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What are the troubleshooting steps for the Contactless and Chip Card Reader?

For the past few months my contactless chip reader won't process payment. It connects to my Note5, but when I press the charge amount and the reader green light goes on, it won't accept the payment. I leave the chip card in the reader for a while then a red light goes on and the phone says need to re-connect the reader. But the app says the reader is connected when I go back to the register screen. I'm thinking something is wrong with the reader but nowhere does it show there is an error. Very frustrating! 

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1 Verified Answer
Verified Answer

Re: Anyone else having the chip reader take a long time to connect?

Hey @hairninja76, I'm sorry your reader is taking longer than usual to connect - that sounds pretty frustrating! These pairing troubleshooting steps usually help. It's also important that your phone's software is up to date, and the Point of Sale app is up to date too! 

 

If those troubleshooting steps don't resolve this issue for you, please don't hesitate to call our team who can take a closer look. 

1 Best Answer
Square

Best Answer

That's no good!

 

We have an article that outlines some of the best troubleshooting tips for Contactless reader trouble: Square Contactless and Chip Card Reader Troubleshooting

 

Try these steps below to get your reader up and running: 

 

  1. Force quit the Square app and reopen it.
  2. Delete and reinstall the Square app. Note: If you’ve recently accepted payments while in Offline Mode and haven’t uploaded them, don’t delete and reinstall the app or you’ll lose these transactions. Connect your mobile device to the Internet to complete these payments before deleting the app.
  3. Turn your mobile device off and back on.
  4. If the reader and device are more than 10ft apart, the reader will have trouble maintaining a consistent connection. Move your reader and device closer when in use.

If these tips don’t solve the trouble, force shutdown your reader:

 

  1. Plug in the reader for at least 20 minutes to be sure it’s charged.
  2. While the reader is charging, use a bobby pin, pen cap, or paper clip to firmly press and hold the button on the reader for 20 seconds.
  3. After 20 seconds, release the button and wait 10 seconds.
  4. Press the button again to turn the reader on and observe any lights on the reader.

 

If the reader lights turn on, you’re all set. If the lights don’t turn on, please try again and make sure to firmly press and hold the reader’s button for a full 20 seconds.

 

If that doesn’t do the trick, you can submit a warranty claim to receive a replacement.

View Best Answer >

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Square Community Moderator

Thanks for chiming in with this tip @GoldRush5454

 

@amanda1472 I've moved your post over to this existing thread, which has the normal troubleshooting steps what we recommend when sellers first have trouble with the Contactless + Chip card reader. 

 

The last step would be the one that was recommended by @GoldRush5454 mentioned. 

 

Hard resets usually do the trick. Let us know if this works for you!

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This reply was created from merging an existing thread

 

My Square chip reader is wireless but will not connect to my IPhone X

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Admin

@LadyGlinton The troubleshooting steps for the Contactless and Chip Card reader in this thread should help you to connect it to your phone again. If you're still having trouble let me know! 

️ Helen
Seller Community Manager

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There seems to be a lot of problems with the Chip Reader. I have had the same problems. Then a customer disputed a rather large charge and Square just gave them back their money without me having a chance for input on the purchase. 

 

Square says we have to use Chip Reader to cover our selves from these disputes. How can we do this when the Chip Reader is not working half the time?

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I'm sorry to hear you've had trouble with your Contactless and Chip Card Reader @beeswax. I'd be happy to troubleshoot it with you. Are you having trouble connecting the reader to your device or processing a payment with the reader connected? 

 

Disputes are tough since it's the customers bank that makes the final decision. EMV disputes are almost impossible to win since U.S. banks employed the liability shift in 2015 to combat fraud on magstripe cards. If you swipe a chip card and a customer disputes it the bank will side with their customer automatically citing the liability shift. 

 

I'll keep an eye out for your reply! 

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Beta Member

This reply was created from merging an existing thread: Bluetooth


My andoid phone will not recognize my chip card reader as a bluetooth device. Reader is inches from phone and my phone settings are correct.

 

I will add that I've used my phone / chip reader successflly for weeks. Starting today do I have the problem.

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Sorry to hear your device isn't recognizing the reader all of a sudden @bkophoto. The Contactless and Chip Card reader troubleshooting steps in this thread usually resolve most issues wtih the reader. 

 

I'd also recommend making sure the software on your phone is up to date, that you have a strong internet connection (the Contactless reader can't be used in Offline Mode), and that your reader is fully charged.

️ Helen
Seller Community Manager

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intermittant cant pair reader to iphone

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Square Community Moderator

Hi @shearer

 

I've moved your post over to this existing thread that goes through some Troubleshooting Tips that you can try to see if they help. 

 

Have you tried anything thus far? Were you getting an error message?

 

Make sure your app and your device are fully updated and try some of the tips mentioned in the Best Answer.

 

This Article should help as well: 

 

My Reader Won't Pair with My Device

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I have been using my square reader for almost 2 years with no problems. I have 2 phones both with the square app installed. One is an Iphone and the other the latest Samsung. When connecting to either phone is says "Establishing secure connection" which it has always done, however, no connection is made on either phone indicating it is an issue with the reader and not the phone/s.

Can anyone shed some light on the cause of this problem?

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Square Community Moderator

Thanks for raising this to us @JohnK1

 

I've moved your post over to this existing thread that includes a troubleshooting article and some good troubleshooting steps that we recommend trying right away. 

 

Check out the Best Answer and let me know if anything helps. I'm hoping a reinstall of the app and an update of your operating system does the trick for you. 

 

A hard reset of the reader itself might be the solution as well. 

 

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what’s wrong when the chip readers continuously flashes a red lights on the charger or off

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@Mrheavyy

Sorry to hear about the issues you're having with this reader. Sounds like there definitely is some troubleshooting that needs to be done here.

 

I'm moving your message to a thread where we've had other Sellers troubleshoot errors with their Contactless and Chip readers. Hopefully this gets it fixed for you.  If not, please reach out to our Customer Success team so we can further help out!

kellyj
Technical Program Manager: AI
Square Inc
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Quick question.  In South Florida and experiencing problems connecting chip reader to my phone.

 

Had to manually enter in a transaction this AM...deleted the app, reinstalled, went to sync chip reader as instructed but only get all red vs orange flashing as suggested.  

Any help is appreciated 4/1/20 10:31AM

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Square Community Moderator

Hi there, @PropertyButler - thanks for reaching out to us here on the Seller Community! So sorry for the trouble you are experiencing, but glad you let us know.

 

I've merged your post into an existing thread of Sellers who were also experiencing this issue with their Contactless & Chip Card reader. This Best Answer from Helen will give you some outlines on troubleshooting steps! Let me know if that gets your problem solved for you.

 

I will keep an eye out for your response!

Joe
Community Moderator, Square
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Thank you Joe.  I had to remove the device from my Bluetooth tree, then reinstall. Ran it once yesterday and a few moments ago with no problem.  

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Square Community Moderator

This is great to hear, @PropertyButler! Thanks for letting me know. Feel free to reach out if anything else comes up! 

Joe
Community Moderator, Square
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The device appears to be pairing but the "pair" button never comes up. The orange lights flash for a while during "pairing" (button is released) and at the very end red lights flash once and then nothing. Device is charged because green lights flash when button is pressed so this isn't the issue

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Admin

@EWPT


This thread should be helpful in further troubleshooting. 

kellyj
Technical Program Manager: AI
Square Inc
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Inserted credit card into my reader, and the green light is just staying on, but not accepting payments

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Square Community Moderator

Hi @BigBen19147 and welcome to our Seller Community! 

 

We moved your post to a relevant thread for troubleshooting the Contactless + Chip reader that should help you fix this issue.

 

If not, please don't hesitate to Contact Us directly for further troubleshooting. 

 

Ashley C
Community Moderator, Square
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