Square Register troubleshooting

There are basic checks you can do for issues you may encounter with Square Register. Make sure to walk through the following before going through issue-specific troubleshooting steps:

General troubleshooting

• Make sure your device is connected to power. Square Register needs to be powered to function.

• Make sure your device’s date and time are accurate. If they are wrong, please update them in the settings. Tap ≡ More > Settings > Hardware > General > Date and time and adjust accordingly.

• Make sure your device has the latest software. Software updates typically take around 20 minutes to complete, but may take up to one hour. Square Register will update automatically overnight as long as it’s powered on and plugged in.

To update your Square Register software:

1. Tap ≡ More > Settings > Hardware > General > About Square Register > Software update.

2. Tap Check for update to see if there is an available software update.

3. If you see Software up to date then you are all set.

Payment troubleshooting

Customer display doesn’t recognise tap or contactless payment.

• On Square Register, confirm that you’ve pressed the Charge button to activate the customer display to accept contactless cards and phones. The LED indicators should light up when you tap the Charge button.

• If the contactless card or NFC-enabled phone is damaged or broken. In this case, ask your customer to present a different form of payment.

Chip cards aren’t recognised.

• Ensure chip cards are inserted with the chip facing towards the buyer when the customer display is both docked and undocked.

• If contactless payments still work, the chip may be damaged. In this case, ask your customer to present a different form of payment.

• If contactless payments still work, something may have damaged the chip card slot.

Payments aren’t going through.

• Check your Wi-Fi and Ethernet connection by following the troubleshooting steps below.

Customer display troubleshooting

Connectivity

Is the customer display connected to Square Register properly?

• If your device is docked:

  • Make sure that the display is docked completely and evenly on both sides. There should not be any gap between Square Register and the customer display. You should hear the latch click on both the left and right sides of the customer display.

  • See if undocking and connecting the customer display via USB cable works. This can help Square diagnose whether there is an issue with the docked position only.

• If undocked and connecting via USB cable:

  • Make sure that the USB cable is plugged in properly into both the customer display and the bottom of Square Register.

  • See if docking the customer display works. This can help us diagnose whether there is an issue with the undocked position only (it’s possible that there’s an issue with the cable that connects to two devices).

Display issues

Most display issues, such as a few common ones listed below, are resolved by undocking/docking or unplugging/plugging in the customer display. You can also reboot the system by using the power on the bottom edge of Square Register.

• Customer display not responding to touch.

• Customer display frozen on one screen.

• Customer display stuck on the Square logo.

If you’re still having trouble after you’ve tried these troubleshooting steps, please Contact Square Support.

Hub connectivity troubleshooting

Test another accessory

• To determine whether there is an issue with the Hub or with the USB hardware accessory (printer, barcode scanner, cash drawer, USB scale), try connecting a different USB hardware accessory to the Hub.

Test USB ports

• Try plugging the USB hardware accessory into a different port. The issue may be isolated to one port.

Wi-Fi troubleshooting

Confirm Square Register is connected to Wi-Fi
Toggle Wi-Fi off and on in Settings and check to make sure that you see a tick next to the network to which you are trying to connect. Confirm that you see the Wi-Fi status indicator on the top-right corner of the status bar.

Keep in mind, you are able to connect your Square Register to a private network or an unsecured network, but you won’t be able to connect to a captive portal network. A captive portal is a network that requires you to agree to terms or conditions to access the internet connection (these networks are common at coffee shops, airports and other public internet access points).

Confirm Wi-Fi signal strength
Confirm that you have a strong Wi-Fi signal by checking other devices (such as phones, tablets or laptops) on your network near the location of your Square Register. The Wi-Fi status indicator in the upper-right corner of the status bar should have 3-4 white bars to indicate a strong signal. Depending on the position of your router, you may need to move your Square Register closer to your router. If the status bar does not show 3-4 white bars, consider contacting your network provider.

Switch to Ethernet
If you have an Ethernet connection available, switch to Ethernet by plugging in a cable between the port on the Hub and a spare port on your router.

Ethernet troubleshooting

Confirm Square Register is connected to Ethernet
Confirm that you can see the Ethernet network status indicator in the top-right corner of the status bar. If you don’t see the Ethernet network status indicator, try unplugging and plugging in the cable from the Ethernet port on the Hub and from the router or modem.

Confirm modem/router connectivity
Test your modem and/or router by plugging in other devices (such as a laptop) and seeing if they connect to the internet.

Switch to Wi-Fi
If you have a Wi-Fi network available, unplug the Ethernet cable and switch to Wi-Fi in Settings. Make sure to unplug the Ethernet cable since the device will default to using an Ethernet connection over Wi-Fi if an ethernet cable is connected.

Offline mode troubleshooting

If Offline mode is enabled in your settings, Square Register will automatically activate Offline mode if your internet connection is disrupted or lost. If your device goes into Offline Mode without losing a network connection, try the following troubleshooting steps:

1. Forget the network you’re connected to on your device.

2. Reconnect to the same network.

3. Reboot the system by pressing the power button on the bottom edge of Square Register.

Note: Do not factory-reset your Square Register. Doing so will delete any Offline payments you have not uploaded.

Learn more about accepting payments in Offline Mode.

Reset your Square Register

On rare occasions, you may need to perform a factory reset. Don’t worry: Resetting your device will not erase important account settings like items, transaction histories, customer lists or team permissions. It will all be there when you sign back in.

Before resetting your Square Register, please have the following information on hand, as you’ll need it to log back in afterwards:

• Wi-Fi network name and password.

• Account login information (email address and password) or device code.

• Location name, if applicable.

• Accessory settings: printer stations, cash drawers, barcode scanners, USB scales and any other accessories. Our recommendation is to take a picture of the configuration of each accessory before resetting.

Note: Check for pending offline payments and make sure they are completely processed before attempting a factory reset, as they will be otherwise lost.

Network requirements

Protocol/Port allowlist

If you enforce restrictions on which protocols and ports that devices on your network can access, Square devices require the following protocols and their corresponding ports to be allowed through your firewall:

• NTP. Note: This is critical for ensuring that the device has the correct time. Connectivity may fail due to certificate validity mismatches if the device time is wrong.

• HTTPS (only port 443). Note: All traffic to Square servers is made over HTTPS.

The following ports are also used for network printers, but these don’t require access to the internet:

• UDP: 22222, 3289

• TCP: 9100:9109

Domain filtering

If you enforce restrictions on what domains can be accessed from within your network, Square devices require the following domains to be allowlisted.

Square devices also rely on access to Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). AWS IP ranges are published here, and Google is AS15169.

Note: Square devices have an internal firewall and an internal (domain, not IP) allowlist and perform TLS certificate pinning on all Square endpoints, so you may consider the IP allowlisting on your side redundant, depending on your purpose. It could make sense to just ensure Square devices can’t access any internal company IP addresses and leave the rest of the internet open for Square’s on-device firewall and domain filter.

MAC addresses

Square’s MAC OUI: 44:59:25

Merchants should allowlist all MAC addresses that start with the above prefix (i.e. devices with MAC addresses following the pattern 44:59:25:XX:XX:XX). Alternatively, merchants can allowlist each individual device that shows up with that MAC address prefix (this prefix is owned by Square and should not be used by any other device vendors).

If you have older Square hardware, you may need to also allowlist the following MAC prefixes:
Older MAC OUIs: 2C:D1:41:D, 8C:47:6E:5, 1C:59:74:6

DNS

Square devices are compatible with any DNS server sent to the device over DHCP, as long as it works. Feel free to use your ISP’s servers or your favourite public servers (e.g. Level 3 at 4.2.2.1/4.2.2.2).

Supported network authentication protocols

Square devices support:

• WPA/WPA2 PSK

• WEP (US only)

They do not support:

• WPA/WPA2 Enterprise

• WPA3 PSK/WPA3 Enterprise

Cleaning your Square Register

For minor scuffs and marks, you can use any electronic cleaning cloth with your Square Register. To clean the card reader slot, slide the cleaning card or a folded paper towel through the card reader slot to clear any spills or debris.

If you’re still having trouble, please contact Square Support and we can help get you back to business.