Square KDS setup, step by step

Setting up a kitchen display for Square is a short job: install an app, sign in with Square, pick the location, and orders start landing on screen. Here is the whole sequence, what to change in settings, and what to check when nothing appears.

What you need before you start

Nothing on this list needs buying if you are already taking orders in Square.

• A Square account that is already taking orders, with at least one location set up.
• A tablet: any Android tablet on Android 8 or newer, or an iPad on iPadOS 15 or newer. Here is which tablets work.
• Wi-Fi that reaches the kitchen, and a power socket near wherever the screen will live.
• About ten minutes. There is no technician visit, no cabling, and no point of sale to migrate.

Setting up a Square kitchen display

These are the steps for Small KDS. Any KDS that connects to Square follows roughly the same shape: install, authorize, choose a location, display.

1. Install the app. Small KDS is on the App Store, Google Play and the Amazon Appstore, or you can sideload the Android package from the download page.
2. Tap Connect Square. The app opens Square's own sign-in page in your browser, you approve the connection there, and Square hands you back to the app. Your Square password is never typed into the KDS.
3. Pick your location. If your Square account has more than one, choose the one this screen belongs to. Getting this wrong is the single most common reason a board sits empty.
4. Start the session. The board opens and live Square orders appear as tickets, each with a running timer that changes color as the order ages.
5. Set the day rule. In settings, choose which orders belong on the board: a rolling window of the last 12, 20 or 24 hours, a daily cutoff time, or new orders only from the moment you start.

Adding a second screen

Repeat the same steps on another tablet and pick the same Square location. Every screen shows the same live order queue, so the grill and the pass are working from one list rather than two. The price does not move: Small KDS bills per location, not per device, so the second and third screens are included.

If orders are not showing up

Four things account for almost every empty board, in roughly this order of likelihood.

• The wrong location. A screen connected to a different Square location will sit quietly empty while the till is busy. Check it in settings first.
• The day rule. On new orders only, anything rung up before you started the session stays off screen by design. Switch to a rolling window to see the earlier ones.
• The network. The tablet has to be online for Square orders to reach it, and kitchens are full of dead spots. Load any web page on the tablet to check.
• The order is not in Square. Small KDS shows what your Square account has, so anything taken down on paper or over the phone without being rung up will not appear.

How this differs from setting up Square's own KDS

Square's kitchen display is part of Square's paid restaurant plans, is set up from inside Square on Square-supported Android hardware, and is billed per device. Small KDS is a separate app that connects to the same Square orders through Square's standard sign-in, runs on tablets you already own, and is billed per location. The side by side comparison has the pricing detail.