Congrats! You've ordered one of the snazziest mobile card readers available today. This guide will help you learn more about your new device so you can start collecting point-of-sale payments.
WHAT'S IN THIS GUIDE:
- What's in the box
- About your card reader
- Turn your card reader on and off
- Card reader battery life
- Accept your first point-of-sale payment
- Enable location services
- Card reader status lights
What's in the box
First things first, here's what you'll receive when your card reader is delivered:
- Card reader
- Micro-USB to USB cord (for charging only)
- Lanyard (optional)
About your card reader
- Works with iOS and Android devices
- Connects via Bluetooth
- Accepts tap, swipe, and dip payments
The Cheddar Up card reader is a battery-powered Bluetooth reader for your mobile devices. It supports EMV chip and tap transactions, mobile wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay, and magnetic-stripe swipes. The reader connects to iOS or Android over Bluetooth.
Download our printable guides to help get started with your card reader:
Step-by-Step Card Reader Guide: For Account Owners | For POS Code Users
Top 5 Reasons Why Your Reader Will Not Connect
See your reader in action:
Turn your card reader on and off
To turn on your Cheddar Up card reader, press and release the power button. The status light turns on to indicate power. The reader waits for a Bluetooth connection for five minutes before turning off.
When the reader is connected to a device, its status light shines steady blue. If the reader is inactive for more than 30 seconds, it enters standby mode to conserve power, and the status light begins flashing at five-second intervals. The reader stays connected to your iOS or Android device while in standby and automatically exits standby mode when you resume activity.
The reader automatically turns off after 10 hours of inactivity. To turn the reader off manually, press and hold the power button until the status light goes out. You don’t need to turn off the reader to conserve power.
Card reader battery life
Upon arrival, your card reader should be fully charged. To charge the Cheddar Up card reader, use the included micro-USB cable. The USB port does not work for connecting the reader to a mobile device—it’s only for charging.
With typical usage, you only need to charge the reader once per day. To be more specific, a single charge of the Cheddar Up card reader battery can support approximately 800 EMV transactions, 5,000 magnetic card swipe transactions, or 1,000 EMV contactless transactions.
Accept your first point-of-sale payment
Go here, for a step-by-step guide on how to accept your first point-of-sale payment using your new Cheddar Up card reader.
Enable location services
In order to accept point-of-sale payments, Cheddar Up requires you to enable "location services" on your mobile device in an effort to protect organizers and payers. Upon your first point-of-sale checkout, you'll be prompted to enable location services. If you accidentally decline this request, take the following steps to enable location services.
On an iOS device:
- Tap the Settings application.
- Tap Privacy.
- Tap Location Services.
- Toggle the switch to On.
- Scroll down to the Cheddar up app icon.
- Select "While Using the App" or "Always".
On an Android device:
- Tap the Settings menu.
- Tap Location.
- At the top, turn Use location on or off.
Card reader status lights
See the table below to better understand the lights and statuses of your card reader.
Light |
Meaning |
|---|---|
| None | The reader is off. |
| Flashing blue every second | The reader is on and ready to connect to a device (will remain off after five minutes). |
| Multi-colored flashing | The reader has been discovered using Bluetooth and is ready to connect. |
| Steady blue | The reader is connected to a device. |
| Flashing blue every 5 seconds | The reader is in standby mode (will remain in standby mode indefinitely). |
| Alternating red and magenta | The reader is charging. |
| Flashing red | The reader's battery is low. |
| Rapidly flashing blue and orange | The reader has finished installing a software update. If the reader is unresponsive after the update completes, restart the reader by turning it off and on. |
Common Questions
