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Hands-on: Square Contactless is an Apple Pay payment terminal for any business [Video]

Late last year Square released its updated Square Reader for accepting contactless and chip payment methods on iPhones and iPads, which means small businesses and pop up shops can take Apple Pay payments from iPhones and Apple Watches without expensive terminal systems. The new Square Reader goes for $49 with transaction fees set at 2.75% so you keep $97.25 out of every $100 sent through Square. Square’s app lets you create mobilized businesses on iPhones and iPads, and we’ve tested the new Apple Pay-ready reader to see just how easy it all is.

The updated kit includes two pieces of hardware. Square Contactless is a rechargeable Bluetooth reader that takes contactless payments and cards with secure chips. The other is the classic Square Reader that connects to headphone jacks and lets you swipe traditional debit and credit cards. If the iPhone 7 starts the death of the headphone jack, Square Contactless will be all the more important for small shops.

Inside the box you’ll also find a short microUSB cable for recharging the Square Contactless. Mine came fully charged according to the four green LED lights found on the new hardware. A battery indicator button next to the microUSB port along the back lets you check battery life anytime.

You’ll also find a Square payments decal to present to your customers. This lists the six different payment methods Square allows businesses to accept: Apple Pay, Google Pay, Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover. I’ve seen at least one small coffee shop around where I live present this decal. I think the Apple Pay logo will be pretty good marketing, and it’s great to see Google Pay right there too.

Setting up the new Square Contactless reader takes just a few minutes. Sign up for or sign in with your Square account, the hit the settings section of the app to look for new hardware for pairing. Square Contactless connects wirelessly via Bluetooth so ensure that’s on first then let the app locate the hardware. iOS will ask for permission to pair with the hardware, then you’re ready to go. The longest step in the process was updating the firmware on the hardware from the app, but the whole setup was ready to go in under 10 minutes.

Once you’re ready to charge a customer for any transaction and you’ve entered the total amount in the Square Register app, the Square Contactless fires up its NFC radios and looks for nearby contactless payment devices like iPhones and Apple Watches. A single green LED lights up to let you know the hardware is ready to go, and it stays ready for about a minute until it lights up four red LED lights to let you know nothing was detected. Back in the Square app, you can optionally tap a dialog button that appears to turn on the Apple Pay reader for another 60 seconds or so.

Similarly, you can insert a chip-enabled debit or credit card in the Square Contactless reader as well. I’ve used chip terminals at places like Target that don’t accept Apple Pay yet and the experience is always very archaic. Insert the chip end of the card, hear a loud tone, wait what feels like forever, enter your pin, hear another loud tone, then pull your card out but not too soon! The Square Contactless reader handled my chip-enabled debit card much more gracefully. No tones or long waits and the Square app nearly instantly presented a signature screen. You can even sign with the Apple Pencil on the iPad Pro, although it’s not yet optimized and noticeably doesn’t feature palm rejection.

Check out our hands-on video below:

As someone who knows nothing about setting up payment terminals and even less about what’s required to accept chip and contactless payment methods, I found Square Contactless to be super easy to use after just a few minutes of setting up. Apple Pay is a joy to use whether it’s from the iPhone or Apple Watch, and Square’s $49 solution makes it possible for small businesses and pop up vendors to easily impress customers and take the latest payment methods.

During the early days of Apple Pay, I might even see a business or vendor using Square Contactless and decide to buy something just for the chance to pay with my iPhone or Apple Watch. You can still find Square’s classic Reader as well, which is included in the new kit. The updated kit is shipping to new reservers in March at the time of writing.

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Comments

  1. JBDragon - 8 years ago

    Seems like a great way to add Apple pay support (along with other NFC and Chip card support) without spending much money. The transaction fee cost is pretty normal, at least here in the U.S.

  2. TechSHIZZLE.com - 8 years ago

    “Any Business”

    Ha!

    After processing tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of transactions for me over the last several years, Square decided to suspend my account because I’m a bankruptcy attorney. I’ve never had an issue with Square, and no refund issues at all.

    But, Square decided that they would not allow their processing to be used by bankruptcy law offices and they closed my account.

    I’ve switched to Clover and love their service and equipment.

    F@&k Square.

    • I’m a little bit confused by this, if you work for a bankruptcy agency, why would you accept credit cards when these people are applying for backruptcy, because they most likely can’t afford to pay their bills, like their credit card bills.

      • TechSHIZZLE.com - 8 years ago

        I accept credit card payments from people OTHER than my clients (family members, etc.). Also, I accept payments from my clients who pay with debit cards.

      • ok, that makes more sense now. Let’s just hope you check their credit report before you accept the family member’s payment!

      • TechSHIZZLE.com - 8 years ago

        @Tyler

        Ha!

        No need-I get paid by the credit card company or bank. Anyone’s credit report is irrelevant to me.

    • chriscarnie1 - 8 years ago

      I hate square as well they suspend accounts for the most ridiculous of reasons.

  3. I can’t wait to get mine in the mail!

  4. lombax54a - 8 years ago

    Got mine a couple of days ago and it works faster with Apple Pay than most industrial NFC readers. Its a pretty sweet little reader

  5. A local café in my city got one of these this week. It worked flawlessly with my Watch

  6. pdixon1986 - 8 years ago

    It would be great if there was a universal IC card/NFC reader — certain countries like japan have had these things for years, they first started off in cell phones and then moved on to using IC cards too (similar to the oyster subway card in london)…most of the cell phones and IC cards all play nicely with each other and are accepted on buses, trains, shops etc… but Apple end up being different meaning Japan havent even adopted Apple pay because it would mean having a separate device installed in all the shops, buses, and trains that already work with several different cards and phone companies.

    I believe i ready samsung have their own payment system, and possible another phone company doing the same — then add that to banks that have introduced their own contactless pay system (Many in the UK have this)… we will end up with shops having 5 machines and the customer having to work out which machine to wave their device or card over — i no wonder why my mum said she would much prefer to pay cash or use her card with chip and pin.

  7. nathanllarsen - 8 years ago

    “Apple Pay, Google Pay, Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover.”

    “and it’s great to see Google Pay right there too.”

    I believe you mean Android Pay …

  8. Kim-Kelli Kohler - 8 years ago

    Stupid question….. I’m all set with the contactless reader as far as setting it up, but I don’t see anything about turning it off. Does it automatically turn itself off?

Author

Avatar for Zac Hall Zac Hall

Zac covers Apple news, hosts the 9to5Mac Happy Hour podcast, and created SpaceExplored.com.