Taking Payments on the Reader
Payments on Collect for Readers work just like the mobile app — same Payment Flows, tipping, taxes, products, and receipts — with a few differences worth knowing.
How Payments Work
The reader is always ready. No pairing, no connection step — start a payment and the built-in card reader prompts for tap, chip, or swipe.
If a physical card fails for any reason, you can fall back to manual card entry right on the reader.
What's Different from the Mobile App
- No reader picker — the device is the reader
- No disconnect — there's nothing to disconnect
- Portrait orientation — locked to match the reader display
- Automatic updates — we deploy Collect to your readers through Stripe; there's no app store or manual install
Test Mode
Because a reader is registered to a specific Live or Test Stripe Terminal Location, and the Collect app is deployed to that Location, the Test Mode toggle is not available on the reader.