the app.  

 

Help please.

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Square Community Moderator

Hey there @storieland - 

 

Welcome to the Seller Community and thank you for your post! I have merged this over to a board under a similar topic and it contains a Best Answer post for troubleshooting your hardware. 

 

Check out this article to help troubleshoot your Contactless + Chip Reader.

 

Let me know if those didn't help at all and I can take another look!

Kassi
Community Moderator, Square
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My contactless chip reader is pairing with my square stand but when I press charge it doesn’t light up or work with a card

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