Square App iPad 2 issues [Investigating]

[cmacclel]

See for yourself..... and this is just opening the app after last weeks update never mind trying to connect the chip reader which is almost impossible or takes 15 minutes to connect. After trying to deal with this app update for a few days it forced me to drop $600 on new hardware. Unacceptable! Also the iPad 2 in this video was completely reset and app was re-installed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEIIPs3D4w8

[#2]

@ADB4593

I wanted to address this more specifically and give you a bit of context.

The outage we experienced last week affecting your devices was an outage that affected all of our sellers using the Contactless and Chip Reader with iOS devices. Those of you on iPad2 and iPad3 would have seen an increased issue with performance because the processor in the older iPad's was not able to compensate for the glitch we were experiencing. This resulted in iPad2 and iPad3 (running iOS 9 and iOS 10) to have a higher level of disconnection with the readers.

iPad2 as well as iPad3 are not able to support iOS 12, the latest version of Apple's operating system. Although it is true that we're able, in most cases, to support the Square App on these devices, it is likely you will experience more issues with an outdated Operating Systems. Square compatibility for iPad2 and iPad3 will be officially phased out in the near future. We have not announced a specific date for the official sunset of these products at this time. You will receive advance notice when we make this change permanently.

Updating the equipment is quintessential to supporting your App properly and keeping you from having outages like this one. We also realize that not all sellers have the ability to update their equipment when needed. We do send out notifications when products will no longer be supported, and we have sent out these previously in 2018 about the stability of these devices and the recommendation to upgrade. 

We've implemented a fix that has stabilized this outage — but I do want to stress that updating your equipment so that it can progress with Apple updates will keep you running smoothly and give you the ability to access all the features that we offer.

[#3]

Hello again. I know this issue is frustrating, and I apologize! Engineering is continuing to investigate this connection issue.

I'd really like to encourage you to reach out to our team. I do realize asking each of you to take time out of your already busy days to call into our Support team is a large ask. However, they will be able to go through troubleshooting steps that should help with these connection issues.

Our Community Team will continue to post updates here when we have more information.

[Helen · Accepted solution]

Update: Good news! Our engineering team has just implemented a fix for the iPad 2 and Contactless Reader connection issue, and we've just released an new version of the Point of Sale app to the App Store (version 5.19.1). This update should be available for everyone soon. To check for an updates open the App Store app from your iPad. 

When you've updated the Point of Sale app you should be able to use your Contactless and Chip card reader as normal. If you're still having trouble, call our team so we can help.

I really appreciate your patience while we worked to resolve thism and I'm sorry again for the disruption this caused. 

[kellyj · Accepted solution]

@ADB4593

I wanted to address this more specifically and give you a bit of context.

The outage we experienced last week affecting your devices was an outage that affected all of our sellers using the Contactless and Chip Reader with iOS devices. Those of you on iPad2 and iPad3 would have seen an increased issue with performance because the processor in the older iPad's was not able to compensate for the glitch we were experiencing. This resulted in iPad2 and iPad3 (running iOS 9 and iOS 10) to have a higher level of disconnection with the readers.

iPad2 as well as iPad3 are not able to support iOS 12, the latest version of Apple's operating system. Although it is true that we're able, in most cases, to support the Square App on these devices, it is likely you will experience more issues with an outdated Operating Systems. Square compatibility for iPad2 and iPad3 will be officially phased out in the near future. We have not announced a specific date for the official sunset of these products at this time. You will receive advance notice when we make this change permanently.

Updating the equipment is quintessential to supporting your App properly and keeping you from having outages like this one. We also realize that not all sellers have the ability to update their equipment when needed. We do send out notifications when products will no longer be supported, and we have sent out these previously in 2018 about the stability of these devices and the recommendation to upgrade. 

We've implemented a fix that has stabilized this outage — but I do want to stress that updating your equipment so that it can progress with Apple updates will keep you running smoothly and give you the ability to access all the features that we offer.

[Mattandjulie]

Helen. Answer this question. I too have needlessly spent money because I was told by your team I needed to upgrade my iPad hence my stand. Offer those who can document this wasteful expenditure compensation for your error.

[Klewis1018]

We are having the same issues as the people above. I have restarted everything and unplugged everything and still nothing. Please keep me updated on what to do. 

[ashc]

Hi @cmacclel,

There's a known issue that was confirmed with our engineers today concerning the iPad 2 and the Contactless reader. We went ahead and added your account to our ticket with them for further investigation.

Really sorry for the trouble this has caused you. 

[ADB4593]

This past week, Square started working terribly on my iPad2. I've reset my modem, my iPad, deleted and reinstalled Square, and it still works horribly. Takes forever to respond when clicking on something and the chip reader is only connecting intermittently. Everything else on the iPad or connected to wifi works fine. iPad software is latest version that's compatible and I'm using a Square stand. Everything was working fine a week ago.

[cmacclel]

Yes the latest update 2 days ago screwed me with an Ipad 2 as well. I called customer support and basically they said buy a new iPad and new Stand...... unacceptable!

[ADB4593]

There has to be thousands of people using Square on iPad 2s. If we all dropped Square and started using a new app, they'd take notice. Other than that, I don't know what we can do. How hard would it be for Square to make older apps that worked on iPad 2s available? Other apps let you download legacy apps for older OS.

[cmacclel]

Yup it's ridiculous the app developers didn't check compatibility. Best Buy has the new Ipads currently for $130 off so I said screw it. Luckily the old stand and new stand hub have the same connector so it was an easy swap but I shouldn't of had to do anything.

[ADB4593]

@cmacclel I'm confused. What iPad did you just get? I didn't think a 9.7" iPad would fit into the old Square stand for an iPad2.

Either way, Square shows how little it cares for it's customers.

[ADB4593]

@cmacclel Oh, I think you meant you just unscrewed the iPad2 stand and screwed the new one in place. How did you get a new stand so quickly? Does Best Buy carry them also? Which iPad did you get on sale?

[ADB4593]

@cmacclel Found both. You must have gotten the iPad with 128K. Either way, that's around $500 we have to spend because of Square's incompetence.

[VanKalkerFarms]

I would not call it Square's incompetence, it's just that eventually the software outpaces the old hardware.  An iPad2 is 8.5 years old now and runs an OS that will be 4 years old when iOS 13 comes out next month.  To ask a piece of software to be compatible across all the versions of the OS and hardware over 8 years and have feature parity with stuff running on brand new hardware and OS is not easily doable or maybe even possible.  Maybe if it is a non-graphic intensive video game, but this is a financial business app that is the key to your business, holding back features to keep backward compatibility isn't great for most users.  Eventually, something has to drop off the bottom of the supported list so that the app can grow.  The iPad2 is so old that the Bluetooth spec wasn't around yet so that the contactless reader can connect to it.  In gadget time 8.5 years is like using a black and white tv to watch 4k video on.

Does it suck to have to buy new hardware, sure, but it isn't every year that you have to.  In a different business I have a franchise and the POS requirements there are so dumb and I have to pay 12k for a POS software and hardware that works less than Square does on $500 worth of hardware. 

[cmacclel]

 Square's incompetence is exactly what it is. I understand exactly what you're saying and it makes sense but you don't just roll out an update the cripples older hardware without a notice or warning. It's not like the Square app is a game, business's rely on it.

[ADB4593]

While I understand @VanKalkerFarms, what you're saying and it does make sense, I also have to agree with @cmacclel. Square does this all the time, ie: beta testing on its users. That's not right. It's also clear that none of their development techs have ever worked in retail because of some of the ever so simple processes that are missing and the work arounds we have to do. For example, there's not a field for wholesale cost! Really?!!! Basic retail 101. How hard would it be to add that column. I could go on and on........  And what would be so hard to allow us to use legacy versions of Square that work with older equipment? I'm not asking to make the current version compatible. I'd gladly trade what few improvements have been made, to use a previous version that worked with an iPad2.

[ADB4593]

The other thing about making it compatible with an iPad2, is that everything works fine, except the chip reader! I disconnected the chip reader and am having no problems! I would think, if the problem is that isolated, they would be able to fix it.

[cmacclel]

The issue is that if you swipe a chip card and a customer does a fraudulent charge back you pay and have *Nothing* to fall back on. This happened to me last month granted it was the only charge back I've ever had in 5 years it's ridiculous. Basically square said you didn't "dip" a chip card we took your money with no way to appeal and due to Federal regulations we can't even give you the customers name.

[ADB4593]

I know that's a problem. What I'm wondering, is why can't Square fix that issue, since that's the only glitch with making the latest release compatible with an iPad2?

[nika]

@ADB4593 @cmacclel Really sorry for the disruption this has caused in your work day. I moved your posts to this thread. You'll see that we have been (and still are) experiencing issues with the iPad 2 and its connection with our readers and compatible printers. Our engineering team is still working to resolve this issue, but we'll post here on this thread when we have more information. Thank you for your patience.

[cmacclel]

See for yourself and this is just opening the app after last weeks update never mind trying to connect the chip reader which is almost impossible or takes 15 minutes to connect. This is with a freshly reset iPad 2.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEIIPs3D4w8

[digimobileus]

Thanks for the info, it's take 2 minutes to fully established connection, after 2 tries.