Dear Square: It’s Time to Prioritize Service-Based Businesses!!

[Vanilla]

Hey Square Team !

As a long-time Square Seller and community contributor, I’m speaking up on behalf of thousands of service-based business owners. The following features have been requested consistently, some for years, and it’s time for serious traction.

The Must-Have Updates:

Promo Codes for Online Appointments

Let clients apply promo codes during online booking, just like they can in Square Online Checkout.

Custom Deposits

We need the flexibility to set specific dollar amounts or percentages for appointment deposits.

Add-On Services

Clients should be able to select add-ons while booking, critical for upselling and customizing services.

Call Function in Square Messages

Allow voice calls through Square using our business number, not our personal lines.

Timestamps on Messages

Basic messaging functionality: we need to see when messages were sent and received.

Separate Calendars by Service Type

Let us assign different calendars to different appointment types, staff, or spaces.

Milestone Loyalty Rewards

Go beyond points! let us reward clients based on number of visits or dollar milestones.

Afterpay for Appointment Booking (Online)

Afterpay is currently in-person only. Service-based clients want this flexibility online too.

Partial Gift Card Payments for Online Booking

Square currently requires gift cards to cover the entire booking amount. Clients should be able to apply any gift card balance and pay the rest.

 We’re not just users! we’re builders, educators, mentors, and trusted voices in this community.

Let’s prioritize the features that power our businesses and client relationships.

If you’re a seller who needs these updates, comment, kudo, or share to get Square’s attention.

We don’t just want change, we engineer it!

[#2]

Hi @Vanilla --thanks for surfacing this feedback. I'm a Product Manager supporting our Service sellers and wanted to share some additional detail on where we are with the items you mentioned.

This year we'll be working on adding additional payment methods to the online booking flow to make it easier for our sellers to get paid. We're planning this out now, but our goal is to include promo codes, Afterpay, as well as other common online payment options. We'll also investigate partial GC payments.

We hear you on Deposits! We are currently in the early phases or planning a solution--we've been focused on completing our migration to our new Orders platform which has delayed being able to finalize a design and implement this feature. We know this is important to our sellers--unfortunately, I don't have a timeline for you on this.

Add-on services isn't on our 2025 roadmap at the moment. We do allow you to create service variations, which can be used to compose common upsell options (e.g. adding aromatherapy to a massage, or hot shave to a haircut) that change both price and duration of the service. I know that this isn't a 1:1 substitute, but many of our sellers find it helpful.

Call function (2-way calling) within Messages - I checked with our team and this isn't currently on our roadmap for this year. Re: timestamps, we show timestamps in the conversation, but not for each message. Our PM for messages is reaching out to learn more about your needs here.

On calendars, we offer the ability to filter by location and staff, but not currently by service. Can you provide a couple examples of your use case for this?

Thanks again for taking the time to write this up. Feedback like yours plays a big role in shaping our roadmap, and we appreciate you sharing your voice. 🙏

[sonam_serchan]

Yes agreed... And please add Auto card surcharge as well on Square appointments for Australia!!!

Right now, I can see the Beta Auto Card Surcharge on Square Dashboard. However, I cannot see the same applied on Square appointments app. I am using Square register.

As a small beauty salon business, this is very crucial to us. We run and provide service based on the appointments. And we are not able to pass auto card surcharge. The square fees are already pretty high. If we could pass the surcharge auto to customers using Square appointments, that would be great!

I am sure, this is very important for lot of service based businesses in Australia using appointments.

I hope this gets considered and implemented for appointments as well as I can already see in beta for other apps.

Hope to hear from the product team on the current status of this!

Thank you!

[icorn]

Hi @Vanilla --thanks for surfacing this feedback. I'm a Product Manager supporting our Service sellers and wanted to share some additional detail on where we are with the items you mentioned.

This year we'll be working on adding additional payment methods to the online booking flow to make it easier for our sellers to get paid. We're planning this out now, but our goal is to include promo codes, Afterpay, as well as other common online payment options. We'll also investigate partial GC payments.

We hear you on Deposits! We are currently in the early phases or planning a solution--we've been focused on completing our migration to our new Orders platform which has delayed being able to finalize a design and implement this feature. We know this is important to our sellers--unfortunately, I don't have a timeline for you on this.

Add-on services isn't on our 2025 roadmap at the moment. We do allow you to create service variations, which can be used to compose common upsell options (e.g. adding aromatherapy to a massage, or hot shave to a haircut) that change both price and duration of the service. I know that this isn't a 1:1 substitute, but many of our sellers find it helpful.

Call function (2-way calling) within Messages - I checked with our team and this isn't currently on our roadmap for this year. Re: timestamps, we show timestamps in the conversation, but not for each message. Our PM for messages is reaching out to learn more about your needs here.

On calendars, we offer the ability to filter by location and staff, but not currently by service. Can you provide a couple examples of your use case for this?

Thanks again for taking the time to write this up. Feedback like yours plays a big role in shaping our roadmap, and we appreciate you sharing your voice. 🙏

[anniemcg]

@icorn I appreciate this response from a Product Manager. I realize that these forums generate a lot of requests, but this is a level of engagement that I hope to see more of in the future.

[Vanilla]

Thank you all so much for the incredible response and attention to my recent post about new feature ideas for Square Appointments.

It’s been amazing to see how many fellow business partners resonated with the suggestions, and I’m especially grateful for the Square product managers who took the time to engage. Your feedback, insights, and support are what make this community so valuable.

I’m hopeful that with this kind of momentum, we’ll start to see some meaningful updates that better support the way we run our businesses. Let’s keep the conversation going! Together we really can shape the tools we use every day!

[Vanilla]

@icorn @JJ_ Hey, are there any new updates on any of these features?

[TCSlaguna]

Yes to all of the above. Also..

Appointments Location:  In-Person or By Phone

Appointments History Report:   Add columns for: Paid/Unpaid, Amount Paid for Service, Tip Amount Given

Intake Forms:  long overdue

[Vanilla]

• @ShineOn @FeelPretty @Doran @JJ_ @MALqueerhair @MayuSilkArt @mailman1388 @anniemcg @MountainHouse  @JessPoynter @DinaLRosenberg @sonam_serchan WE OFFICIALLY HAVE DEPOSITS!!!!!!!!