Square Android Beta "Screen Not Private" issue.

[Liamk]

I have noticed that the Beta version of the app gives me the "Screen Not Private" alert.  I just installed IFTTT app on my phone and it started coming up.  It cleared after uninstalling the app and 2 restarts of the phone.

It seems odd that IFTTT has some automations for square but produced this error.

Will test with non beta version of app.

Error doesn't come up when "FB Messenger" chat heads active (same access to screen recording and writing over).

I'm using a Pixel 2 XL.

Any Ideas

[Liamk]

As an addition to yesterday's post.

I have noticed that both versions of the app (beta and normal) did it today when I initially logged in at 8am this morning.  

I have not reinstalled the IFTTT app yet but received the "Screen Not Private" message and it only cleared after multiple restarts.

[Seamus · Accepted solution]

Hey @Liamk,

Thanks for getting in touch!

This is an interesting one - I don't have an exact solution for you here, but I can speak generally about what may be causing this issue.

Because Square allows for PIN entry via your mobile touchscreen, we require an ultra-secure operating environment to process payments on our app. You'll generally receive this message if our app detects an operating environment that falls below our device security standards, either due to the way other apps operate or due to the way the Android OS may have been modified to work on a particular device.

The message you are seeing is often related to apps that use "Screen Overlay", meaning they are able to manipulate how your device's screen operates while other apps are running. You might want to try tuning off screen overlay on all apps that use it - this won't prevent these apps from operating when open, but it will mean they won't be able to access your device's screen while Square is open.

Hope this helps - I can't guarantee this is going to solve the issue (sometimes it's due to the way Android has been customised on a given device), but let me know how it goes.

[Liamk]

Will do!  It hasn't happened for the last few days but if it happens again I'll see if I can find the offending app.

[JTPets]

Seeing this on my samsung s22 ultra with the beta app