thread Re: Secure Session Denail - Tap to Pay & Square Reader in Payments Troubleshooting

Secure Session Denail - Tap to Pay & Square Reader

Pulsebass — Sun, 21 Sep 2025 12:38:42 GMT

Hi Everybody,

I have an Android Samsung S23 Ultra. Square has been flawless until today!

For some reason I have been getting the message "Secure Session denial" for both the square reader and now "Tap to Pay".

I have tried all the usuals—Uninstalling App, Forgetting all Bluetooth devices, Checking app permissions etc.

Updates etc..

Any ideas?

Re: Secure Session Denail - Tap to Pay & Square Reader

Breffni — Wed, 09 Aug 2023 08:01:12 GMT

Hi @Pulsebass - thanks for flagging this and sorry to hear you're having some trouble.

I had a look at our compatibility page and there should be no problem connecting your device to the Reader.

Thank you for running through all of the troubleshooting steps so far.

When you have a moment, can you try to disable Developer Options on your phone and then re-pair the Reader, I'll leave the steps below.

Navigate to Settings section of your device > Developer Options
Toggle Developer Options off.

If you can’t see the Developer Options menu:

Tap About Device
Tap Build Number 7 times > you will see a prompt on the screen indicating developer options are enabled
Tap the back arrow to navigate back to Settings
Tap Developer Options > toggle Developer Options OFF.

Open Square Point of Sale App:

1) Settings > Hardware > Card Readers > forget all card readers

2. Force-quit Square Point of Sale App

3. Open device settings

4. Navigate to Bluetooth

5. Forget all Square Readers

6. Hold the button on the reader until the lights flash red

7. Reboot the Device

8. Re-launch Square Point of Sale app, wait 1-2 minutes, and re-pair the Reader

Please let me know how this goes.

Re: Secure Session Denail - Tap to Pay & Square Reader

pandalock — Tue, 15 Aug 2023 08:05:50 GMT

Don't know if it helps anyone else puzzling over this but I have found that after turning on "Developer Mode" to add security access (usually for Tasker related access) and turning it back off I have to uninstall Square-Up, then restart the phone then reinstall Square-Up.

If I just re-install Square-Up without restarting the phone, the error persists.

My phone is a Samsung Galaxy S22 and I very occasionally make use of the Touch and Pay

Re: Secure Session Denail - Tap to Pay & Square Reader

Pulsebass — Tue, 15 Aug 2023 08:43:58 GMT

Thanks guys, Turns out I may have had a faulty reader. I purchased a new one and it works fine.

Re: Secure Session Denail - Tap to Pay & Square Reader

Breffni — Tue, 15 Aug 2023 12:39:47 GMT

Glad to hear you got this resolved @Pulsebass - thanks for letting us know! 🙂