Process offline payments with Square
- Account owners or team members with the account and settings permission to configure checkout settings can enable offline payments.
- Account owners or team members with the checkout setting to take payments can accept an offline payment.
- Set permissions in Square Dashboard.
About offline payments
Your point-of-sale app requires an internet connection at all times to function properly. This could be a Wi-Fi connection, Ethernet connection or a data service on your mobile device (such as 4G, 5G or EDGE). If your internet connection becomes interrupted or temporarily unavailable, you can accept payments during an offline session and upload them once you have an internet connection again.
Offline payments are stored in your point-of-sale app and will process automatically when you reconnect your device to the internet. Your current processing rate will be applied to offline transactions, so you’ll see no difference in fees.
Before you begin
Interac debit cards are not compatible with offline payments. Any offline transaction attempted with an Interac debit card will auto-decline upon regaining connectivity
With offline payments enabled, you can accept payments from most major card brands.
Offline payments will not work with Afterpay, Cash App Pay, Square Gift Cards, Tap to Pay on iPhone or Android, or manually entered cards.
Insert, tap and swipe payment functionality varies by device when using offline payments.
Any offline payment that isn’t processed within three days will expire and the funds will not be received from your customer.
Offline payments can be processed on the point-of-sale app on Square Register, Square Terminal, tablets and mobile devices. Offline payments are not available on the Square Invoices app.
Square Loyalty is not supported in offline payments, and you’ll need to manually link and accrue customers’ points earned from transactions while in offline payments.
Enable offline payments
When offline payments are enabled prior to losing connection, your device will automatically begin an offline session when it loses connection to the internet or to Square’s servers. Offline payments can be enabled during a connection disruption. To get the most out of your offline session, we strongly recommend enabling offline payments prior to losing connection.
From the Square POS app in full service, quick service or bar modes enabled, or from the Square Restaurants POS app:
- Sign in to Square Dashboard and go to Settings > Device management > Modes.
- Select an existing mode from the list > click Manage. If you do not have an existing mode, click Create.
- Under Checkout settings, toggle on Offline payments.
- Set the max amount allowed per transaction for offline payments.
- Click Save.
From the Square POS app in retail, appointments, services or standard mode, or from the Square Retail POS app, Square Appointments POS app, Square Invoices app or Square POS app:
- Sign in to your point of sale app and go to ≡ More > Settings.
- Tap Checkout > Offline payments > toggle on Allow offline payments.
Offline payments will be enabled on all compatible devices signed in to your account.
If your device is online and all your card transactions appear to be declining, there may be a wider issue affecting payments, which can be confirmed by checking for updates at issquareup.com.
Accept offline payments
Once enabled, you’ll see a notification banner at the top of your device screen any time your device goes offline. The banner indicates that your device has automatically started an offline payments session accompanied by a countdown clock showing how much time you have left to accept offline payments. The notification banner will not appear on Square Register or Square Terminal.
You’ll receive an in-app notification when your offline session has expired or if it was interrupted. After you’ve regained internet connectivity and uploaded your offline payments, another offline session will activate if you lose internet connectivity again.
Offline payments will appear as pending from your in-app payment history while your device is offline. Once you reconnect your device to the internet, payments will show as completed and will be visible from your Square Dashboard. Failed payments will be visible in your Transaction status report. Customers’ digital receipts and your payment notification emails will also be sent when the device is back online.
Time limits for offline payments
Payment card industry partners and regulators set specific requirements related to the duration of offline payment sessions. Due to those requirements, offline payment product features, including the duration and availability of offline payments, may differ based on the payment type and hardware used.
For the products listed below, you must reconnect your device to the internet and upload your offline payments within three days of the start of your offline payments session. However, uploading your offline payments within 24 hours is highly recommended to reduce your risk of chargebacks or card declines. You can upload offline payments using:
- Square Reader for magstripe, if you have Square Reader for contactless and chip or Square Stand connected to the device
- Square Reader for contactless and chip (1st generation)
- Square Reader for contactless and chip (2nd generation)
- Square Stand (1st generation), if you have Square Reader for contactless and chip connected to the device
- Square Stand (2nd generation)
For the products listed below, you must reconnect your device to the internet and upload your offline payments within three days of the start of your offline payments session. However, uploading your offline payments within 24 hours is highly recommended to reduce your risk of chargebacks or card declines. You can upload offline payments using:
- Square Reader for magstripe
- Square Terminal
- Square Stand (1st generation)
- Square Register
Safety practices for offline payments
There is additional risk with any offline payments you accept. Square is not responsible for any loss due to declined cards or expired payments taken while offline. In addition, Square cannot contact any customers on your behalf should an offline payment expire or be declined. You are responsible for any expired, declined or disputed payments accepted while offline.
Be sure to obtain a signature for every transaction (where possible) and verify the signature on the screen matches the signature on the back of the payment card.
If the card is not signed, ask your customer for a government-issued ID and to sign the card. Looking at their ID, match the signature to the signature on the payment card.
While you can’t require your customer to provide an ID, and requesting an ID doesn’t change your liability for chargebacks, unsigned cards are invalid and should not be accepted.
Refunds for offline payments
Offline payments can’t be cancelled or refunded while they’re still processing. You can issue a refund once your internet connection has been restored.
Troubleshoot offline transaction history
If you’ve uploaded your offline payments within 24 hours but are unable to locate them in your transaction history, try the following troubleshooting steps:
Sign in to Square Dashboard and go to Orders & payments (or Invoices & payments or Payments) > Transactions.
Sign in to Square Dashboard and go to **Reporting** > **Reports** > Transaction status to see if any offline payments failed or declined.
Restart the app.
Note: Pending offline payments will be permanently lost and the funds won’t be captured if you log out of your Square account, delete the point-of sale app or factory reset the device that has taken offline payments.