[Beta] Kitchen Display System (KDS) for Android Has Arrived Globally. Are You Interested?

[Ryan_M]

Hi Sellers! 👋

Back in 2020, we launched an iOS-based kitchen display system (KDS) as part of Square for Restaurants. This digital offering helped kitchens to keep track of all tickets and reduce missing paper tickets. It also empowered restaurant operators to see multiple tickets at once, in one place, with the ability to mark orders as complete, sending updates to diners and delivery partners. 

With this launch, we heard from many of you a desire for larger, cheaper, more durable hardware for your kitchen. 

That’s why we built Android KDS and are excited to enter Open Beta. We invite you to join us and try out our new offering on a 10”, 15” or 22” device. 

• Larger screen size desired for even more visibility, adding more tickets per screen or increasing font size on existing tickets. 
• Cheaper than iPads by more than 40% for the same size screen
• More durable devices to withstand grease, heat, and water in a kitchen environment

We’re also releasing new and exciting features that will be exclusive to Android, including: 

• Routing by dining option 
• Routing by kitchen category 
• Other yet-to-be-announced upcoming releases

See what other sellers are saying so far: 

• “This KDS app was so easy to set up on my new Android device”

• "We love the big Android screens. Going from a 10" iPad to a 22" device helps our staff tremendously. For a restaurant that's busy and has the space, this is awesome."

Current limitations (when compared to iOS KDS): 

• Printing from KDS device (can be done from POS as a workaround)
• 86-ing from KDS device (can be done from POS as a workaround)
• Prioritizing tickets for Expos

If you absolutely need these features and are an iOS KDS user, you can continue using an iPad in the same kitchen while we add these features to Android in the upcoming months. 

Next steps to participate in beta:

• Please join our beta community for exclusive access to this feature. 
• Follow this support article (you’ll be directed on how to purchase a device and download the app)
• Contact us if you have any questions about your device purchase. We recommend a Microtouch 15” or 22” device, or you can also purchase a 10” device — either a Lenovo M10 or a Galaxy Tab A8. 
• Microtouch 15”
• Microtouch 22”
• VESA mount for your device
• Wall Mount
• Arm Mount
• Galaxy Tab A8  10.5” 
• Lenovo M10  10.3” 

Pricing Note: if you’re a new KDS user, you will get access to a 30-day free trial. We will also be granting all beta users an extension of two months’ free access through to the end of April 2023. 

Don’t forget to join our beta community and find out exactly how to participate.

[rendelven]

Will these exclusive features be available on the iOS version of the app at any point? The biggest complaint I have with Square is how fractured their features and services are. Having to invest in a specific Operating System to use Square's product to only have exclusive features on another OS, forcing either the purchase of a new device or omitting use of said features is poor design. 

I hope Square for Restaurants and the accompanying KDS becomes more cohesive instead of fracturing out more. It's enough of a headache as is, and could potentially push people (myself included) to other more intuitive systems with complete feature sets.

[jsestby]

We've literally been waiting for routing by dining option forever! Why do I now need to trash my existing hardware for new hardware? It's not even square specific hardware. 

[MichelleSQ]

Hi @jsestby & @rendelven - 

We’re glad to hear that you’re excited about new features coming to KDS like routing by dining option and routing by kitchen category. At this time, these features will be exclusively available on Android KDS. While we understand your concerns about purchasing a new device, the new Android KDS gives your kitchen staff a better view of more incoming tickets on a large, durable, and configurable screen, ultimately decreasing your cost to replace over time with heat-and-grease proof hardware.

[rendelven]

These are features that your user-base has been requesting for a long time and now in order for us to use these features we have to spend more money and invest in more hardware after already having done so. The option to use an Android Device is nice, and while I understand there will be some feature-sets that may not be available due to restrictions in the Operating System -- these things are such high-level that to exclusively restrict it behind the launch of an entirely new line of devices is, again, bad customer service. It's not a great way to incentivize people to spend more money on Square's system. It in fact, does quite the opposite.