Square is a popular payment processing service that offers software and hardware solutions. Originally the company started with a small credit card reader that worked via headphone jack in 2009.
Square has built a highly successful business with easy to use software and hardware that appeals to a range of businesses from individual entrepreneurs up to larger businesses like retailers.
In 2015, Square launched its contactless and chip reader that brought Apple Pay support. While the company has updated its Square Stand offering for use with iPads over the years, it has also released a dedicated, integrated system called Square Register.
The San Francisco-based company Square has always focused on using technology to make commerce tools accessible to businesses of all sizes, and their latest app adds another resource to their growing lineup of mobile payment solutions.
Square Appointments for iOS is an iPhone-only app that lets clients book appointments and businesses manage schedules. Perks include appointment reminders for clients through push notifications and appointment history for businesses. Square highlights these specific features in their new app:
Manage appointments on the go: Set up and edit your appointments anywhere your business takes you.
Carry all your clients with you: Access and edit your client profiles.
Accept appointments instantly: Accept or decline appointments directly through your iPhone notifications screen.
Complete payments anywhere: Check clients out directly on your iPhone seamlessly through the Square app.
Businesses can use the new Appointments app even if they don’t process payments payments with Square.
Square Appointments is available for free on the App Store and joins Square Register, Cash, and Analytics.
Cash, the iPhone app that lets you easily send money from your bank account to anyone with email or text messages or even just nearby with a smartphone, is out with a new version today that puts Square’s cashing sending app right on the Apple Watch. Square Cash highlights three uses for its first Apple Watch app: Expand Expanding Close
Update: Square has provided us with the following statement on the matter, stating that its products have special security measures and that the described problems are more of an industry-wide issue:
This story is about issues with magnetic-stripe credit cards, not Square. In 2015, it should not surprise us that a system using essentially the same technology as cassette tapes is vulnerable. That is why major credit card companies, lenders, and businesses are now embracing new, more secure, authenticated payment technologies. Square is helping to lead the way with our own card readers for chip cards and contactless payments.
Any card reader on the market can be deconstructed. The chip could be crushed and then reassembled by using the undamaged shell of the reader. At Square, we have processes in place to prevent malicious behavior on damaged readers. Our Square Register software contains a number of security precautions that protect cards that are swiped on unencrypted readers. If our encrypted readers are damaged, they will not work with Square.
A new report out of Motherboard details how three recently graduated Boston University students have been able to easily hack the increasingly popular Square Reader. For those unfamiliar, Square Reader is an iOS accessory that allows retailers to easily accept credit and debit cards without having to spend the money on traditional point of sale terminals. Hackers have now discovered, however, a very easy way for merchants to steal card information from customers.
Update: Apple has uploaded its new “Change Everything” ad to YouTube, as well. It’s embedded below.
Apple has debuted its newest iPad marketing campaign, “Change Everything,” with a 1:30 commercial and a new website highlighting the apps that change the way people go about their daily lives. The ad starts off with a list of things that have changed since the release of the first iPad, such as small businesses and education.
From there the commercial demonstrates a variety of applications and accessories that have augmented the way people connect, learn, and conduct business, and enjoy their lives…
Apple is steadily rolling out more support for banking and card issuer partners since first launching its new Apple Pay payments service last month. The other part of the equation is retailers and app developers supporting the service and this week saw the rollout of additional support including announcements from Sephora, venues that utilize tickets.com, and the Disney Store iOS app. In addition, Square is today confirming that its previously announced under development bitcoin and NFC capable register will arrive with Apple Pay support sometime in 2015. Expand Expanding Close
Snapchat today announced a new service, in partnership with mobile-payment service Square, dubbed Snapcash. The new feature allows Snapchat users to quickly and easily send payments to one another. Users can do so by simply swiping right to chat on the main screen in Snapchat and then entering a dollar amount. The money will go directly from one user’s bank account to another.
It may not yet be practical for micro businesses to fork out for the expensive NFC payment terminals needed for Apple Pay, but Square is ensuring that they will at least be all set for the shift to chip-and-signature cards next year.
As of October 2015, any retailer without a chip-and-signature reader will bear the risk of fraudulent transactions, giving them a strong incentive to update their cardreaders. Fortunately, with Square, it’s not an expensive shift: the iPhone reader will cost just $29 – the cheapest on the market – while the Chip Card Accessory for the Square Stand iPad terminal costs $39.
It will be interesting to see whether Square is later able to develop a low-cost NFC reader to support contactless cards and Apple Pay, but in the meantime both chip-and-signature products are available for pre-order now, with delivery early next year.
Cash, the app launched by payments company Square last year for personal money transfers, today updated with a new way to send money on iOS 8 over Bluetooth LE. The feature is called Nearby Payments and allows users to send and receive payments by using Bluetooth to find and connect with nearby users. That’s opposed to the previous methods the app already offered including sending payments via text message and email. In case you’re wondering why it’s iOS 8 only:
@bzamayo Apple significantly improved BLE in iOS 8, which allowed us to build a reliable experience for paying people nearby.
Square notes that users will be able to select preferences for nearby visibility to allow either everyone or only contacts to see their availability. Today’s update to version 2.1 also includes the ability to “Quickly approve or decline money requests with actionable push notifications.”
TechCrunch is reporting today that Apple and mobile payment processor Square were briefly in talks about a possible acqusition. The talks didn’t get far, it seems, as the two companies couldn’t reach an agreement on how much Square was actually worth. Eventually, Square walked away:
Separately, TechCrunch has heard that Square and Apple were in acquisition talks, but that Square walked away. Apple wanted the company to come aboard, but the discussed price was a sticking point: Apple wanted to buy Square for around $3 billion, one source said. Square, valued at the time at a firm 66 percent delta to that price point, declined to accept.
It’s interesting to consider what Apple Pay might have looked like if the merger had gone through. You can read the more over at TechCrunch.
Square launched its app Cash last fall making the process of sending money from your bank to other people over email, and today the company is introducing the next major version of its app. Square Cash 2.0 introduces a list of new features including the ability to now send a transaction over text messaging in addition to email and attach notes to payments for adding context to a transaction. Below you can see the full list of changes in the new version.
What’s New in Version 2.0
Everything is better in Cash 2.0!
• Send cash to any mobile phone number via text message.
• Faster, optimized sending interface.
• Import your address book for quick contact selection.
• Add a note to your payments.
• Pick a profile picture.
• Choose push notifications, text messages, or email notifications.
• Manage all of your email addresses and phone numbers in one place.
• Quickly approve incoming requests from a push notification or text message.
• Invite friends via text message and get $1 when they join.
Square Cash 2.0 is available for free on the App Store.
Small businesses looking to take occasional card payments without paying monthly fees now have a third option as Amazon has launched Local Register to compete with Square and PayPal Here – as we predicted last month. The $10 card-reader is compatible with any iPhone from the iPhone 4 onward, as well as any iPad or iPad mini.
Amazon is undercutting both competitor services with a flat fee of 2.5 percent per transaction (vs 2.7 percent for PayPal Here and 2.75 percent for Square). Not enough? Amazon is sweetening the deal with a special introductory rate of 1.75 percent until the end of 2015, and will also credit the $10 cost of the cardreader in full against transaction fees … Expand Expanding Close
Today, Square announced a new version of its popular mobile payment system that will support EMV chipped credit cards. EMV is a joint effort from MasterCard and Visa to help improve security credit and debit card transactions and is set to become a standard in the US by October 2015. In addition to EMV-equipped credit cards, the new version of Square’s payment system will still feature support for legacy magnetic strips, so customers will still have the option to swipe and sign.
Amazon could be preparing to launch its own mobile credit card reading hardware in the coming weeks, according to internal Staples documents hinting at such a launch that we’ve obtained. According to the documents, Staples stores will prepare next month to stock a new product called the “Amazon Card Reader” alongside existing card readers from Square, PayPal, and Staples’ own in-house brand. The small hardware, which will likely connect to smartphones to process payments, will cost $9.99, according to the Staples internal sales systems…
Out with the old and in with the new. That’s how Square is starting the week as it pulls one app from the App Store and replaces it with another. Square Wallet, the commerce company’s not-so-popular mobile payment app, is no longer available on the App Store as the company begins to promote its new mobile payment app called Square Order.
Although Square Wallet boasted support for “thousands of neighborhood businesses” including a deal with Starbucks, it never really felt like its presence was really promoted nor was it more convenient than traditional payment methods. In the case of Starbucks, its support came after the coffee company’s own smartphone app included mobile payments including support for Apple’s Passbook system… Expand Expanding Close
Re/code is reporting that both Apple and Google have considered making acquisition offers for payments company Square, with CEO Jack Dorsey said to favor a sale to Apple.
In the last year, both Apple and Google have considered making acquisition offers for Square, according to industry sources familiar with the situation […]
[Dorsey] believes, sources said, that his company’s design aesthetic and values match up much more closely with Apple than Google …
The company has started notifying existing customers that they can get the new Square reader for free by signing into their web dashboard.
Square, which was co-founded in 2010 by Twitter’s Jack Dorsey, allows iOS and Android users to accept credit card payments directly from their mobile devices.
Mobile payments company Square is teaming up with Bono’s Product RED organization for a special edition credit card reader that benefits charity. Square has become one of the leaders in processing credit card payments on mobile devices with a small credit card reader available for iPhone and iPad as well as point-of-sale software and hardware kits for merchants. The special SQUA(RED) Reader will be available for a $10 donation with 97.25% of the amount going directly to the Global Fund to fight AIDS in Africa. Customers swiping their cards will also get the opportunity to donate through a link on their emailed receipts:
The impact doesn’t end there. When you swipe (RED), your customers can donate right from their emailed receipts to help deliver an AIDS FREE GENERATION. Every swipe can make a difference.
Ahead of the official International CES 2014 show taking place next week in Las Vegas, tonight Griffin, alongside a number of other companies, debuted new products at the official CES Unveiled press event. We told you earlier about the company’s new Square card reader case (the first of Square’s partners for a new program that will see similar products released in the future), but Griffin also had other Apple related products on show tonight including new audio accessories, a bluetooth controller for Mac, and more.
Griffin and Square have teamed up to offer the first official iPhone case designed to protect your iPhone while accepting payments with the popular credit card reader.
The Merchant case features non-slip sides making it easier to keep a secure grip on your iPhone when swiping cards and accepting signatures. If your iPhone should happen to fall the silicone case will absorb some of the impact hopefully keeping your iPhone safe and sound. It also protects your phone’s internal components by “eliminating swivel and excess strain on your iPhone’s headphone jack” thanks to its custom-molded design. An integrated slot located on the back of the case conveniently stores your Square reader when the work day ends. A Square reader is included to help jumpstart new businesses and expand current ones.
The Merchant case is compatible with the iPhone 5/5s and is scheduled to ship in 1-2 weeks. It’s available for preorder starting today with a list price of $19.99. For a more permanent POS solution be sure to checkout the Square iPad Stand.
Features:
Protective silicone case keeps your iPhone safe; included Square Reader allows you to accept credit card payments on the go.
Molded silicone case protects your iPhone from bumps and drops
Easy-grip, non-slip texture
Card guide aligns the credit card and your Square Reader for easy, consistent card swipes every time
Stores your Square Reader when not in use
A Works with Square™ product
App requires iOS 6.0 or later
Download Square Register app and learn more about Square at www.squareup.com.
Old Square reader compared to the new model (image via Wired)
While Apple’s former hardware chief was busy flattening the company’s iconic software, Apple’s former accessory hardware division leader Jesse Dorogusker was flattening something else entirely. The Square card reader has been an iconic staple for many small businesses for quite some time now. Compared to other card readers on the market, the Square is already pretty small, but Dorogusker set out to shrink it anyway.
The first order of business was to shrink and improve the reader head responsible for scanning the magnetic strip on the back of the card and transferring the data to the smartphone app. The chip that handles all of the data between the reader head and the smartphone also needed to be tweaked. Rather than have an outside party build a chip that suited Square’s needs, Dorogusker decided to build an in-house custom solution.
Square has just launched a new service called Square Cash, which allows quick money transfers between any two parties using through an email. Contrary to what you might be expecting, you don’t need to sign up or get all of your friends onto Square Cash to share funds. Instead, you just need to link a debit card to your account.
Square has just released a redesigned version of their Square Wallet, their local directory and checkout app. By opening up the application (or setting the app to auto-check in when you’ve entered your favorite store), the cashier can see your name on the Square Register app and take your payment without having to swipe a credit card. Prior to the newest 3.0 version, users had to open the app, find the store they’re in, and press the “Pay Here” button. Now, the last step has been taken out. Just tapping on the store checks you in and puts you on the customer list. For Starbucks locations, tapping on the location pops up a very large QR code that can be scanned to pay.
The new design is very media-rich, with pictures from the merchants taking front stage. Rather than having a table view of the local vendors, it takes on a gallery design to show the logos and products. This is definitely a much-welcomed update.
Square announced a new product called Square Stand for vendors using Square Register for iPad to process payments.
Square Stand features the familiar credit card reader that made Square so popular with smartphone and tablet owners. The stand looks to replace traditional POS cash registers by mounting an iPad in a stylish case that resembles Apple’s iMac desktop computers. Expand Expanding Close
The Square Register app was updated today with a number of new features for merchants on top of a redesigned UI for the iPhone app. Merchants running the Square Register POS app on their iPad will now have access to barcode scanning with the ability to sync a Bluetooth barcode scanner, new easy order modifiers, as well as customizable kitchen tickets.
iPhone users of the Square Register app are greeted today with an all new design that adds new features such as custom tipping, smarter payments with multiple custom amounts, and a customizable item library.
Square just posted the video above to coincide with the update showing off how owners of Piada in Midtown Manhattan are taking advantage of the Square Register solution.
A full list of of what’s new in version 3.0 of Square Register is below:
What’s New in Version 3.0
New on iPhone:
– Item library: Add items to a sale with a tap. Build your item library to simplify and speed up checkout. Customize items with photos, names, and prices.
– Smarter payment pad: Add multiple custom amounts to a sale, add notes to each amount, and view or edit all amounts in one place before charging.
– Custom Tipping: Allow customers to enter custom tip amounts.
– New look: Ring up customers and edit settings more easily than ever with an all-new design.
New on iPad:
– Easy order modifiers: Customize orders at the counter and send them to your kitchen while your line keeps moving.
– Customizable kitchen tickets: Include a custom name or number on each kitchen ticket.
– Barcode scanning: Sync your Bluetooth barcode scanner with Square Register to speed up your checkout.
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