Register readers

Register your readers to a location.

You must register your reader to a location to accept payments. The process for registering your reader to a location differs based on whether it’s a smart reader or a mobile reader.

Any user role with write permissions can register readers.

Smart readers

You can register smart readers in one of three ways:

• Registration code
• Serial number
• Order number

Registration code

For this method, you must generate a pairing code (also known as a registration code) on the reader. If a reader isn’t registered, a pairing code automatically appears on the screen when you unbox it. If it isn’t, or if you need to re-register a reader, you can generate a new pairing code using the admin settings. After generating the pairing code, you can enter it in the Dashboard or API to register the reader.

1. On the Readers tab on the Terminal Readers page, click Register Reader .
2. Enter the pairing code on the reader and click Next .
3. Provide a name for the reader.
4. Assign to a location or create a new one.
5. Confirm the details and click Register .

Serial number

You can register readers using their serial number. This method doesn’t require someone to physically have the reader to register it, so you can use it immediately after you unbox it. This method also allows you to re-register the reader without the need to physically have the reader to generate a pairing code.

Note

Serial number registration can’t transfer a reader registered to an unrelated Stripe account. To register the reader to this account, generate a registration code on the reader and use the Registration code flow, which supports re-registering a reader.

You can find the serial number in the following ways:

• From the hardware order on the Hardware Orders tab
• On the reader itself (on the box and the back of the reader)
• If the reader is already registered, from the reader details page in the Dashboard or the Reader API

Eligibility

• You can’t register a reader to a platform account if the order was placed directly by a connected account that your platform does not have platform controls for.
• If the platform placed the order, connected accounts can’t self-register the reader to their own account directly. The platform must register the reader to the connected account on the connected account’s behalf using the Stripe-Account header or View Dashboard as .

Note

This method allows you to register up to 10 readers at a time.

After you find the serial number, you can register the reader through the registration flow in the Dashboard.

1. On the Terminal Readers page, click Register reader .
2. Enter the serial number and click Next . To register multiple devices at once, you can enter multiple serial numbers, separated by commas.
3. Optionally, choose a name for the reader.
4. If you already created a location, select the reader’s new location. Otherwise, create a location by clicking + Add new .
5. Click Register to finish registering your reader.

Order number

Note

This method only works for readers that were ordered by the account (or one of their sub-accounts). If the reader isn’t associated with an order with that account, this method won’t work.

In the Dashboard, you can register readers by the order number in one of two ways:

• From the order itself
• Entering the order number during the registration flow

From the order

1. On the Hardware orders page, find an order with a status of either shipped or delivered . Click the overflow menu ( ) at the end of the row, then click Register .

• If your order doesn’t have assigned serial numbers, clicking Register opens the pre-registration flow. Learn more about [pre-registering readers when ordering](/the relevant part of the product#pre-register-readers-when-ordering) .
• If your order has assigned serial numbers, clicking Register opens the Register Readers page. Continue with the steps below.

2. On the Register Readers page, select one or more readers from the hardware order to register, then click Register .
3. Optionally, choose a name for the reader. If you selected multiple readers, the name serves as a prefix and we name the readers sequentially (for example, for a given input of “Test reader”, we name the readers “Test reader 1”, “Test reader 2”, and so on).
4. If you already created a location, select the reader’s new Location. Otherwise, create a Location by clicking + Add new .
5. Click Register to finish registering your readers.

Pre-register readers when ordering

When you order Terminal hardware, you can pre-select a location for your readers. Stripe automatically registers each reader to that location when fulfilling your order and assigning serial numbers.

Limitations

• Each order can pre-register readers to one location only. To distribute readers from a single order across multiple locations, use the reader’s serial number, after your order is assigned serial numbers.
• Pre-registration isn’t supported across accounts. Platform accounts can’t pre-register readers to a connected account’s location.

Registration flow

1. On the Terminal Readers page, click Register reader .
2. Enter the order number and click Next . If there are registerable readers in the order, continue by clicking Register .
3. On the Register Readers page, select one or more readers from the hardware order to register, then click Register .
4. Optionally, choose a name for the reader. If you selected multiple readers, the name serves as a prefix and we name the readers sequentially (for example, for a given input of “Test reader,” we name the readers “Test reader 1,” “Test reader 2,” and so on).
5. If you already created a location, select the reader’s new location. Otherwise, create a location by clicking + Add new .
6. Click Register to finish registering your readers.

Mobile readers

Register mobile readers ( Stripe Reader M2, the related setting Chipper 2X BT, and the related setting WisePad 3) to a location while connecting to the reader by specifying the locationId in your BluetoothConnectionConfiguration. If you prefer, you can register the reader to the last used location by passing in the reader.locationId from a discovered reader.

ConnectReaderViewController.swift

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Swift

Objective C

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// Call `connectReader` with the selected reader and a connection config
// to register to a location as set by your app.
var connectionConfig: BluetoothConnectionConfiguration
do {
 connectionConfig = try BluetoothConnectionConfigurationBuilder(delegate: yourMobileReaderDelegate, locationId: "{{LOCATION_ID}}")
 .build()
} catch {
 // Handle the error building the connection configuration
 return
}
Terminal.shared.connectReader(selectedReader, connectionConfig: connectionConfig) { reader, error in
 if let reader = reader {
 print("Successfully connected to reader: \(reader)")
 } else if let error = error {
 print("connectReader failed: \(error)")
 }
}