thread Re: Galaxy S9 + Device is Rooted in Payments Troubleshooting

Galaxy S9 + Device is Rooted

shortaj — Sun, 21 Sep 2025 10:19:03 GMT

My Galaxy S9+ was working perfectly with the Square Reader, now when I connect the reader it is telling me the device is rooted.

But it isn't. I have no root checking apps on my phone and all software on the device is up to date.

Developer Options have also been disabled.

Tried calling your 1800 number but its useless if you need to call on the weekend (Like today)

Previous answers to others with the same problem are not supporting enough....c'mon square, up your game.

Re: Galaxy S9 + Device is Rooted

Seamus — Mon, 27 May 2019 00:29:58 GMT

Hey @shortaj, thanks for reaching out.

Our Customer Success team is more than willing to give you a hand to sort this out if you wanted to try to call us again today!

Otherwise, most of the time when an Android device gets this error message while connecting to a Square Reader, it needs to be restored to its factory settings. There may be a setting/app that is interfering with Square's network, which needs to be very secure in order to process credit cards.

I would suggest restoring your S9+ to factory settings after you have made any necessary backup, and then try to reconnect your Square hardware!

Let us know how you get on 😊

Re: Galaxy S9 + Device is Rooted

shortaj — Sat, 29 Jun 2019 03:09:10 GMT

Let me tell you how I got on.

I got a brand new Galaxy S10+

No Software yet installed.

Installed Square and Bang! Same message. Rooted devices not supported.

This is a Brand Spanking UnRooted Phone.

Re: Galaxy S9 + Device is Rooted

Seamus — Mon, 01 Jul 2019 06:06:16 GMT

Hey @shortaj,

Where did you purchase the phone from?

If you're receiving that message it's still because we're detecting a modified build of the Android OS that doesn't meet required device security requirements as per PCI Compliance. I checked with someone in our Melbourne office who has an s10+ and we're able to get things going on that device - all I can imagine is maybe the provider you purchased the device from had it pre-modified in some way?

Re: Galaxy S9 + Device is Rooted

shortaj — Tue, 02 Jul 2019 17:55:10 GMT

It was purchased from an Optus Retail Store. I also have an iPad from the same store that works with square..... cant see why they would modify a phone.

Re: Galaxy S9 + Device is Rooted

Seamus — Fri, 05 Jul 2019 00:00:23 GMT

Hey @shortaj,

If you're able to use an iOS device with Square we'd definitely recommend it.

Android is a very open operating system, and allows users to root their devices, turn on developer modes, tweak how the OS functions etc. It also allows companies who sell devices to customise how the Android operating system works on each device and pre-install their own apps. This is why we sometimes see errors such as the "rooted device" on Android devices that should otherwise work fine with Square.

Essentially, there is something on that specific device that is causing a conflict with Square's ability to take payments in as secure an environment as we need to.

iOS on the other hand, is a very walled-off operating system - by default Apple do not allow users to root their devices or make fundamental changes to how the operating system works (doing so is actually a violation of Apple's Terms of Service), so these issues rarely occur with iOS.