Ah, gotcha. Thanks for circling back, @rrowe1975! We don't currently offer the ability to scan items using your phone itself but that would be a great way to streamline the checkout process. I'll be sure to share your suggestion with our Product Liaison team.
In the meantime, hopefully one of our currently supported hardware options will be useful. Thank you for your patience and keep in touch for updates!
Your response of "One being that Square Point of Sale is available on a number of devices and each device has a different camera and hardware specifications" doesn't really hold water. Barcode reader app designers make these applications to work across just about any mobile smartphone with little problem. If they can do it, and Square engineers can't, maybe Square should hire people who know how to engineer.
HI there, @muslimgarments - thanks for taking the time to reach out to us here on the Seller Community! We are so glad you joined us. Welcome!
And thanks for adding your voice for this feature - this definitely sounds like it would be a cool feature. A few clarifying questions though, which app are you referring to that can already scan with the mobile camera?
Currently, Square offers the ability to use a barcode scanner in conjunction with the Square Stand, but mobile camera scanning is unavailable.
Hi there, @williamwm1 - thanks for reaching out to us here on the Seller Community! Good to hear from you again.
Would you mind clarifying your question/post a bit more? - Are you inquiring about using an iPad or iPhone camera software to scan barcodes? If so, this capability is currently considered a Feature Request for our Hardware. As of now, we only offer the ability to scan barcodes by using an approved barcode scanner for your POS.
If I missed the mark on interpreting your question, feel free to shoot me a reply here! We are here to help.
Why is this still not a feature? It is something that would help so much in smaller shops that have inventory. I have a full inventory system for my shop and would love to put some of the more common things into Square but I don't want my employees or me to have to drill through the app to find the one thing the customer is buying.
This seems like such a no brainer. I get using an actual barcode scanner most of the time but when doing transactions on a mobile device like a tablet or phone using the resources already on that device is the preferred option. Other POS systems already have this. Why is this where Square is falling behind?
This thread has been open for years with no signs of this ever being an option.
Guys, while in some ways Square is at the forefront of innovation, for some reason they've often flat-out refused to implement simple fixes that we've asked for. This has been going on for years.
An early example was when the SquareStand was introduced...I went out and bought an iPad especially, and since I have an iMac and Macbook already, I obviously got attached to all things Apple...
One of the very next innovations that came out was 'Appointments.' And guess what.. Square decides to introduce compatibility and syncing with Google Calendar...leaving all of us iCal users pretty confused. The whole reason I bought the iPad was for compatibility with Square! This was years ago, and I remember begging for a simple fix for iCal... it never happened. I do know that there are workarounds, but as hard as I tried, I couldn't get things to sync properly across from Square... to Google...to Apple...yeah, forget it. So I gave up on Appointments (even though I hear positive things) and continue to use my one Apple Calendar. The last thing I need is clients showing up at the wrong times!
Here's just another example of Square refusing to implement simple, standard fixes that users are begging for. I've been perplexed about this for years...I've known fellow clients to abandon Square over the smallest (yet incredibly aggravating) things. 5 years later, and the moderators are still parroting the same tired lines ..ie. "maybe in the future"... and "the technology is complex"... Even tech neophytes know about calendar compatibility...it's even older than the barcode scanner stuff...! There are hundreds of free QR/barcode scanners on both App and Play stores...and qr/barcode scanning has long been integrated into major apps like Amazon, What's App, even Canada Post!
Yet for the wizards in San Francisco, the solution is to invest in a 1980s-style scanner-gun? Seriously? If Canada Post can figure this stuff out, Square can too. So perhaps it's because they don't want to. Or can't.
The only explanation I can hypothesize is that Square signed some sort of exclusivity agreement with Apple, then another with Google. As for the scanning functionality, I'm sure that Square gets huge kickbacks from the few companies that make its old-school "peripherals" like the scanning guns and those ugly little receipt printers. There's only a few brands that seem to support Square POS, and not surprisingly, the Square-compatible models are CRAZY expensive...up to $500 for a tiny Star Micronics 'thermal printer.' The non-compatible ones sell on Amazon for a tiny fraction of that. Ditto with the scanning guns.
And let's not forgot all those expensive third party apps!! Someone earlier mentioned 'Shopventory'.. I don't know them, but if indeed they offer functionality that you don't get with the standard Square system, I'd imagine that Square would be quite adverse to introduce its own in-house solutions that would supplant or even improve upon what the third-party offers. Some of those apps want hundreds of thousands of dollars a month...and I'm sure Square gets a nice kickback from that...so if introducing some fixes to placate all of us would essentially kill one of its partners, you can imagine why Square might prefer to ignore something ...and instead innovate in a totally new area. That type of move grabs more headlines, and keeps all these affiliates fat and happy.
So that's my theory--it's the only thing that makes sense. Frankly I wish the company would just be honest about things...I mean, if we all want low processing fees, so Square needs to make money in other ways. I feel bad for the moderators who have to give us all the ring-around when it's clear from this board that nobody is buying their explanations...especially those like me who have been with Square since the start.
So don't hold your breath waiting for fixes from Square.
