[New] Square Debuts Pocketable, Lightweight POS for Servers, Bartenders, and QSRs

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Hi Square Community! 

We’re so excited to announce the launch of our newest hardware, which we’ve been testing behind-the-scenes with full-service restaurants, bars, and other food-and-beverage businesses.

Meet Square Handheld. It’s pocketable, durable, and dependable by design — built bespoke for busy restaurants like yours.

Meet the pocketable POS that can drive more sales with fewer footsteps. 

• Move faster front-of-house, with fewer footsteps and distractions (think: no more servers waiting in line to enter orders or cash out at a countertop POS!). 
• Level up your hospitality. Taking orders and payments tablesides means way more facetime with customers — and more tips.
• Take business into your own hands — literally.  Square Handheld shows your floor plan, takes orders, and completes payment — all flawlessly and in seconds. 

Why did Square build a new piece of hardware? 

We know that taking orders with pen and paper (or through a wedge-shaped device like Square Terminal) can feel clunky. We wanted to offer our sellers a beautifully designed handheld POS that slides perfectly into your apron or back pocket — and that’s the most lightweight product on the market.

Read more: How We Built This 

Who is Square Handheld for? 

Full-service servers and bartenders, and quick-service cashiers or other line-busting staff who need to take orders and payment as fast as possible without sacrificing excellent service.

See how Roaming Goat is already using Square Handheld

In the food & beverage world, transactional behaviors like taking and entering orders or processing credit cards can seriously impact service and hospitality. But when you speed those things up and make them seamless, you can focus on the prize: connecting with your customers. 

But the POS stuff? It needs to be easy. Here’s what easy looks like: 

See an interactive demo of Square Point of Sale on this new device. 

And here’s what hard looks like today…seem familiar?

 

How is Square Handheld different from other options on the market? 

Square Handheld cuts down on the time you spend going back and forth to a countertop POS. With the minutes you save, you can increase table touches and spend more time with customers.

• Most pocketable: Fits right into an apron or back pants pocket. Great for servers on the go.
• Dependable by design: Purpose-designed for on-the-go service. Includes a built-in card reader that just works, a battery designed to last all day, an IP54 rating to withstand water splashes and dust, and an optional case for protection against drops. 
• Powerful and lightning-fast: Finally, a feature-rich device that moves as fast as your staff.  

And it’s thinner, lighter, and easier to carry during service compared to other products. Square Handheld weighs well under a pound, coming in at 0.694 lbs (11 ounces). That’s as light as 11 slices of bread and as thin as one of them.

See what Square customers are saying: 

“Square Handheld is just what we needed. It’s tremendously helpful to place orders instantly at each table instead of waiting at a counter and entering multiple tables’ orders at once, which introduces wait time to parties that placed their order earlier. The device is reliable, comfortable to hold, and fits perfectly into our aprons. The battery is dependable, lasting through two service staff shifts, so we no longer need to worry about plugging it in between lunch and dinner. And we’re saving on paper receipt costs, going from 100% print to 75% digital.”

-Trevor Ledergerber, Owner at La Mediterranee in Berkeley, CA

"Square Handheld is sleek and slim. It helps us to 10x the power in the palm of our hand (and our pockets) and elevate our hospitality front-of-house. It's easy to be hands-free as staff members round corners. Now they can focus on keeping food steady. Each of our bartenders and servers have been fighting over getting their hands on one!"

- Chad Sykora, CEO at Krootz Brewing Company

"The barcode scanner on Square Handheld was a nice surprise for us. If we have guests wining and dining who want to bring a bottle home, we can quickly scan the item." 

- Alex Burgess, Director at Stone Tower Winery

“This new device is lightweight and lightning-quick. Square Handheld is great because it feels good in your hand — not too heavy — and it’s back-pocketable while bartending. Our service staff is taking 25% fewer footsteps.”

- Broderick Enderle, Lounge Manager at Sun Valley Lanes

Ready to get your hands on Square Handheld? 

• Power up your palm
• Learn more first

Have questions? Check out our Help Center article or leave a note in the comments below. Thanks!