thread Re: My Square terminal is frozen in Payments Troubleshooting

My Square terminal is frozen

LittleTheatre — Sun, 21 Sep 2025 13:24:08 GMT

Hello,

My Square terminal is completely frozen.

The power app button works to pull up the restart or power off button - but none of them will select when tapped. Screen completely dead to tapping.

HELP!

Re: My Square terminal is frozen

tranguyen — Tue, 24 Nov 2020 10:36:07 GMT

Hi @LittleTheatre, so sorry to hear you are having this issue! Since the screen is frozen, we can perform a factory reset by holding down the power button for around 40 seconds. You'll see the message saying Restart / Power Off. Continue to hold past this screen until you see a black screen with a countdown. Please follow the prompt on this screen.

Resetting your Terminal will not impact your Square account or completed payments because your data is stored on our servers.

Once the reset is complete, you’ll need to reconnect to your internet connection and sign back in. If you continue to have issues, please let me know!

Re: My Square terminal is frozen

Mike_C — Wed, 23 Jun 2021 09:08:38 GMT

The above problem has happened to me recently, with the touchscreen becoming inoperable, causing the need for a factory reset.

My difficulty is that I cannot always be around to fix the problem. I’m happy to leave instructions, but do not want to give the owner password.

So what’s the solution?

I suggest it would be useful if a restart could be performed in those situations as well as a factory reset - releasing the button within say 10 seconds of the reset message clearing would cause a restart, and factory reset after that.

I haven’t tested it yet as the terminal is not within easy reach, but does the device code for the terminal still work after a factory reset?

Re: My Square terminal is frozen

tranguyen — Wed, 23 Jun 2021 14:43:38 GMT

Hi @Mike_C, thanks for sharing this!

After a factory reset, rather than signing in using your email and password, you can give your team a device code instead. You should be able to use the same device code after a factory reset as well.

If you have team members, they can clock in with their personal passcode or the team passcode and have access based on their permission group.

Re: My Square terminal is frozen

Tony2face — Sat, 09 Apr 2022 13:30:53 GMT

FYI, finally figured it out!!!!!

if you use the device code you have to checkout from that device. But if you sing in with you password you can check out from the terminal!!! 5 days to figure this out smh!

Re: My Square terminal is frozen

Sheepish — Thu, 14 Jul 2022 10:22:21 GMT

This happened to me during a busy session. I did the reset and all is well now. My question is; will this keep happening?

Re: My Square terminal is frozen

Breffni — Thu, 14 Jul 2022 12:31:20 GMT

Hi @Sheepish, thanks for flagging this in the Seller Community. I see you are a new user, so welcome 👋

I'm sorry to hear that your Terminals software update caused disruption to your service.

The Square Terminal automatically updates, so you will always get the latest features and improvements.

Most software updates should happen automatically every 2-4 weeks and will happen overnight as long as your Terminal is plugged in and on. Keep in mind, that Square Terminal can be in sleep mode to update, as long as you don’t turn it off.

Software updates are, by default, set at 3 am to avoid any disruption to your normal business hours.

You can definitely adjust your nightly reboot time to a time that works better for you.

From: Settings > General from the three horizontal lines in the upper left corner. Tap Nightly Reboot and select the time that works best for your business.

I hope this helps!