Manual Client Check-in Option

[beautifly26]

I wanted to see if Square can add a Check-in feature so that I can utilize Square Terminal or iPad to check-in clients when they arrive for their appointment or if they are walk-in customers.  Currently, I do not offer online appointment booking option.  Hence, when customers arrive, I have to either manually capture it on a spreadsheet or notebook.  Also, I would like to be able to customize what fields should be captured for check-in.  For example, Customer's first name, last name, phone, email, how they heard about us, services they are interested in, and comment section.  At a minimum First Name, Last Name, Phone fields should be required fields.   I want to be able to use the data entered at check-in during check-out so I can link the customer to each transaction for analytics.  

[Laurie_]

Hi @beautifly26! 

Thanks for your post! I noticed you’re based in the US but have found your way onto our Australian feature request board—totally fine! All feedback is shared with our Product Team regardless of location, though it's worth noting that some features may roll out in one region before becoming available in others.

As you've pointed out, Square currently doesn’t offer a built-in check-in feature that allows clients to self-enter their details upon arrival. That said, I’d love to better understand your current setup to see how you're currently using Square Appointments and whether there might be ways to streamline things.

If you’re manually booking clients for appointments, you’ll know that Square requires you to add a customer profile when creating the booking. This includes fields like first name, last name, phone number, and email address. You can also collect additional info like address, birthday, notification preferences, and marketing opt-in status at that time. One benefit of this is that you can later check out the client directly from their appointment, making it easy to link transactions with their profile and view past visits.

While Square doesn’t currently support self-serve data entry for walk-ins, a helpful workaround is to create a new customer profile in your Customer Directory when someone arrives. This allows you to capture their details once and link any future bookings or purchases to their profile, reducing manual effort over time.

If you’re open to sharing more about how you're currently managing check-ins and client data, we’d be happy to explore possible workarounds with you!