System updates

We’re experiencing issues that may affect your Square services. We’ll continue to update our status page with more information.

Home>Taking Payments On A Mobile Device

Use Card on File with the Square Point of Sale App

Find a POS designed just for your business.

Download the Square Point of Sale app free today, right on your phone or tablet.

Use Card on File with the Square Point of Sale app to make selling easy:

  • Securely add and store payment cards in your Customer Directory.

  • Seamlessly charge your customers’ stored payment cards or Square Gift Cards.

  • Safely carry out your business with Square handling PCI compliance and authorization on your behalf.

You can also save a card on file from your online Square Dashboard by heading to the Customer Directory, or using Square Invoices.

Note: Health Savings Account and Flexible Spending Account cards are not currently supported with Card on File.

Turn on Card on File

With Card on File enabled, you can link payment cards to customer profiles from both the app and your online Square Dashboard. To turn on Card on File from the Square app:

  1. From the navigation bar at the bottom of your screen, tap Transactions.

  2. Tap Settings > Checkout > Customer Management.

  3. Toggle on Charge and Save Cards to Customer Profiles to save your customers’ payment card information from your in-app Customer Directory.

  4. To save a card after a sale, toggle on Show Save Card Button After Checkout.

Store Payment Cards from the App

There are three ways to store a card on file with the Square app:

  • From your in-app Customer Directory

  • Before a sale

  • After a sale

Note: Phone numbers cannot be used for Card on File notifications.

From your in-app Customer Directory

  1. From the navigation bar at the bottom of your screen, tap Transactions.

  2. Tap Customers > select an existing customer from the list or tap Create New Customer.

  3. Tap Edit Personal Information > scroll to the bottom and tap Add Card. (Note: If you’re creating a new customer, you’ll need to enter their personal information and tap Save. After the customer is saved in your Directory, you’ll see the option to add a Card on File.)

  4. Dip or swipe the card, or manually key in the card information. You’re required to enter the customer’s name and email address.

  5. Have your customer enter their email address for receipts.

  6. Have your customer authorize the card on file for future purchases by entering their billing zip code. Your customer will receive an email confirming that you have saved a card on file for them.

  7. You’ll see Card Saved once it’s linked to the customer’s profile. If your business has multiple locations, you can use a saved payment card to process a transaction at any of them.

Before a sale

Note: We recommend using your device in landscape view.

  1. From your Current Sale screen, tap Add a customer.

  2. Select an existing customer from the list or tap Create New Customer.

  3. Use steps 3-7 from the section above, “From your in-app Customer Directory,” to add and save the payment card information.

After a sale

To start, ring up your customer as you normally would. Once you’ve completed the payment, you can store the payment card information used in the sale using the steps below.

Note: This option is only available for sales completed by swipe or dip using the Square Point of Sale app on an iPad, iPhone, or Android device. You’re unable to save payment card information for sales completed with Apple Pay, Google Pay, or Samsung Pay.

  1. Tap Add Customer from the receipt screen.

  2. Select an existing customer or tap Create New Customer.

  3. Follow steps 3-7 under the “From your in-app Customer Directory” section.

Charge a Card on File with the App

With a stored card on file, you can charge your customer with the Square app at a future visit or with a Square Invoice, all without ever using the physical card.

From the Square app

Note: We recommend using your device in landscape view for each set of steps below.

  1. Add items to your cart or enter a custom amount

  2. Tap Charge > Card on File. Note: If you’re using a mobile device, or your tablet is being used in Portrait mode (vertically), tap Review Sale > Charge.

  3. Select a customer with a card on file > tap Charge to select a payment card for the transaction.

  4. Complete the payment flow.

With Open Tickets

  1. Add items to your cart or enter a custom amount.

  2. From the Current Sale screen, tap Add a customer.

  3. Select a customer with a card on file.

  4. Tap Charge. Note: If you’re using a mobile device, or your tablet is being used in Portrait mode (vertically), tap Review Sale > Charge.

  5. Card on File displays as a new tender type at the bottom of the screen. Tap Charge next to the card on file that you would like to use for the payment.

  6. Complete the payment flow.

When you charge a customer’s card on file, a receipt is automatically sent to the email address associated with their customer profile.

Note: You can enable or restrict your team’s ability to add custom amounts to transactions by editing your team member’s role from Permissions > Checkout in your online Square Dashboard. Team members that do not have permission to add custom amounts will be required to key in a manager passcode to add a custom amount to a transaction.

Unlink a Card on File

You can unlink and remove your customers’ cards on file from their profile in your Customer Directory under Edit Personal Information.

Your customers can also remove their own cards by following the link provided to them on all card on file notifications. Customers will receive notifications when their card is stored, when their email address is changed, and when a payment is made using a card on file. The link on these notifications will take them to their Card on File Dashboard, where they can view and remove the cards on file associated with your business.

Read more about using Card on File with the Point of Sale app.