Square, the company that has brought the ability to accept credit cards for transactions to individuals and small businesses with a card reader dongle for iOS devices, today announced its next venture: "Square Register" for iPad. Seeking to replace traditional cash registers with iPads equipped with the new Square Register application, Square notes that the app will allow businesses to easily customize the register interface with their full list of products.
Analytics tools will allow businesses to see up-the-minute details on sales performance, broken down by any number of metrics to help businesses study sales trends. The Square Register functionality comes as an update to the iPad version of the company's universal App Store app.
From the customer perspective, Square is rolling out "Card Case", virtual business cards that allow customers to view details on their favorite businesses, directly accessing live-updated menus and product listings from the card as well as transaction histories with item-level detail.
Replacing loyalty cards and credit card payment methods, Square Cards will allow a customer to establish a relationship with a business and pay for goods without having to carry a wallet, a mechanism Square CEO Jack Dorsey likens to having a permanent tab opened with the business. Transaction confirmations and receipts are pushed to users' phones for record-tracking. Users can initiate a payment by activating the business's Square Card on their phone when within range of the business and then simply giving their name at the register to have the purchase charged to their account.
Square Register and Square Cards are rolling out now through 50 merchants located in New York City, San Francisco, Washington DC, St. Louis, and Los Angeles, with further expansion coming soon.
Thursday February 5, 2026 12:22 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple plans to announce the iPhone 17e on Thursday, February 19, according to Macwelt, the German equivalent of Macworld.
The report, citing industry sources, is available in English on Macworld.
Apple announced the iPhone 16e on Wednesday, February 19 last year, so the iPhone 17e would be unveiled exactly one year later if this rumor is accurate. It is quite uncommon for Apple to unveil...
Thursday February 5, 2026 12:54 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple turns 50 this year, and its CEO Tim Cook has promised to celebrate the milestone. The big day falls on April 1, 2026.
"I've been unusually reflective lately about Apple because we have been working on what do we do to mark this moment," Cook told employees today, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. "When you really stop and pause and think about the last 50 years, it makes your heart ...
Saturday February 7, 2026 9:26 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple today shared an ad that shows how the upgraded Center Stage front camera on the latest iPhones improves the process of taking a group selfie.
"Watch how the new front facing camera on iPhone 17 Pro takes group selfies that automatically expand and rotate as more people come into frame," says Apple. While the ad is focused on the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, the regular iPhone...
Friday February 6, 2026 3:06 pm PST by Juli Clover
In the iOS 26.4 update that's coming this spring, Apple will introduce a new version of Siri that's going to overhaul how we interact with the personal assistant and what it's able to do.
The iOS 26.4 version of Siri won't work like ChatGPT or Claude, but it will rely on large language models (LLMs) and has been updated from the ground up.
Upgraded Architecture
The next-generation...
Tuesday February 3, 2026 7:47 am PST by Joe Rossignol
While the iOS 26.3 Release Candidate is now available ahead of a public release, the first iOS 26.4 beta is likely still at least a week away. Following beta testing, iOS 26.4 will likely be released to the general public in March or April.
Below, we have recapped known or rumored iOS 26.3 and iOS 26.4 features so far.
iOS 26.3
iPhone to Android Transfer Tool
iOS 26.3 makes it easier...
This is awesome news! I LOVE my Square app on my iPhone4. It has been great for everyday life and the occasional yard sale.
When everyone in the office wants to order lunch or flowers for a sick coworker, I can be the one that places the order and I can take debit/credit cards from the other workers for their share of the total and the same goes for office lunch. I always make sure that I tell them to add on a buck or so for the hit I take from the percentage Square takes but for the convenience no one has objected.
And you wouldn't believe the looks I get from people who are going around to the yard sales and come to ours and see that I can take a credit card! We have sold a lot more objects and some bigger ticket items because of this option. People are much more apt to spend $50 for TV on their credit card than to have $50 in cash extra on their person.
Wow talk about out of date technology. Transactions are now declined by banks if the card are swiped like this image suggests. Surely they have an updated device supporting chip reader (and PIN entry)?
Not in the US - which is why this system wont work outside of it.
No. But my imac can. Via the Delicious Library App. So I am sure the ipad 2 can scan bar codes if someone was to write a little software to do it.
Ah, of course. The iPad (and iPhone) can do it that way through software (using a camera), but it's nowhere near as efficient as using a dedicated barcode scanner.
Sales staff in supermarkets are rated on how many items they can scan per minute.
It would be MUCH lower with an iPad. i.e. slower
It would be difficult to have useful data on the screen at the same time that the camera was being used to line up a barcode scan.
Having worked with various retail POS systems from IBM et al I hope this finally allows a departure from the draconian interfaces which look as if design and operator usability were not allowed to be discussed in the development phase.
