We helped a charity fundraising app integrate in-person credit card payments into their mobile app using Square Readers.
TapSimple is a London-based company that offers a suite of applications to help fundraisers collect funds during their campaigns. We helped TapSimple with a complex integration on their mobile app.
Most people don't carry cash with them these days. We often use credit cards or payment apps like Google Pay and Apple Pay. For fundraising companies, it is essential to have an easy way to accept donations by credit card. Unfortunately, merchant terminals can cost enormous amounts.
Since fundraising teams often have many employees doing collection, buying many terminals might not be the most cost-effective solution. There are many companies working on devices that read credit cards, but use a mobile phone to do the bulk of the work that a credit card terminal would normally handle. One of those companies is Square, with their product, the Square Reader.
We worked with the TapSimple team to develop & implement the process of connecting a Square Reader to Android and iOS devices. This was a complex process that was different on both devices, and involved scanning for nearby Square Readers and pairing the devices.
The process is further complicated by how the Square Reader can be used to accept payments. The Square Reader normally only takes payments via an app called Square POS. For security reasons, this is the only way to interact with the Square Reader. This means that an app like TapSimple, which wants to make charges via the Square Reader, needs to communicate with both the Square Reader and the Square POS app.
After the devices were paired, we helped TapSimple with the process of actually making a charge, and collecting the funds into the fundraiser's accounts.
We've provided a quick demo of how the application works here below.
