General Troubleshooting
There is a list of basic checks you can do for many issues you may encounter with Square Terminal.
Please make sure to walk through the following before going through issue-specific troubleshooting steps:
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Make sure your device is fully charged. Double-check the battery symbol in the upper right hand corner to see your battery level.
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Make sure your device has the latest software. To update your Square Terminal software, tap More > Settings > Hardware. Tap General > About Terminal > Software Update. If you don’t see the option to update your software then you are all set.
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Make sure your device’s date and time are accurate. If they’re wrong, please update them via the Settings section. Select More > Hardware > General > Date and Time and adjust accordingly.
Wi-Fi Troubleshooting
- Confirm Square Terminal is connected to Wi-Fi.
- Toggle Wi-Fi off and on in More > Settings > Hardware > Network and check to make sure that you see a checkmark next to the network to which you are trying to connect. Confirm that you see the Wi-Fi status indicator on the top right corner of the status bar.
- Confirm Wi-Fi signal strength.
- Confirm that you have a strong Wi-Fi signal by checking other devices (such as phones, tablets or laptops) on your network near the location of your Square Terminal. The Wi-Fi status indicator in the upper right corner of the status bar should have 3-4 white bars to indicate a strong signal. Depending on the position of your router, you may need to move your Square Terminal closer to your router.
Payment Troubleshooting
Tap/contactless payments aren’t recognized
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Transaction over $100 on Tap/ Contactless might not process for security reasons.
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It is possible that the contactless card or NFC-enabled phone is damaged or broken. In this case, ask your customer to present a different form of payment.
Chip cards aren’t recognized.
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Ensure chip cards are inserted with the chip facing up.
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The chip may be damaged. In this case, ask your customer to present a different form of payment.
Reset your Terminal
On rare occasions, you may need to perform a factory reset. Before resetting your Terminal, please have the following information on hand since you’ll need it to log back in afterwards:
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Wi-Fi network name and password.
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Device code.
To reset your Square Terminal:
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Tap More.
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Select Settings > Hardware.
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Tap General > About Terminal.
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Scroll to the bottom of the screen and tap Factory Reset > Confirm Factory Reset.
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Tap Reset one last time. From here the countdown will begin and your Terminal will reset.
Note: If you’re unable to access the Terminal settings, hold down the power button for 10 seconds until you see a black screen with a count-down timer. Keep holding down the power button on that timer goes to 0 and the screen says you can release the power button.
Once the reset is complete, you’ll need to:
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Go back through basic setup questions like your timezone.
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Reconnect to the Internet.
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Device code.