Troubleshoot the Square Kiosk app
This troubleshooting article highlights issues you may experience with Square Kiosk; such as activation issues, loading issues, item syncing, and printer connection issues. It's particularly useful for Square sellers who are using the Square Kiosk app on Square Kiosk hardware or Square Stand (2nd generation) as a self-serve ordering station for their customers.
Before you begin
To troubleshoot these issues, you will need to have access to your Square Kiosk hardware, the companion Point of Sale device and your Square Dashboard.
Review our Troubleshoot payment errors with Square Kiosk and Troubleshoot connection and power issues with Square Kiosk articles for additional troubleshooting if you do not see your specific issue below.
If you can’t resolve your issue with our troubleshooting guide below, contact our support team. Learn how to get support at Square.
When to troubleshoot
Square Kiosk app troubleshooting involves steps that include updating Square apps, logging out and signing back into your Square account and restarting your Square hardware. If at all possible, try to troubleshoot your Square Kiosk app after hours. If you must troubleshoot during the workday, try to avoid peak busy hours so your customers will experience few delays.
Troubleshoot Kiosk set up
Troubleshoot common issues you may experience when setting up your Square Kiosk app for the first time.
If you exited the Kiosk onboarding flow during the setup process, sign in to your Square Dashboard and go to Device management > Kiosk to return to the Square Kiosk onboarding guide. Review our Set up Square Kiosk app for more information on signing up for Square Kiosk app.
If you encounter a request to update your Point of Sale apps during the Kiosk setup process on Dashboard, follow the steps below to resolve.
All Square Point of Sale apps must be updated to their latest version. This includes Square Point of Sale, Square Restaurants, Square Retail, etc.
Update the Square apps from the App Store:
- Open the App Store.
- Scroll down to see pending updates.
- Tap Update All to update all apps on your device, or locate your Square apps individually and tap Update.
Once you have updated your Square apps be sure to sign out and sign back into the apps.
The Square apps on Square Terminal and Square Registered are automatically updated during the device’s software update.
You can update software on Square Terminal or Square Register by following these steps:
- Tap ≡ More > Settings > Hardware > General.
- Tap About Square Terminal or About Square Register.
- Tap Check for update to see if a software update is available.
- If it is available, tap Install now.
Once you have updated your Square Terminal and Square Register be sure to sign back into the device.
If the request to update your Square apps and Square devices in your Dashboard does not list the specific apps and devices that need to be updated, follow these steps:
- Click view all points of sale in the corner of the update request or navigate to Device management > Devices.
- Select a device from the list and check the software version under Applications used.
- If the version is 6.46 or higher, then it is updated. If not, perform the necessary updates.
- When all updates are complete, navigate back to Device management > Kiosk and click Done updating devices in the update request window.
If the request to update your Square apps and Square hardware is still present, please contact Square support and we will help get you back to business.
To set up Square Kiosk, you’ll need to update to the latest Categories experience. In this update, Square Online site categories will sync with Point of Sale. This will allow you to easily manage in-person and online sales categories from one place.
Note: This update is only required for those who have a Square Online site and have not already been auto-enrolled in the Advanced Categories update. If you do not see this step during your Kiosk set-up, then it is not required.
To update to Advanced Categories:
- Click Update now in the window that appears during the Kiosk set up on Dashboard.
- In the next window, click Move site categories.
- Updating and transferring your online categories may take several minutes to complete. If the loading page does not automatically refresh after 30 minutes, you can manually refresh your internet browser.
- Once your categories have been updated successfully, you will be taken to the next step in setting up your Kiosk menu.
Troubleshoot slow app experience
Your kiosk menu, appearance and settings are managed on your Square Dashboard and synced to the Square Kiosk app. Follow the steps below if you experience longer than normal loading times, sluggish app experience and syncing issues.
If your kiosk menu has over 100 items, your customers may become overwhelmed and experience difficulty in scrolling through a long list of items. For best performance, we recommend that your kiosk menu doesn’t exceed 100 items. If it does, you may experience a slower performance with the self-serve Square Kiosk app.
To solve this issue, follow the steps outlined in our Square Kiosk menu items and categories guide to reduce the number of items that appear on your menu.
Note: It can take up to 10 minutes for item edits to update across all of your devices.
If you notice the changes you’ve made on your Square Dashboard have not synced to your Square Kiosk app within 10 minutes, follow these steps:
- Refresh the Kiosk app by clicking Start new order or by closing the app and reopening.
- Check the connection of the hardware running the Square Kiosk app. On the Square Kiosk app, press and hold two fingers on the screen to open the Settings menu. Tap Hardware > Test connectivity. If needed, troubleshoot your network connection.
- Restart your hardware. On the Square Kiosk app, press and hold two fingers on the screen to open the Settings menu. Tap Hardware > Connect and manage > Restart.
- Force-quit the Kiosk app. You may need to first disable Guided Access.
- Open the Kiosk app and sign in again.
- On your Square dashboard, make a change on your Kiosk menu and wait up to 10 minutes for the update to appear on the kiosk.
If you have completed all steps above and are still experiencing issues in syncing your kiosk menu, please contact Square support and we will help get you back to business.
Troubleshoot missing or duplicated items
The items on your kiosk menu are managed on your Square Dashboard and synced to the Square Kiosk app. Follow the steps below if you experience missing items or duplicate items on your kiosk menu.
If you are missing an item that was added to your kiosk menu, follow these steps:
- Make sure you wait up to 10 minutes for the changes to sync from your Square Dashboard to your Square Kiosk app. After 10 minutes, refresh the Kiosk app by tapping Start new order or by closing the app and reopening.
- Ensure the item is assigned to a category and that category is enabled on your kiosk menu. Edit Category > Channel visibility > Kiosk: ON > Save.
- Ensure the missing item has the proper settings enabled to appear on the kiosk menu. On the Edit item page, check the following:
a. Under the Where it’s sold section, toggle Kiosk ON.
b. Under Site visibility section, select Visible.
c. Scroll to Fulfilment and select Online fulfilment methods > Edit > Self-serve ordering > Done.
If you have duplicate copies of items appearing on your kiosk menu, follow these steps on your Square Dashboard:
- Check for duplicate item entries: In your Item Library use the search bar to locate the duplicate item. If more than one entry appears, delete the copy of the item.
- Check the item’s assigned categories: Select the duplicate item to open the Edit item screen. Ensure there is only one category under Categorisation. If an item is assigned to more than one category, it will appear multiple times on your Kiosk menu.
Troubleshoot Kiosk printing issues
When Square Kiosk is used as a self-serve ordering station, it will send print requests to the companion Point of Sale device that is connected to your printer(s). If you are having difficulty with printing order tickets from your Kiosk orders, follow the steps below.
Printer settings for your Square Kiosk are located on your companion Point of Sale device. This device is the main POS device that is connected to your printers via USB, Bluetooth, Ethernet or Wi-Fi.
If an order is placed on your Square Kiosk and an order ticket doesn’t print, follow these troubleshooting steps:
- Check to make sure that Online & Kiosk order tickets is enabled for the printer.
- On your Square Dashboard, go to Printer profiles > select the connected profile > Edit > Online & kiosk order tickets > toggle ON.
- On your companion POS, open your Square app and navigate to More > Settings > Hardware > Printers > Profile > Edit > Online & kiosk order tickets > toggle ON.
- If you are printing by category, ensure that the categories enabled for Square Kiosk are selected in the printer profile as well. Select Edit printer profile > Categories to print > tick all that apply and tap Save.
- Place a test order on your Square Kiosk to test the printer settings.