How to use your iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch as a Point of Sale and Cash Register System using Square.

As the Manager of The Bridge Coffee House in North Seattle, having a simple and straight forward Point of Sale Unit (POS) is essential. When our old “Sharp” cash register started malfunctioning after being stolen twice and left soaking in the rain in our parking lot, I knew it was time for two things… a better security system and a new cash register. As a longtime Apple user, naturally my first instinct was to begin researching the different avenues of utilizing an iPad as our POS which led me to Square. Square is a business that has created a simple app for both Apple and Android platforms that when used in tandem with their card reader (a little square adapter that fits in your headphone jack) it allows you to accept credit card payments at a very reasonable rate (flat monthly fee of $275 for larger businesses or 2.75% per credit card transaction). In return, I not only was paying less per each credit card swipe but also had immediate access to a huge amount of statistical information that was all tracked securely through both the app and squareup.com. By tracking my sales I’ve been able to eliminate wasted product, predict trends and better craft our business hours based off our existing clientele.

If the statistical information wasn’t enough to convince you as a small business owner to make the switch, the clean and straightforward user interface not only helps you quickly ring up products (increases speed of transactions), but also helps to eliminate user error. Since moving to the square, The Bridge Coffee House has seen a dramatic decrease in user error helping to save money that was lost due to mistakes made during transactions or in the “till closing” procedures. There are massive amounts of details that play into what type of system and setup is best for you and your business and so I would encourage you to take a look at Square’s website to determine which setup would be best for you. While this writeup isn’t meant to be exhaustive, my hope is to give you a brief snapshot into what helped me decide to go with square and then the process of setting things up.

Determine whether you’ll be utilizing cards only, or cards and cash

This is an important first step… will your business be utilizing cards only, or cards and cash? You can accept cards on your iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad (mini), but if you want to accept cash using a cash drawer, you’ll have to go with an iPad, iPad Air, or iPad Mini setup. So which of my iDevices can I use the Square on? Glad you asked:

Compatibility

Square is compatible with iPhone 5 (C/S), iPhone 4S, iPad, iPhone 4 running iOS 5.0 and up.

For iPad (mini), square is compatible with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd generation iPad’s so long as they are running iOS 5.0 and up.

Square is compatible with all iPod Touch devices so long as they have iOS 5.0 and up (Note: in the iTunes store it does say for iPhone and iPad, but under compatibility the iPod Touch is listed).

Choosing Your Primary Device

For the business wishing to sell product and that only needs an option for taking cards on the go, using your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad (mini) are all great options but know that you’ll need internet access to process the credit card transactions. This can complicate things for iPod Touch users that are on the go that don’t have access to a wireless network. There are also some significant limitations to the mobile square register (iPhone or iPod Touch) over the iPad version that are important to be aware of. While a complete comparison chart can be found here the biggest differences that helped me decide included:

Receipt printer and cash drawer:

The iPad could be connected with a receipt printer while the iPhone and iPod Touch could not.

Generate Daily and Custom Reports:

Part of our closing process requires generating reports at the end of the day that could be printed out on a receipt for our daily deposit. This feature is available to the iPad, not the iPhone or iPod Touch.

While for some this may not be an issue, most of your profile and setup information could not be done over an iPhone or iPod Touch but could with an iPad.

Bluetooth Connected Barcode Scanning

Available for iPad but not for iPhone or iPod Touch.

General Setup

Once you’ve decided whether you’ll need to use an iPad (mini) with a connected receipt printer, bluetooth barcode scanner, and cash drawer or just the iPhone/iPod Touch with their card reader, you can then take the next step. For those only needing the card reader, simply signup online at squareup.com for an account, enter your business information and they’ll issue you your card reader and have it mailed to your house for free! Take advantage of the free reader by signing up online rather than purchasing one in a store. Once you have your new account setup utilizing their online setup process you’ll need to enter in your bank information for verification and you’re good to go! Just remember that all credit card transactions based on how you’ve set your account up are either a 2.75% fee per swipe or a flat rate of $275 per month. Fee’s are withheld from the total amount of sales that are deposited on a daily basis around midnight.

So if you’re like me, I decided to go with an iPad with a connected register and receipt printer. Here’s the run down on getting things setup:

iPad setup

First, order the necessary supplies for your iPad. I purchased a full size iPad (not the air), a receipt printer, cash drawer, and iPad register stand which landed me around the $1200 mark. With the Square app installed, plug your receipt printer and cash draw into an outlet and then connect the receipt printer (via ethernet cable) into your network. It’s important that the ethernet connection for the printer and the wifi connection for the iPad is on the same network (preferably not the open wifi you offer to your customers). This allows you to then see the printer under the settings section of the Square app on the iPad in order for the cash drawer to respond and for receipts to be printed.

From here, simply build your store front on the iPad by entering in your products and assigning price points for each. With your products entered in, you are ready to go! Keep in mind that live statistics and data are accessible anywhere by logging in to your online account.

Are you a small business owner? Have you found a Point of Sale interface that works with your Apple device better than Square? We’d love to hear from you in the comments section below.

Download the Square app for your iPhone, iPad (mini) or iPod Touch for free by clicking here.

APG Vasario 1616 USB Cash Register can be found on Amazon by clicking here.

The Star Micronics TSP 143UII can be found on Amazon by clicking here.

Square register stand for iPad is available on Amazon by clicking here.