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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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Verified Answer

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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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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Beta Member

A few times a week we run in to something similar. We go into the settings menu/cardreader. Look for your contactless cardreader (1) and then "identify reader". The reader should flash and then work.  Sometimes it stops for card dips and Apple Pay even though its connected.

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Square

@VCB Check out these steps above to get your reader working a little more reliably. 

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VCB - Thank you!  I tried everything else and this worked.

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Thank you for responding. I have tried what you suggested several times and everything does what it should but then the tap still won’t work. I replaced the old one with a new one and it still won’t work. I think I either have something checked that shouldn’t be in settings or not checked that should. 

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This issue is similar to mine, I also have a chip/contactless reader. I actually called square 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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Do you recommend I just bite the bullet and buy a new one if my reader is about 2 years old?  Will this clear up the problem?  

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Square Community Moderator

Hi there, @jmalin54 👋 Thanks for reaching out here on the Seller Community! Good to have you join us here.

 

I am happy to answer any questions about the Contactless & Chip Card reader. What issue are you experiencing, specifically? Most issues we can troubleshoot here on the Seller Community, but we may need to get some more details from you. We would love to get it resolved in hopes that you won't have to purchase a new reader.

 

I will keep an eye out for your response! 

Joe
Community Moderator, Square
Sign in and click Mark as Best Answer if my reply answers your question.
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Thank you VCB. You finally gave me the basic information I needed. Go to Square settings and tell the Square app to connect to the reader. I had already reset the reader and it still wouldn't connect to my new iPad. 

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The last 2 months my client have not been able to swipe or put in the chip into my Square Reader so they have been manually putting the part numbers and why is that? Is there something wrong with the card reader? Or are there updates that I need to do?

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Square Community Moderator

@Vernaspearman1 This thread has a few troubleshooting tips that might help. Check out the information above!

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My chip reader will connect for the first sale of the day, then it shuts off after not using it. When I try to turn it back on, it doesn't connect and I have to swipe it. Why? 

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Square Community Moderator

@Juliacreative Sorry to hear about the trouble. Check out the troubleshooting tips listed above. Hopefully one of them does the trick for you!

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Why does my wireless chip reader show "Square Reader Updating" but there is no progress? LG G4Wireless

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Square

That's no good! Try the troubleshooting steps on the first page of this thread, sounds like you may just need to do a hard reset of you reader.

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Thanks so much for the advice on how to turn off the chip reader, and then turn back on.  That solved my problem.  It had worked the day before, and then, when I really needed it, I couldn't get it to connect.  Now I know what to do.

Thanks thanks thanks.

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Having trouble when insetting chip reader....phone says "waiting on secure connection"...takes a very long time or not at all...any advice  ?

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Alumni

Hey @Spritz - Have you tried all of our troubleshooting steps already?

Puka - She/They
Seller Community UX Designer
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I bought my chip wireless over a year ago, but never used it.  This weekend I have a show, so went to set it up.  I've gone through the troubleshooting and it still doesn't work.  I get the message "establishing secure connection" on top of my phone.  When pushing "Charge" it goes to the screen for alternative payment options.  I never see a single green light on the wireless reader. Under settings I have the reader with serial number, but under that is "Connecting."  I have a Samsung Note 3 and Model 56 Contactless + Chip Card reader.

 

  • Force quit the Square app and reopen it. [Done]
  • Delete and reinstall the Square app. [Done]
  • Turn your mobile device off and back on. [Done]
  • 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. [Next to each other]

 

  1. Plug in the reader for at least 20 minutes to be sure it’s charged. [Done, 4 green lights]
  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. [Done]
  3. After 20 seconds, release the button and wait 10 seconds. [Done]
  4. Press the button again to turn the reader on and observe any lights on the reader. [4 Green]

Turn all the volumes of phone to high [Done]

 

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Square Community Moderator

@SawdustSteve Sorry to hear about the trouble, and thanks for listing out your troubleshooting steps. That's a huge help in figuring out what might be happening. 

 

Did you make sure that your bluetooth was turned on, and did you go through the correct steps to pair your contactless reader

 

One thing you could try is to make sure your device operating system is fully up to date. 

 

Try updating your OS to the latest version and see if that helps. 

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