Square’s App Refresh Launches Mobile payments Hands-Free on iPhone

It’s understood that the money will eventually change hands; most likely by the end of the night, you’ll break out the wallet and assess the damage. Using iOS 5′s geo-fencing capabilities, Square’s card case app can automatically establish a user’s presence when they’re within 100 meters of a location, letting a merchant see them and their face on their Square register iPad app.
In its Card Case application software update launched on Wednesday, mobile payments start-up Square takes the scenario one step further. After the purchase goes through, you’re sent a digital receipt to your account. Merchants confirm a customer by face and ring them up with a receipt sent to the user. The money is pulled from a credit card or debit card loaded up on the Card Case app.

Hands-free payments is not a blockbuster feature by itself but it shows that Square is working on perfecting the entire consumer experience, not just improving the actual transaction. Card Case uses the new “geofencing” technology included in Apple’s recent iOS 5 release. Your iPhone can detect when you cross one of these fences, thereby triggering some form of event or notification. This is one way to do it: By helping ease the buying process and fostering more face-to-face communication between business owners and their customers.

If you’ve got Card Case and pass through one of those fences, the app automatically opens a “tab,” essentially a way to check in to a business and have your name and payment info show up on the merchant’s Register app (which is also made by Square). We want to make payments fade away. People don’t appreciate that; they enjoy making a purchase and feeling like a regular at places they shop.”

While Card Case eliminated the need for swiping a card or paying with cash, it still required whipping out your phone, opening a tab and interacting with the application. Square’s Card Case, which first launched in May with 50 merchants and opened up in late August to all businesses, is now up to 20,000 merchant locations nationwide. The latest Card Case update for iPhone is also gaining other improvements including an enhanced directory of merchants.

Users can now browse by “featured” and “nearby” merchants. Merchant cards, the pages for merchants inside the card case, now feature more information like an expanded merchant bio, click-to-call options and specials and sell-out updates. There’s also Twitter integration so users can check out a merchant’s Twitter stream and see what people are saying on Twitter about that business. Theoretically, merchants will love it for the potential increase in revenues behind the counter. Near Field Communications technology is taking off in a massive way, especially with the debut of Google Wallet and the possibility of Apple developing its own NFC-equipped iPhones.

Square’s Card Case still needs to get accepted at more locations to really gain traction. Right now, I only see a handful of places within a mile of me in New York. But overall, I like what Square is saying. I don’t think payments by themselves are inherently interesting over the long haul. Card Case is the easiest, most sensible solution out of all the new-wave technologies. “There’s no waving of your phone needed with us,” Quinn said.

The updated Card Case app is available in the iTunes App Store immediately, free to download for iPhone users. Since the Card Case update is tied to iOS 5’s geofencing capabilities, it’s currently available only for iPhones. The previous version of the app remains available to both Android and iPhone users. It’s about creating a better overall experience for consumers and providing more data along with acquisition and loyalty tools for merchants. That’s when payments becomes powerful because it builds upon a relationship that goes deeper than the swapping of money for goods or services.