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 17 Pro and Air Feature

Two iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air Colors Appear to Scratch More Easily

Friday September 19, 2025 10:02 am PDT by
As reported by Bloomberg today, some of the new iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air models on display at Apple Stores today are already scratched and scuffed. French blog Consomac also reported on this topic. The scratches appear to be most prominent on models with darker finishes, including the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max in Deep Blue, and the iPhone Air in Space Black. Images Credit: Consoma ...
iOS 26

Everything New in iOS 26.1 Beta 1

Monday September 22, 2025 12:44 pm PDT by
Apple released the first beta of iOS 26.1 today, just a week after launching iOS 26. iOS 26.1 mainly adds new languages to Apple Intelligence, but there are a few other features that are worth knowing about. New Apple Intelligence Languages Apple Intelligence is now available in Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese (Portugal), Swedish, Turkish, Chinese (Traditional), and Vietnamese. AirPo...
apple tv 4k new orange

Next Apple TV Expected to Launch This Year With These New Features

Monday September 22, 2025 10:00 am PDT by
The next Apple TV is expected to be released later this year, and a handful of new features and changes have been rumored for the device. Below, we recap what to expect from the next Apple TV, according to rumors. Likely Features N1 Chip With Wi-Fi 7 Last year, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the next Apple TV would be equipped with Apple's own combined Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip, which is...
Apple Intelligence General Feature 2

iOS 26.1 Adds New Apple Intelligence Languages and Expands AirPods Live Translation

Monday September 22, 2025 11:15 am PDT by
With iOS 26.1, Apple Intelligence is gaining support for additional languages, including Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese (Portugal), Swedish, Turkish, Chinese (Traditional), and Vietnamese. Apple announced plans to expand the languages that can be used with Apple Intelligence last year, and now the added language support is here. Apple Intelligence is now available in the following...
Apple Foldable Thumb

Foldable iPhone Like 'Two Titanium iPhone Airs' Joined at the Hinge

Monday September 22, 2025 2:16 am PDT by
Next year's rumored foldable iPhone will showcase an ultra-thin design resembling "two titanium iPhone Airs side-by-side," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Writing in the Q&A section of his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman says Apple's first foldable device will be "super thin and a design achievement," combining Apple's thinnest iPhone form factor with cutting-edge folding...
iPhone 17 Pro and Air N1 Feature

Some iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone Air Users Experiencing Intermittent Wi-Fi Issue

Monday September 22, 2025 8:44 am PDT by
Apple's latest iPhone models launched on Friday, and some early adopters of the devices are experiencing intermittent Wi-Fi issues. Affected customers say Wi-Fi connectivity periodically cuts out on the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and iPhone Air, with hundreds of comments about the issue posted across the MacRumors Forums, Reddit, and the Apple Support Community over the...
iOS 26

iOS 26.0.1 Coming Soon, Likely With iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Pro Fix

Thursday September 18, 2025 9:17 am PDT by
Apple is preparing to release iOS 26.0.1, according to a private account on X with a proven track record of sharing information about future iOS versions. The update will have a build number of 23A350, or similar, the account said. It is likely that iOS 26.0.1 will fix a camera-related bug on the new iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Pro models. In his iPhone Air review, CNN Underscored's Henry T. ...

Top Rated Comments

ideal.dreams Avatar
167 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
167 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
167 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
167 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
167 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
167 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)