I see 'Reader not ready' error message when I try to use the chip card reader

[LegionToo]

Hello all, I'm operating in Canada (with a Canadian account of a business partner) and am having trouble with my chip reader. It seems to see the reader I try to connect it to Bluetooth but says "connection failed" on the reader connection menu and "reader not ready" on the home screen.

I have the square register system, and have tried:

- Taking it out of the USB connector and connecting by Bluetooth

- hard quitting the app and restarting/reconnecting to reader

- uninstall app and reinstalled/find reader. 

- insured the reader is 100% charged.

iOS is at version 10.3.3 square app is very 5.5.1

It worked last week in New Jersey on my account.

Has it just died? 

[Chad · Accepted solution]

Hello @LegionToo! 

I'm sorry no one responded to you sooner. Square hardware is country specific. You'll only be able to use your reader while in the United States. In your case you would need to use the Canadian version of our Contactless and Chip Card Reader. 🙂

[LegionToo]

Ah-ha. I suspected that might be the case. thanks for the update.

[calljax]

I have a Canadian Square account with a Canadian Square Contactless Chip Reader and it works great the first time I start it up to take a payment.

My problem is when I try to take a subsequent payment several minutes (sometimes hours) later the Reader is off and doesn't auto rehook to my android phone. I have to close the app, open the app and press the button on the Reader again before it will take payment - and even then the Reader will still sometimes say "Ready Not Ready" and I have to go through the whole process again.

Any suggestions on how I can fix this? It is my understanding that the Reader should auto rehook to the app even if time has gone by?

*To note the reader is stored less than 1 foot away from the Android Phone the app is on & the app is up to date.

Thank you!

[Chad]

Hello @calljax! 

I'm sorry to hear about the trouble you're having with your reader. You're correct, the reader should wake up and re-connect when you go to make a sale.

Adding an item or dollar amount to the cart should wake up the reader out of sleep. Have you tried this method of waking up the reader?