thread Re: Square not doing tap to pay in Hardware Setup & Troubleshooting

Square not doing tap to pay

EmileeDraws — Sun, 21 Sep 2025 10:11:18 GMT

Square terminal is not doing the blue screen tap to pay. It will only do a screen that says to swipe. It also won’t accept the swiped cards.

Re: Square not doing tap to pay

TheRealChipA — Sat, 27 Jan 2024 17:51:07 GMT

Hey @EmileeDraws. First, let’s verify. When you say “Square Terminal” are you talking about the device pictured below? I only ask because people regularly say “terminal” when they mean their tablet/phone-based POS with a reader attached. If that is the device you mean, we need some more information in order to give you some troubleshooting steps. Are you using the Terminal as a stand-alone device to take orders and payments? Are you using it in Connect Terminal mode to accept payments from orders rung up in your tablet/phone POS? If it is Connected Terminal mode, which POS are you using — Standard, Restaurants?

Re: Square not doing tap to pay

EmileeDraws — Sat, 27 Jan 2024 17:57:01 GMT

I am using the device pictured with my iPhone. I am using the square point of sale app and connecting through a device code.

This is the screen it shows for payment but I’d like the tap to pay screen and this screen also doesn’t do anything with a card swipe.

Re: Square not doing tap to pay

TheRealChipA — Sat, 27 Jan 2024 18:04:50 GMT

Ok. So Connected Terminal mode connected to an iPhone Standard POS. It should, however, show a screen that offers payment options, including the ability for the customer to tap their chip card or insert the chip in the bottom of the Terminal.

First, a dumb question. When you swipe the card, are you sure that the mag stripe is closest to the device (ie - stripe on the left when you are swiping down)? If so, I’m going to suggest that you factory reset the Terminal and re-connect it to your phone POS. Instruction are found here in the “Reset your terminal” section. I’m assuming that this used to work just fine for you and that the problem is a recent one.

Let me know if that helps or not.

Re: Square not doing tap to pay

EmileeDraws — Sat, 27 Jan 2024 18:06:31 GMT

This is a new device that I’m trying to set up properly.

How would I set it up to accept tap pay? It’s only showing that black and white screen and not the blue tap screen

Re: Square not doing tap to pay

TheRealChipA — Sat, 27 Jan 2024 18:09:04 GMT

Did you go through the setup steps in this help document?

Re: Square not doing tap to pay

EmileeDraws — Sat, 27 Jan 2024 18:21:24 GMT

I went through all of it and it only has the swipe to pay come up. I don’t know how to get the blue screen to pop up

Re: Square not doing tap to pay

TheRealChipA — Sat, 27 Jan 2024 18:26:28 GMT

That should happen automatically if the setup completes normally. That is why I was asking about that, of course.

Honestly, this sounds like something wrong with your new terminal, but I can’t be sure. I would definitely recommend doing a factory reset of the terminal and going through the connection process again. It is very possible that something went wrong during your initial setup.

However, if you don’t want to do that then you’ll need to get on the phone with customer support so they can investigate and help you. I have used these in Connected Terminal mode for two years now and I’ve never seen this happen. It usually quick and easy and works immediately.