Square Adds Passbook Integration and Gift Cards

by

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

apple intelligence black

Report: Apple's AI Strategy Could Finally Pay Off in 2026

Tuesday December 30, 2025 9:01 am PST by
Apple's restrained artificial intelligence strategy may pay off in 2026 amid the arrival of a revamped Siri and concerns around the AI market "bubble" bursting, The Information argues. The speculative report notes that Apple has taken a restrained approach with AI innovations compared with peers such as OpenAI, Google, and Meta, which are investing hundreds of billions of dollars in data...
Read Full Article • 180 comments
apple fitness 2026 1

Apple Teases 'Something Big' Coming Soon to Apple Fitness+

Tuesday December 30, 2025 2:11 pm PST by
The Apple Fitness+ Instagram account today teased that the service has "big plans" for 2026. In a video, several Apple Fitness+ trainers are shown holding up newspapers with headlines related to Apple Fitness+. What's Apple Fitness+ Planning for the New Year? Something Big is Coming to Apple Fitness+ The Countdown Begins. Apple Fitness+ 2026 is Almost Here 2026 Plans Still Under ...
Read Full Article • 117 comments
maxresdefault

Hands-On With a Rough iPhone Fold Mockup

Monday December 29, 2025 10:55 am PST by
Apple is rumored to be introducing a foldable iPhone in September 2026, and since it will bring the biggest form factor change since the iPhone was introduced in 2007, curiosity about the design is high. A 3D designer created an iPhone Fold design based on rumors, and we printed it out to see how it compares to Apple's current iPhones. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more ...
Read Full Article • 143 comments
maxresdefault

Where's the New Apple TV?

Monday December 22, 2025 11:30 am PST by
Apple hasn't updated the Apple TV 4K since 2022, and 2025 was supposed to be the year that we got a refresh. There were rumors suggesting Apple would release the new Apple TV before the end of 2025, but it looks like that's not going to happen now. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said several times across 2024 and 2025 that Apple would...
Read Full Article • 187 comments
iphone 17 pro dark blue 1

iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max Users Report Static Speaker Noise While Charging

Tuesday December 30, 2025 10:39 am PST by
iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max owners are having trouble with the speakers of their devices, and have complained about a static or hissing noise that occurs when the iPhone is charging. There are multiple discussions about the issue on Reddit, the MacRumors forums, and Apple's Support Community, where affected users say there is a noticeable static noise "like an old radio." Some people report...
Read Full Article • 144 comments
iPhone Top Left Hole Punch Face ID Feature Purple

iPhone 18 Pro Launching Next Year With These 12 New Features

Tuesday December 23, 2025 8:36 am PST by
While the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are not expected to launch for another nine months, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we have recapped 12 features rumored for the iPhone 18 Pro models. The same overall design is expected, with 6.3-inch and 6.9-inch display sizes, and a "plateau" housing three rear cameras Under-screen Face ID Front camera in...
Read Full Article • 100 comments
macbook air march 2020

Apple Says Final Intel MacBook Air and Apple Watch Series 5 Now 'Vintage'

Wednesday December 31, 2025 8:39 am PST by
Apple today added the final 13-inch MacBook Air powered by Intel processors, the Apple Watch Series 5, and additional products to its vintage products list. The iPhone 11 Pro was also added to the list after the iPhone 11 Pro Max was added back in September. The full list of products added to Apple's vintage and obsolete list today: MacBook Air (Retina, 13-inch, 2020) iPhone 8 Plus 128GB ...
Read Full Article • 64 comments
iOS 26

iOS 26.2 Adds These 8 New Features to Your iPhone

Monday December 22, 2025 8:47 am PST by
Earlier this month, Apple released iOS 26.2, following more than a month of beta testing. It is a big update, with many new features and changes for iPhones. iOS 26.2 adds a Liquid Glass slider for the Lock Screen's clock, offline lyrics in Apple Music, and more. Below, we have highlighted a total of eight new features. Liquid Glass Slider on Lock Screen A new slider in the Lock...
Read Full Article

Top Rated Comments

ideal.dreams Avatar
ideal.dreams
171 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
ConCat
171 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
charlituna
171 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
campingsk8er
171 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
Small White Car
171 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
viacavour
171 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)
Read All Comments