Square Launches Appointments App For Android

To help manage the booking and payment needs of its users, Square rolled out its Appointments app for Android. The app can be downloaded for free on the Google Play App Store or iTunes App Store, according to a post on Square’s website.

The service enables customers to make bookings online 24/7 via booking links or a free online booking website. In addition, the offering allows for intelligent scheduling: “It syncs with your personal calendar so your availability is always accurate. Since your schedule is cloud based, it’s available anytime, anywhere,” according to the company’s website.

For payments, the company lets users store the card information of regulars as well as payments on the user’s terms with the ability for a cancellation fee or full prepayment. Users can also receive deposits as soon as the next business day or instantly “for just an extra 1% per deposit.” In addition, the company said that users can accept payments fast — in under three seconds for chip cards — and they can key in payments even if they don’t have a signal.

The offering also lets business view personal details, appointment history, purchase history and notes. It also lets users send out automatic reminders to clients: “Reduce no-shows with reminders for customers of upcoming appointments and notify them of changes automatically via email or text,” Square said on its website. In addition, the service lets schedule their appointments through the web, so users “can stay focused on the work at hand.”

The news comes after it was reported that Square‘s fourth-quarter earnings 2018 results displayed a continuation of several trends seen in recent quarterly reports. Those trends encompassed double-digit transaction gains and double-digit gross payment volume (GPV) growth year on year as well as traction in newer technology offerings such as point-of-sale (POS) financing.

The payments processing firm reported earnings on an adjusted basis of 14 cents per share, which matched the Street. At the same time, the company reported adjusted revenues up 64 percent year on year of $464 million, while the Street had looked for $454 million. In addition, gross payment volume (GPV) reached $23 billion and up 28 percent in Q4.