Can I connect a wireless bluetooth barcode scanner to my Square Terminal?

[SmallMouth]

Has anyone found a way to wirelessly via bluetooth or other connect a barcode scanner to a square terminal? Seems a bit counter intuitive to have to plug in a wireless machine just to be able to scan items when selling. We are wanting to keep the portable style of the Square Terminals, but our range has been getting larger and larger, as is our customer base. On a Saturday we serve 200 guests an hour, and if even half of these guests buy a couple items, it becomes a line-up trying to add each individual item to the sale, even with 8 terminals around our store, this process takes longer than it needs to. The same problem happens when we travel to shows outside of our store, where we may have between 20-50 customers waiting to be served and to buy items and have to manually add each item (and discounts that we add to all purchases from shows/events). I've seen a few other brands that offer a handheld device that includes a barcode scanner internally but have generally enjoyed using square for our store and website, so would like to try and stick with square.

I saw a post on the US forums asking about a All In One terminal including a barcode scanner but only 3 people had liked it from 13/4/23 and the comment from square said they needed more people to like it to show that it was a wanted feature/product. So with the post not getting a lot of attention I go back to my original question, is there a way to connect a WIRELESS barcode scanner from any brand to the square handheld terminal?

The title of this thread has been edited from the original: Truely wireless handheld terminal?

[Katie_SQ · Accepted solution]

Hi @SmallMouth 👋 Thanks for reaching out about this!

Currently, there’s no way to directly connect any wireless Bluetooth barcode scanner to the Square Terminal. However, we do have a few other options available that could help speed up the checkout process for you and your team.

Option 1: Connect Square Terminal to the Square Point of Sale App

The following Bluetooth barcode scanners are compatible with certain Square hardware:

1. Socket Mobile SocketScan S700
   • Square Stand
   • Square Reader
   • iOS devices running iOS 9.3.5 or later
     
     
2. Socket Mobile 7Ci
   • Square Stand
   • Note: This model is discontinued but still compatible with the Square Point of Sale App.
     
     
3. POS-mate Wireless Barcode Scanner
   • Square Stand
   • Square Reader
   • iOS devices running iOS 9.3.5 or later

To use wireless Bluetooth barcode scanners with your Square Terminals, you would need to connect your Square Terminals to the Square Point of Sale App on compatible iOS devices. This setup turns a Square Terminal into a dedicated customer display for payments, while the cart is built on the iOS device using the barcode scanner.

Here’s how it would work:

1. Go to the Checkout page of the Square App on iOS.
2. Build a cart by scanning an item with your Bluetooth barcode scanner, then press Charge.
3. On the tender screen, tap Continue next to your Square Terminal’s nickname, and have your customer complete the payment by following the instructions on the Square Terminal.

Option 2 - Connect Square Terminal to the Square for Retail POS App

With the Square for Retail POS App, you can add items to the cart by scanning GTIN barcodes with the compatible iOS device’s camera. This would eliminate the need for wireless barcode scanners altogether.

Here’s how it would work:

1. Open the Retail POS app on the iOS device.
2. Tap Checkout.
3. Tap the scan barcode icon.
4. Scan the barcode using the camera on the iOS device.
5. Tap Done on the pop-up notification.
6. Tap Checkout > Charge.
7. (If you connect Square Terminal to the Retail POS App as outlined in Option 1, your customer could then complete the payment on the Square Terminal).

I appreciate this isn’t exactly what you’re looking for, but these options would allow you to continue using your Square Terminal, either with a wireless barcode scanner via a connected iOS device, or by scanning barcodes with a connected iOS device’s camera, which could help speed up the checkout process.

Please let me know if you have any other questions!