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Hardware And Printing ​

Hardware is often the difference between a demo and a usable merchant setup.

Merchant Stack can run on ordinary devices, but card payments and printing introduce hardware-specific requirements. Test the merchant's exact setup before relying on it in production.

Common setup ​

A practical small-shop setup can include:

  • a computer or tablet for staff checkout
  • an Android phone or POS device for customer-facing payment
  • a receipt printer
  • a hosted LNbits SaaS instance
  • optional LNbitsBox or self-hosted instance for local control

Android device for tap-to-pay ​

For Stripe tap-to-pay, the Android device must be compatible with Stripe requirements.

Check for:

  • NFC support
  • Google Mobile Services certification when required
  • current Android version
  • working camera for QR pairing
  • reliable internet connection

WARNING

Do not assume any generic Android POS device will work with Stripe tap-to-pay. Test the exact device model first.

TPoS Wrapper app ​

The TPoS Wrapper app connects the LNbits TPoS workflow to Android tap-to-pay and device printing.

Use it when the merchant needs:

  • card tap-to-pay on Android
  • customer-facing device payments
  • silent printing from the device

Pairing tips ​

If QR pairing is unreliable:

  • increase screen brightness
  • open the QR code on a light background
  • clean the device camera
  • avoid glare
  • verify the Android device has internet access
  • retry pairing after saving the TPoS settings

Receipt printing ​

Merchants may need two receipt types:

  • Customer receipt: the buyer's payment receipt
  • Order receipt: a larger internal ticket for kitchen, barista, staff, or fulfillment workflows

Printer setup can vary by hardware. Test:

  • printer discovery
  • silent printing
  • print width
  • paper size
  • character encoding
  • logo and store details
  • reprint from recent receipts

Before a merchant goes live:

  1. Complete a Lightning payment.
  2. Complete a card payment if configured.
  3. Validate a cash sale if used.
  4. Print a customer receipt.
  5. Print an internal order receipt.
  6. Confirm the order appears in Orders.
  7. Confirm stock changes in Inventory.
  8. Confirm owner/staff notifications arrive.