thread Re: Contactless & Chip Reader not going into pairing mode in Payments Troubleshooting

Contactless & Chip Reader not going into pairing mode

gstroop10390 — Sat, 20 Sep 2025 07:52:55 GMT

My contactless & chip reader was working fine, ran out of battery one night, and I recharged it. Once I recharged it, it wouldn't reconnect to my phone.

I went through the troubleshooting for everything. I did multiple resets where I held the button until it flashed red and stopped, I let it die and recharged it again, I deleted it from Bluetooth on my phone, cleared my Bluetooth cache, deleted and re-installed the square POS app. Nothing has worked.

When I get to the flashing orange lights and release the buttons, the lights do not continue to flash. They turn red for a millisecond before they turn off, so it seems like it's an issue with the reader, and it's not actually going into pairing mode. Is there any other way to reset the reader so it will actually enter pairing mode?

Re: Contactless & Chip Reader not going into pairing mode

JK_Fiber_Art — Sun, 03 Mar 2024 02:39:39 GMT

Hi Gstroop10390,

Sounds like you've done quite a bit of troubleshooting. One last thought:

Force shutdown your reader (hard reset):

* Plug in the reader for at least 20 minutes to be sure it’s charged.
* 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.
* After 20 seconds, release the button and wait 10 seconds.
* Press the button again to turn the reader on and observe any lights on the reader.

If you have done this and it's still an issue - depending on how old your reader is, it may qualify for a Warranty Exchange. Note, the Community is not the same as Tech Support so all we can offer are tips from experience.