thread Square Register- Pending Payments Issue in Hardware Setup & Troubleshooting

Square Register- Pending Payments Issue

Sopfrie — Sun, 21 Sep 2025 07:43:03 GMT

Hello Seller Community!

Recently, our square register is acting up. All of our recent payment transactions are currently pending. From the looks of it, square servers aren't down and the internet works just fine. I restarted the terminal and switched internet connections and that still didn't work.

When I tried using Square on my iPad, the transaction went through and it even shows on the register. But when I do a transaction on my register, it goes through but marks it pending.

Some things to note:

The terminal is on the latest version (5.43.0101)
I forced the register to log out and resigned back in but that still doesn't work
Someone else has a similar issue.

Does anyone have an explanation to this? If you know what is going on please let me know!

Re: Square Register- Pending Payments Issue

TheRealChipA — Sat, 10 Feb 2024 18:43:06 GMT

Hi @Sopfrie. This is a long-shot but it is something that has tripped up other sellers, myself included, before. Did you by any chance recently switch to a Square for Restaurants subscription?

Re: Square Register- Pending Payments Issue

Sopfrie — Sat, 10 Feb 2024 18:52:25 GMT

Hey @TheRealChipA,

I think I did? It was 6 months ago when I wanted to try out the Square for Restaurant experience. I didn't purchase any subscription ; I've only tried it. It wasn't until this point where this strange phenomenon occured.

I hope this helps!

Re: Square Register- Pending Payments Issue

TheRealChipA — Sat, 10 Feb 2024 19:32:05 GMT

Thanks, @Sopfrie. So, that does help and it gives me a suspicion, though I can NOT figure out why this just came up. I’m sorry for 20 questions, but it is important so that I don’t have you do something you’ll regret.

Are you still using Square for Restaurants Free tier?
Are you using the Restaurants POS?
Do you settle tips (if any) manually from amounts that customers write on printed/signed receipts?
Can you post a screen shot of the screen where your are seeing “pending” transactions?

Once I know those things, I can help you, I think.

Re: Square Register- Pending Payments Issue

Sopfrie — Sat, 10 Feb 2024 21:04:50 GMT

Hey @TheRealChipA,

No worries for asking 20 questions! I'm fine with it.

Yes, I am using the restaurants free tier.
Nope, I'm still using Square for Retail.
We disable tips. Keep in mind we run on a cash only environment.

I hope this helps!

Re: Square Register- Pending Payments Issue

TheRealChipA — Sat, 10 Feb 2024 21:17:40 GMT

@Sopfrie That screen shot was very helpful! I assume that you are connected to WiFi on that device AND that you have checked the connection to be sure the device is finding the internet.

What you have here are DEFINITELY transactions that seem to have run in offline mode, though why that would be I can not say. But you only have 24 hours before they start getting rejected and that would not be good. I’m going to take a few admins since it is Saturday. I’ve seen these two skulking around on the board so hopefully one of them is still around.

@MayaP @BernadetteA these transactions look like they were taken in offline mode even though @Sopfrie doesn’t think they should have been. Hopefully @Sopfrie can confirm that they are, indeed, connected to the internet and you can help figure out why these are still pending before they are lost forever! Thanks!

Re: Square Register- Pending Payments Issue

Sopfrie — Sat, 10 Feb 2024 21:26:42 GMT

@TheRealChipA

Yep, It is connected via Ethernet. I did check to see if WIFI would make a difference and it did not.

You don't need to worry about the transactions, they are made with cash and I have a photo of all the transactions on those that are currently pending. I appreciate the help though.

Re: Square Register- Pending Payments Issue

MayaP — Sat, 10 Feb 2024 21:33:01 GMT

Hey there @The light yellow banner is the offline mode banner. I am glad these are cash payments, so we don't have to worry about losing them! Try rebooting the register, turning the Wi-Fi off/on in your settings on the Register, connecting to a different network or hotspot on your phone, and rebooting your router. If you tried everything outlined in our support article, and it is still not connecting then I could contact support. I hope this helps!

Re: Square Register- Pending Payments Issue

MayaP — Sat, 10 Feb 2024 21:38:30 GMT

Also, check your Wi-Fi speed. Since you took a cash payment you could factory reset the device too, the only thing is you might lose the transactions for record-keeping purposes, but resetting sometimes can help clear out things and connect back to the network @Sopfrie.

Re: Square Register- Pending Payments Issue

Sopfrie — Mon, 12 Feb 2024 11:40:45 GMT

Hey @MayaP

Sorry for the late reply but in the end, I did factory reset the machine and it worked!

Thank you and to @TheRealChipA for helping me out!