You're correct. We're not currently able to offer Android compatiblity with bluetooth printers, but this is definitely a popular feature request. While I don't have an ETA to offer on that front, we're always working to bring the same compatibility for all devices we support.
As always, keep an eye out for app updates from the Play Store.
This reply was created from merging an existing thread: Feature Requests & the Seller Community
@rdCPNHA I agree it would be great to be able to use the same bar code scanner with both Apple and Android devices, but unfortunately I don't have a timeline to share on when that will be possible.
I appreciate your patience thus far but I do understand if you need to check out other processors. In the meantime. I'll share your request with our Hardware team and we'll continue to advocate for this feature for you.
Don't get me wrong I don't want to move from Square. If we could get compatibility for the IOS on the iPhone and the Socket that would go a long way. It works on an iPad so creating the same capiblilty on the iPhone seem slike a reasonable request. That way we could sell anywhere there was cell service. At present we have to teather the iPad to the phone and that has proven to be unreliable at best.
Thank you for your response to the group. I am another unfortunate purchaser of the mPOP receipt printer/cash drawer and was not aware that it did not support Android (as the Square website proudly states that it supports Android). I already have an android tablet to be used as a register and am not keen to purchase/switch to an apple product, mostly because I have already invested money in the android tablet.
My question is: the Star mPOP utility is able to communicate without issue to the printer/cash drawer from my android tablet (as are other web printing apps), so there isn't an apparent issue. I can print receipt samples, test data and open the cash drawer without issue, so why can't you just work with Star Micronics to integrate their code/API into the Square Android app? I would think that this is a huge market that Square is choosing to ignore (just think of the hundreds of thousands of credit card transactions you're potentially missing out on just because there is no support for a VERY popular line of Star printers/cash drawers).
You shouldn't expect too much from Square. The Square Android app is in an extremely weird situation right now. It doesn't support Bluetooth accessories, and insists on using USB-OTG only, but the industry is rapidly moving towards using USB-C. If you bought any top tier Android devices this year (or late 2017), none of them can use the Square app with any accessories: no USB barcode scanner, no USB printer, no USB cash drawer. If they couldn't even fix this problem, I don't know why they would bother supporting Star's printer API.
@3ROSMT Helen here stepping in for Chad who is out of the office today. We can't share timelines in the Seller Community but this is definitely a feature our hardware and engineering teams are aware of and they are tracking this closely.
You don't understand Helen -- new Android devices that use the USB-C connector does not work with USB OTG the way the Square app expects. THEY JUST DON'T WORK. Ask your engineer team to try it themselves. I've tried on a Pixel XL and Pixel 2 XL. Even when I connected them to a USB-C OTG adapter, Square supported hardwares were only recognized by the Android OS, but not the Square app (for example, the Android OS could see a Square supported barcode scanner, but the Square app did not).
We have the SquareUP app installed on a Samsung Galaxy Tab. The card reader is working. We set up an Epson TM-P20 Bluetooth printer. We can print a test page from the tablet. The POS software will not recognize the printer. Is there anything we can do to make this work?
When reviewing that list, keep in mind that the bluetooth printers listed in that aren’t supported with Android devices at this time. There's a column on the right-hand side that shows if a listed printer is compatible with Android devices ✅ or not compatible ❌.
