Square Adds Passbook Integration and Gift Cards

Square CEO Jack Dorsey today announced via Twitter that Square has added gift card capabilities to its iOS apps. The gift cards come alongside Passbook integration, which allows customers to send Square gift cards from local retailers and redeem them with Passbook.

Both of Square's iOS apps, merchant and consumer, have been updated to reflect the new changes.

Square Wallet, the consumer half of Square's payment system, gives customers the ability to purchase and receive gift cards from any retailer that uses Square Register to process payments. Many small businesses that previously didn’t offer gift cards will now be able to via Square.

Square Register, which is designed for merchants, lets business owners accept the gift cards using a QR code, Square Wallet, or Apple’s Passbook.

squaregiftcards

Square says the process is a simple one.

Give
Find a place your friends or family will love in Square Wallet. Choose the amount, write a special message, pick a theme and send. Instant gratification.

Receive
Save your Square gift card to Square Wallet so it's there when you need it. Using it is as easy as buying with Square Wallet. Simply say your name.

With Passbook integration, iOS users don't even need to access Square Wallet, which greatly simplifies the act of giving and receiving gift cards. This update will likely add a significant boost to the $10 billion per year in payments that Square already processes, and it is also a huge boon for independent retailers.

Both of Square’s apps, Square Wallet and Square Register, are free downloads in the App Store.

Popular Stories

iPhone SE 4 Vertical Camera Feature

iPhone SE 4 Rumored to Use Same Rear Chassis as iPhone 16

Friday July 19, 2024 7:16 am PDT by
Apple will adopt the same rear chassis manufacturing process for the iPhone SE 4 that it is using for the upcoming standard iPhone 16, claims a new rumor coming out of China. According to the Weibo-based leaker "Fixed Focus Digital," the backplate manufacturing process for the iPhone SE 4 is "exactly the same" as the standard model in Apple's upcoming iPhone 16 lineup, which is expected to...
iPhone 16 Pro Sizes Feature

iPhone 16 Series Is Just Two Months Away: Everything We Know

Monday July 15, 2024 4:44 am PDT by
Apple typically releases its new iPhone series around mid-September, which means we are about two months out from the launch of the iPhone 16. Like the iPhone 15 series, this year's lineup is expected to stick with four models – iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max – although there are plenty of design differences and new features to take into account. To bring ...
iphone 14 lineup

Cellebrite Unable to Unlock iPhones on iOS 17.4 or Later, Leak Reveals

Thursday July 18, 2024 4:18 am PDT by
Israel-based mobile forensics company Cellebrite is unable to unlock iPhones running iOS 17.4 or later, according to leaked documents verified by 404 Media. The documents provide a rare glimpse into the capabilities of the company's mobile forensics tools and highlight the ongoing security improvements in Apple's latest devices. The leaked "Cellebrite iOS Support Matrix" obtained by 404 Media...
tinypod apple watch

TinyPod Turns Your Apple Watch Into an iPod

Wednesday July 17, 2024 3:18 pm PDT by
If you have an old Apple Watch and you're not sure what to do with it, a new product called TinyPod might be the answer. Priced at $79, the TinyPod is a silicone case with a built-in scroll wheel that houses the Apple Watch chassis. When an Apple Watch is placed inside the TinyPod, the click wheel on the case is able to be used to scroll through the Apple Watch interface. The feature works...
bsod

Crowdstrike Says Global IT Outage Impacting Windows PCs, But Mac and Linux Hosts Not Affected

Friday July 19, 2024 3:12 am PDT by
A widespread system failure is currently affecting numerous Windows devices globally, causing critical boot failures across various industries, including banks, rail networks, airlines, retailers, broadcasters, healthcare, and many more sectors. The issue, manifesting as a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD), is preventing computers from starting up properly and forcing them into continuous recovery...
Apple Watch Series 9

2024 Apple Watch Lineup: Key Changes We're Expecting

Tuesday July 16, 2024 7:59 am PDT by
Apple is seemingly planning a rework of the Apple Watch lineup for 2024, according to a range of reports from over the past year. Here's everything we know so far. Apple is expected to continue to offer three different Apple Watch models in five casing sizes, but the various display sizes will allegedly grow by up to 12% and the casings will get taller. Based on all of the latest rumors,...

Top Rated Comments

ideal.dreams Avatar
152 months ago
This would be awesome if more than one local business used square in my area :p
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ConCat Avatar
152 months ago
How long before Apple kills off Passbook. It looks like a disastrous failure to me. In the UK I can think one company who offer Passbook integration, and that's Starbucks. At the moment they are a very unpopular company over here. After that I'm stuck to think of another company that supports the service.

If you use the App store and try and search for apps that offer the integration, there just isn't a search function there for this.

To me it just looks doomed at the moment, no one seems to be clamouring to support this standard.

Well, the truth is only specific kinds of apps have any reason to use Passbook, other apps just tend to lag behind others in feature adoption. It's still fairly new.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
charlituna Avatar
152 months ago
How long before Apple kills off Passbook. .

Unlikely to happen. They will keep it even if the only thing it's good for are their egiftcards
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
campingsk8er Avatar
152 months ago
How long before Apple kills off Passbook. It looks like a disastrous failure to me. In the UK I can think one company who offer Passbook integration, and that's Starbucks. At the moment they are a very unpopular company over here. After that I'm stuck to think of another company that supports the service.

If you use the App store and try and search for apps that offer the integration, there just isn't a search function there for this.

To me it just looks doomed at the moment, no one seems to be clamouring to support this standard.

It's been out for less than 3 months....... Do you expect it to be the end all thing this soon? please enlighten me on anything that was COMPLETELY successful, right out of the gate? Completely means not one person has a problem with it and they never have to fix anything with it
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Small White Car Avatar
152 months ago
That's how it works right now. Passbook passes can be accepted from either your iOS/Mac mail client or your web browser

Then Apple's biggest problem is education because every time I read about Passbook it seems to work a different way.

I'm pretty sure it's not actually changing every week which means that Apple has done a terrible job of explaining it.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
viacavour Avatar
152 months ago
But the gift receiver needs Square Wallet for this to be received, right?

That's going to slow things down, just like how no single 'SMS Replacement App' ever became halfway as successful as iMessage has. Having to call someone and say "install this thing so I can send you this other thing" is always a big hindrance.

It would be nice if Passbook can grow to where it can just accept things directly from an e-mail...so I could send from Square and the receiver could just approve the e-mail and have it go to Passbook even if they've never heard of Square before.
That's how it works right now. Passbook passes can be accepted from either your iOS/Mac mail client or your web browser.

For Square's gift card service, I suspect you will need the Square client to receive the gift. In general, Passbook passes don't need any special iOS app or client to redeem/use. You use the built-in Passbook app.

----------

How long before Apple kills off Passbook. It looks like a disastrous failure to me. In the UK I can think one company who offer Passbook integration, and that's Starbucks. At the moment they are a very unpopular company over here. After that I'm stuck to think of another company that supports the service.

If you use the App store and try and search for apps that offer the integration, there just isn't a search function there for this.

To me it just looks doomed at the moment, no one seems to be clamouring to support this standard.
The AppStore does not list all Passbook apps.

Check the Passbook wiki page for a list of Passbook apps and services worldwide:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passbook_(application)
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)