Process offline payments with Square
About offline payments
The Square point of sale apps require an internet connection at all times to function optimally. This can be a Wi-Fi or Ethernet connection on your mobile device or Square hardware, or a Wi-Fi, Ethernet, or data service (such as 4G, 5G, or EDGE) on your mobile device.
Your device may go offline for two reasons:
Internet outage: Your Wi-Fi stops working or your ISP has a service issue.
Square service disruption: Square’s services are deprecated or down.
If your device goes offline, you can allow offline payments to accept cash and card payments from most major card brands.
How offline payments work:
Your current processing fees will be applied to offline transactions based on payment type, so you'll see no difference in fees. Learn more about Square fees.
You can accept dip, tap, and swipe payments, but functionality varies by device when using offline payments.
Offline payments are securely stored in your point of sale app while your device is offline.
Offline payments will process automatically when you reconnect your device to the internet within 24 hours (no later than 72 hours).
Before you begin
You can allow offline payments from Square Dashboard or the supported Square POS apps.
You have two options for allowing offline payments:
Allow offline payments in advance to prepare for a network outage or Square service disruption.
Allow offline payments in the moment when a network outage or Square service disruption occurs. Your team members will be unable to allow offline payments and accept payments while offline if they don’t have the correct permissions.
To prepare to accept offline payments, download the offline payments guide and share it with your employees so they know what to do in the event of a network outage or Square service disruption.
Supported and unsupported features:
Offline payments can be processed on the supported Square POS apps, Square hardware, and mobile devices.
You can process offline payments from the following Square POS apps:
- Square Point of Sale app in full service, quick service, bar, retail, bookings, or standard mode. Learn how to use modes with Square Point of Sale.
- Square Restaurants POS app
- Square Appointments POS app
- Square Retail POS app
You can process offline payments from the following Square hardware:
- Square Register
- Square Terminal
- Square Handheld
- Square Stand (2nd generation)
- Square Reader for contactless and chip (2nd generation)
- Square Reader for contactless and chip (1st generation, v3)
- Square Reader for magstripe, if you have Square Reader for contactless and chip or Square Stand connected to the device
- Square Stand (1st generation)
Learn how to identify your Square hardware.
Online orders and deliveries:
- Depending on the type of disruption, new online orders received through your Square website or ordering platforms, such as UberEats, won’t appear in your POS.
- Once the disruption is resolved, any order that came in will appear on your Square device.
- Orders that came in when your device was offline will appear in your Square Dashboard and process automatically once your connection is restored.
Offline payments are not available or supported with the following:
-
Square hardware:
- Square Reader for contactless and chip (1st generation - v1 and v2)
- Square Kiosk hardware running the Square Kiosk app
-
Payment types:
- Afterpay
- Cash App Pay
- Square Gift Cards
- Tap to Pay on iPhone
- Tap to Pay on Android
- Manually-entered cards
-
Square apps:
- Square Invoices app
- Square Point of Sale app in services mode
- Square Kiosk app
- Square Loyalty: You’ll need to manually link and accrue customer points earned from offline payments once you reconnect to the internet and upload the payments.
- Reports: Close of day reporting. Learn how to set up and run your restaurant’s close of day report.
Safety practices for offline payments
You must reconnect back to the internet no later than 72 hours after accepting offline payments, otherwise your payments will expire.
Be sure to obtain a signature for every transaction (where possible) and verify the signature on the screen matches the signature on the back of the payment card. Learn how to manage signatures for payments.
If the card is not signed, ask your customer for a government-issued ID and to sign the card. Looking at their ID, match the signature to the signature on the payment card.
While you can’t require your customer to provide an ID, and requesting an ID doesn’t change your liability for chargebacks, unsigned cards are invalid and should not be accepted.
You’re responsible for any expired, declined, or disputed payments accepted while taking offline payments. Square is unable to provide customer contact information or contact customers on your behalf for declined or expired offline payments.
Time limits for offline payments
Payment card industry partners and regulators set specific requirements related to the duration of offline payment sessions.
If you’re using the Square hardware listed below, you must reconnect your device to the internet and upload your offline payments within three days of the start of your offline payments session.
- Square Register
- Square Terminal
- Square Handheld
However, uploading your offline payments within 24 hours is highly recommended to reduce your risk of chargebacks or card declines.
If you’re using the Square hardware listed below, you need to reconnect to the internet every 24 hours while your Square hardware is connected to your iPhone, iPad, or Android mobile device.
- Square Reader for contactless and chip (2nd generation)
- Square Reader for contactless and chip (1st generation, v3)
- Square Stand (1st or 2nd generation)
Step 1: Turn on offline payments
When offline payments are allowed prior to losing connection, your device will automatically begin an offline session when it loses connection to the internet. Offline payments can also be turned on during a Square service disruption. To get the most out of your offline session, we strongly recommend allowing offline payments prior to losing connection.
Allowing offline payments from point of sale modes in Square Dashboard and the Square Point of Sale app will allow offline payments on every device that has the mode assigned to it.
If you don’t use modes, you can allow offline payments directly from the Square POS apps.
- Sign in to Square Dashboard and go to Settings > Device management > Modes.
- Select an existing mode from the list and click Manage under Settings. If you do not have an existing mode, learn how to create and assign modes.
- Under Checkout settings, select Offline payments > Toggle Allow Offline Payments ON.
- Set the max amount allowed per transaction for offline payments.
- Click Save.
From the Square POS app in full service, quick service, bar, retail, bookings, or standard mode, or from the Square Restaurants POS app, Square Retail POS app, or Square Appointments POS app:
- Sign in to your point of sale app and go to ≡ More > Settings.
- Tap Checkout > Offline payments > toggle Allow offline payments ON.
- Set the max amount allowed per transaction for offline payments.
- Tap the back arrow to save.
If offline payments aren’t allowed in advance to prepare for a network outage or Square service disruption, an outage notification will appear on your point of sale app when you lose connection. You can allow offline payments directly from the notification prompts.
Note: If your team member doesn’t have the correct permission, someone with the correct permission needs to approve this by entering their passcode.
Step 2: Accept offline payments
You can accept supported offline payments as you normally would on your supported device or Square hardware. When offline payments are allowed, an offline session automatically starts any time your device loses internet connectivity, and a notification banner will appear at the top of the screen.
While you’re offline:
The banner will include a countdown clock showing the remaining time to reconnect and upload the offline payments.
The countdown clock will not appear if the device is offline due to a Square service disruption.
Offline payments will show as "pending" in your app transaction history. Learn how to view offline payments.
You can restart or power off your device or Square hardware, but you need to power it back on to upload any pending offline payments before they expire.
Step 3: Upload offline payments
You can upload offline payments by reconnecting your device to the internet - no other action is required.
Pending offline payments will expire after 72 hours if you don’t reconnect your Square Register, Square Terminal, or Square Handheld to the internet and upload them. Learn how to identify your Square hardware.
Pending offline payments will expire after 24 hours if you don’t reconnect your iPhone, iPad, or Android mobile device to the internet (while connected to Square hardware) and upload them.
Expired offline payments cannot be retrieved or reprocessed.
After you reconnect to the internet:
A notification will confirm that your device is back online and offline payments are being processed.
You can view completed and declined payments. Learn how to view offline payments.
Customers will receive their digital receipts and you will receive payment notification emails.
A new offline session will activate if internet connectivity is lost again or if a Square service disruption occurs after the offline payments have been successfully uploaded.
Refunds for offline payments
Offline payments can’t be canceled or refunded while they're still processing. You can issue a refund once your internet connection has been restored and the offline payment has been uploaded. Learn how to manage customer refunds.