What would make the Square OFFLINE feature not work even when device is set up for this.

[kecree01]

This past weekend at a festival where there is no wifi or other internet access, my square offline feature did not work - kept searching for internet access.  I went back to my settings and saw that the feature was "on" but could never get square to acknowledge it.

[Tom]

Hey @kecree01, thanks for reaching out.

Sorry to hear about the trouble you encountered with Offline Mode. It's a bit tough to say what was causing the connection issue; was the app displaying a red banner with an "OFFLINE" message at the top of the screen?

Before your next event, I'd suggest running through these troubleshooting tips as they usually resolve any problems with the app right away. After that, you can test accepting a payment offline by enabling Airplane Mode on your mobile device.

Hope this helps prevent the issue from happening again. Please let us know if anything else comes up.

[acwcwh]

I have the same problem with my square pos system. When the network goes down I have never been able to use the offline mode. The red screen comes on and then it asks if I want to go into “offline mode” and then when I press the button it automatically cancels the payment.

[baker]

We had the same thing happen -  we got around this by physically disconnecting the ethernet cable to the cash register.  This enabled us to go into offline mode.  We then printed duplicate tickets from the register to give to the kitchen for lunch orders.

[MichiganFarmsta]

To force square offline you have to disconnect all wifi and Ethernet connections.  I had to force this to handle the square outage

[evasavageau3]

Same thing is happening to me, I have been unable to use Square terminal through Square POS app when I'm offline

[Joe]

Hi there, @evasavageau3 - thanks for reaching out.

Would you mind clarifying what specifically is happening in regards to your Square Terminal and Offline Mode? Are you receiving some kind of error message when trying to process transactions? Any extra context would be helpful here in order for us to help troubleshoot.

[evasavageau3]

Hi Joe, 

I had my Square POS app linked to my Square Terminal and my WIFI was out, I hade both set to offline mode. When I tried to run a transaction through the Square terminal it had a red bar across the top saying connect to internet and I wasn't able to get into any screens, it just showed a blank screen with that red bar on top. I had to disconnect it and use my Square POS app offline in order to make the transactions. I hope that helps. 

[Joe]

Thanks for the quick response, @evasavageu3 - appreciate you bouncing back and adding that context. While I'm unsure specifically how you may have connected the POS app and Terminal (the Terminal is a standalone all-in-one payment option meaning it does not work in conjunction with other payment devices), the red banner at the top of the Terminal usually indicates that you are in fact within Offline Mode.

The banner may prompt you to connect to the internet, but you can still process transactions in this state - the unit should revert to offline mode whenever no connection is made. 

If you're seeing the unit display something otherwise, please let me know!

[evasavageau3]

Is this something that is going to be looked into and fixed?

[MrTheThrill]

Our Square POS Offline Mode has never worked, even though it is enabled. I was just told through a very confusing support call that if your device does not have a swiper (like our second generation white model) it cannot process cards in offline mode. It would have been nice to know before we chose this device. I can't find anything about this on the support website or channels so I wanted to post this in case you are running into this issue too. 

[rmarmadu]

Apparently this is still an issue. I am experiencing all the same things. Missed out of thousands of $$ of sales today. I am VERY upset 

[_Violet]

Hi @rmarmadu - I'm sorry to hear that this issue with your transactions taken in Offline Mode has brought you to the Seller Community 😞

I suggest looking over this article from our Support Center which includes explanations for common reasons why payments fail. Keep in mind: When operating in Offline Mode, there is an additional risk with any payments you accept. Square is not responsible for any loss due to declined cards or expired payments taken while offline or for chargebacks.

We aren't able to look into your Square account and transaction history here in the Seller Community, but our Support Team can take a closer look into this with you to figure out what happened. If you haven't already, please reach out to Support directly by logging into your Square account and heading here. 

I hope this information is helpful but please do let me know if you have any additional questions.

[ToriW]

I'm still having this issue. I've had spotty internet lately, and every time it goes down my staff say that offline mode keeps bugging out and won't work. Same as others, losing horrendous amounts of sales thanks to this. What is the point of offline mode if it fails when we need it?

[JJ_]

Hey there @ToriW 

Sorry to hear about your experience with Offline Mode. As it stands Offline Mode should and will kick in whenever there is no internet connection. If you have internet but it's spotty is best to turn off the WiFi completely so Offline Mode is able to behave as it should. Having spotty internet doesn't necessarily mean being offline and that's what I believe is the reason behind this feature not working as expected on your POS.

I hope this information is helpful!

[Bestseafood]

It’s not remotely helpful. I dealt with this today. Red bar at top. No internet connectivity. When I click on offline payments it says it’s on but I can’t run cards or do transactions.

[JJ_]

Hey there @Bestseafood

I would love to learn more about this experience. Can you clarify which types of transactions you were looking to complete? And has this ever happened to you before?

[Bestseafood]

I haven’t been using square long. Had to use offline transactions once before and it worked perfectly. On this day I was set up at a rural farmers market with zero internet or cell service. So it was telling me I needed to connect so I tried to allow off-line transactions like I did last time. It would let me click the button on and off, but it wouldn’t do anything else. I could not run any transactions (which is just selling preloaded items off a food truck) When I got back to connectivity, the square had an update that needed to be done. I don’t know if that will fix the problem or not. 

[Katie_SQ]

Hi there, @Bestseafood. 👋 Just jumping in for JJ here.

I’d love to get some more information about this recent experience when you have a moment:

• Are you able to confirm what was appearing when you tried to take these payments while in Offline Mode?
• Did any error messages appear?
• Were you able to add any items at the checkout at all?
• Did the screen freeze at the checkout when you tried to put an offline payment through, or before this?
• Did any offline payments go through on this day?

Thanks, I’ll keep an eye out for your reply. 

[Bestseafood]

I’m not sure I can provide you anymore info than I already did. No no offline payment were possible so no transactions went through. We did one transaction as normal and the payment never went through. THE OFFLINE TRANACTIONS FEATURE WAS NOT WORKING. Sorry I’m not meaning to yell but that was the primary issue.

[RobynR]

@Bestseafood, I understand that your offline payments were not functioning properly. However, without more information, it's difficult to pinpoint the exact issue you are experiencing. Please provide additional details so that we can better understand and address the problem on your end.

I suggest ensuring your device is updated to the latest version and check out this article on common Square App troubleshooting, which usually resolves most issues.

If you prefer to speak with a live representative who can provide real-time assistance, please don't hesitate to contact our support at 855-809-9000 between 6 a.m.-6 p.m. Pacific Time (9 a.m.-9 p.m. Eastern Time), Monday through Friday. We're here to help you.