Feature Request: Can Square process offline card payments in Australia without the internet?

[TTA]

Can square take and process cc transactions without the internet, then dump transactions once back online ie like on a plane?

[Seamus · Accepted solution]

EDIT 6/5/2022 - Offline Mode is now available with Square Terminal via chip and tap with Visa, Mastercard, American Express and JBC credit and debit cards. Apple Pay and Google Pay are also supported.

Hey @TTA,

Offline payments are not a Square feature in Australia at the moment, so you'll need a stable internet connection to take card payments. It's possible this will change in the future, though there are upsides and downsides to having this ability.

I'd be interested to hear more about what sort of use case you're looking at in terms of using Square to take payments on a plane!

[InDepth]

Hi my name is Terry,

I have a photography business operating on several boats that travel daily to the Outer Barrier Reef, processing credit cards with eftpos is impossible as there is no mobile service. Offline processing would be far more convenient as we would not have to manually process payments when the boats return . Our business is based in Cairns and Port Douglas , there are many many boats operating from these two ports that would potentially take advantage of the offline processing if it was available. Is there an ETA for Square to make the Offline Processing service available in the near future?

[Seamus]

Hey @InDepth,

No ETA at the moment unfortunately, however thank you for posting this feedback and use case! We're still tracking feedback on this one, I'm passing your use case on to our product team for consideration.

[Hells71]

Hi I am looking for offline Mode and it’s not in my settings, is there a trick to this? 
when trying to process a payment by card in brackets it says online Only but can’t do it that way as I have no internet connection ? Any help appreciated thanks 

[Seamus]

Hey @Hells71,

Thanks for reaching out.

At the moment Offline Payments are not available via Square in Australia. I've moved your message to this thread where we're tracking it as a feature request. If I do hear of this feature coming to Australia I'll update this thread and tag anyone who has posted here.

[Hells71]

Ok thank you 

[Templar]

It is a very much needed feature considering how bad Internet coverage is I Australia 

[Hannaford]

Just adding my feedback that we would also like a Square offline payment processing capability to be available in Australia. Thanks.

[yadav086]

Hi, Checking to see if square enabled offline payments in Australia recently? I read an article on top POS comparison in AU and it mentioned Square supports offline payments but wanted to confirm here. Thank you!

Article: https://www.connectpos.com/top-5-best-australia-pos-systems-in-2021/

[Seamus]

Hey @yadav086,

Thanks for reaching out and welcome to the community!

Offline payments are currently not available in Australia - it looks like the authors of this content may have seen the offline payment feature that is presently available in the US. It's possible we'll bring this feature to AU in the future, though I don't have an ETA on when this may occur.

I think probably the biggest thing that this article misses is that Square is the only POS provider to also offer integrated card payment processing facilities - albeit with an internet connection! As well as the other associated products in the ecosystem, such as the Square Online platform, Appointments, Invoices etc, that all integrate rather seamlessly with Square as a payments provider, so you can manage everything in the one place 👍

[BTails]

Hi Seamus

The integrations are great, but in Australia, espeically if you work in regional areas and are mobile the poor internet coverage makes this device useless. In front of customers whilst waiting is embarassing. This offline capability is well overdue. We are looking to move away from square payments as we need this offline capability. The integration with POS is great but if I cant complete the transaction then its worthless to me.

[Seamus]

Thanks for adding your feedback @BTails. I'll share it with our product team, though I don't currently have an ETA as to if or when it will become available.

If this changes at all in the future I'll loop back in the thread!

[AbettaLocksmith]

As a Mobile Locksmith business we are often faced with internet coverage issues. ie walking up driveways, climbing trees or driving to higher ground to find service signal. Having offline processing would help in these situations where being just out of reach of service is an issue.

[Lexies]

For what it's worth, we desperately need this feature too. Internet is so unreliable in our area. Slow would be fine, but it is just unstable. Would having a (third party bank) EFTPOS terminal allow us to process payments then?

[Seamus]

Thanks for adding your feedback @Lexies - I'll tag you here in this thread if I'm able to share any news on offline payments in the future!

[InDepth]

Hi Seamus, it appears we’ve been getting the same answer for the last 5 years, how about an explanation as to why offline payments aren’t active in Australia and what’s stopping Square from doing it.

[Seamus]

@InDepth we're not actually able to share any information as to why given features may not currently be available. I know it can be frustrating to not have this insight, however I'll continue to pass on feedback and demand for features that we see on our Seller Community to the relevant teams so they're aware of the demand. 

[NRFC2022]

Just a ridiculous answer isn't it... .I'm looking for other options, can't run a business like this 

[NRFC2022]

We run in an area with really unpredictable internet, which also has an negative effect on or speed of service. There are videos and articles that looks like it's available, but not in Australia.... Any ideas as I need a solution... Hot spot is hopeless too  

[Arie]

Hey @NRFC2022,

Thanks for writing in to the Seller Community.

I've moved your message to this thread, where we're tracking feedback on this feature. I understand your frustration not having this option in Australia at the moment, and know how unreliable hotspots and mobile reception can be in some areas. Hopefully this is something we can implement in the future. 

[Seamus · Accepted solution]

Heads up - Offline Mode is now available on Square Terminal!

We understand that not everyone uses Square Terminal and we know plenty of Square sellers are keen to see Offline Mode on other payment devices. While we don't currently have any news to share about Offline Mode coming to other devices, please let us know in the comments where you'd like to see Offline Mode in the future - we'll pass your feedback on to our product team.

@TTA @ST71 @NRFC2022 @WAMC @Lexies @InDepth @AbettaLocksmith @yadav086 @BTails @Hannaford @Templar @Hells71 @Louhil @NMAE @DeltaBravo @ForestLodgeFarm @OnPointBrewery @AnswerS33k3r @BirdClub @Harty88 @383 

[AbettaLocksmith]

We still need to be able to do off-line charges for the square reader. My suggestion would be to redesign the reader to include the ability to hold/store a number of transactions on the reader until the mobile device returns to having service. That way the transactions are not held on a mobile device for security reasons. A small amount of onboard memory would allow this. Micro sd even.