AccountsCard Payments
Taking a Card Payment on Your Phone
How to take a card payment with Tap to Pay on iPhone or Android, or a card reader, from Debts, the Complete Job popup or a worksheet, and what Work Planner records while the provider confirms it.
When a customer wants to pay by card there and then, the Take card payment popup takes the payment with Tap to Pay on iPhone or Android, or a card reader. The money goes through the provider your business uses for card payments in person, and Work Planner records it against the job once that provider has confirmed it.
Before You Start
The card payment options only appear when all of these are in place.
- The phone app: Card payments in person are taken in the Work Planner app on your phone, not in a web browser. If everything below is in place and the options are still missing, update the app.
- Your plan: Card payments are included on the Pro and Team plans. On other plans, add the Card Payments bolt-on from the Bolt-Ons screen.
- A provider for payments in person: The job's business needs a provider chosen under In person (Tap to Pay on iPhone or Android, and card readers) on the Payment Providers screen. Stripe and Square can take payments this way now, and Stripe also needs the business address saved in Organisation Information. Zettle payments in person are coming in an app update.
- Your role: Your role needs Take Card Payments, under Payments on the Roles screen. The Owner, Admin, Member and Worker roles have it to begin with.
- The Card reader screen: Settings > Payments > Card reader is where this phone is set up to take payments, with Tap to Pay on iPhone or Android, or a card reader. Use Check the card reader there before your first payment, so nothing holds you up on the doorstep. To use Tap to Pay on iPhone, someone who looks after the business first sets it up there with Set up Tap to Pay on iPhone. See Card Reader Screen.
Where to Take a Card Payment
- Debts: On Accounts > Debts, click Pay (or Pay / Charge) on the job and choose Take card payment. On an iPhone that takes the business's Stripe payments with Tap to Pay on iPhone, the option is called Tap to Pay on iPhone and comes first. The amount starts at what is still to collect, and you can change it. Close the popup without taking anything and you are back at the payment options. See Taking a Payment.
- Complete Job popup: When you complete a job from Jobs or the Planner, turn on Card, the first switch in the row with Invoice and Paid (Tap to Pay on iPhone on an iPhone that takes the business's Stripe payments with Tap to Pay on iPhone). When the customer also has a saved card, the switch is called Card and Charge with starts on the saved card, so choose the in person option there to take the payment on your phone. It is called Tap to Pay on iPhone when that is how the iPhone takes the business's Stripe payments, and otherwise Tap to Pay on iPhone or card reader on an iPhone or Tap to Pay or card reader on Android. Once the job is saved as complete, the popup opens for what the customer now owes on the job, if anything, and you can change the amount. If the payment does not go through, the job stays complete and the money stays owed, ready to take later from Debts. See Completion Popup.
- Worksheets: In a job's Complete Job popup on a worksheet, turn on Charge Customer, choose the in person option under Charge with, named the same way as in the Complete Job popup, such as Tap to Pay on iPhone, and check the Amount to charge. When you save, the job is saved as complete and the popup opens with that amount, which cannot be changed there. If your role can't see prices, there is no Amount to charge, and the popup opens for what is owed on the job. See Editing Worksheet Item Payment and Reference Fields.
The Take Card Payment Popup
The customer and the service are shown at the top. Below them:
- Amount: What to take, before any tip. It starts at what is owed. From a worksheet it is locked, at the Amount to charge you set there or, if your role can't see prices, at what is owed on the job.
- Tip (optional): Anything the customer adds. It is charged to the card with the payment but recorded as its own tip, so it does not count towards the customer's balance.
- Fee: Below the amounts, a line gives roughly what the provider takes for a UK card and what reaches you, such as Stripe's fee for a UK card: about £0.55, so you receive about £24.45. It allows for the tip, Stripe's extra for Tap to Pay on iPhone or Android and Work Planner's fee if there is one. Cards from abroad cost more, and if you have agreed other rates with the provider, those apply.
- Invoices: From Debts, the invoices the payment pays. It starts with the job's open invoices. Remove any it shouldn't pay, or use Attach Invoice(s) to add the customer's other open invoices. The payment fills them oldest first, and anything more than they owe is paid against the job.
- Take: The button shows the total the card is charged, such as Take £27.00 for a £25.00 payment with a £2.00 tip. On an iPhone using Tap to Pay on iPhone with Stripe, it says Tap to Pay on iPhone instead. As the popup opens, the button shows a spinner for a moment while it gets ready.
- Cancel: Closes the popup without taking anything.
There is nothing to choose here about how the card is read. The popup uses whatever is set on the Card reader screen, as its last line says, such as Uses Tap to Pay on iPhone or your card reader, as set on the Card reader screen. on an iPhone.
Taking the Payment
Once you tap Take, the popup shows each step in turn, and it stays open until the payment has finished or been stopped.
- Getting the card reader ready: The phone gets Tap to Pay on iPhone or Android, or your reader, ready, and the popup says Getting the card reader ready…, or Getting Tap to Pay on iPhone ready… with Tap to Pay on iPhone. The first time, it asks to use your precise location, which card payment providers need before they take a payment. On Android, a Stripe Bluetooth reader or Stripe's simulated reader also needs permission to find nearby devices, and with Square the Square needs some permissions popup first lists what Android is about to ask for, as on the Card reader screen. An iPhone set up for Tap to Pay on iPhone gets it ready whenever the app opens, so this step is usually quick. While Tap to Pay on iPhone is being set up or a reader is updating, a Setting up Tap to Pay on iPhone or Updating the card reader popup over the payment shows how far it has got as a percentage. It cannot be closed, as an update cannot be stopped once it has started: keep Work Planner open, and the reader next to the phone, until it finishes.
- Starting the payment: Work Planner opens the charge with your provider. From this point the payment is in Transactions as Pending.
- Ask the customer to tap, insert or swipe their card: The customer taps their card or phone on the back of your Android phone, or uses the reader. Stop stops waiting for the card if they change their mind. With Square, Square's own payment screen takes the card. With Tap to Pay on iPhone, Apple's Tap to Pay on iPhone screen appears and the popup says Ask the customer to hold their card, phone or watch flat against the top of your iPhone. Work Planner gets the payment ready in the background while you enter the amount, so Apple's screen comes up as soon as you tap Tap to Pay on iPhone. Closing Apple's screen stops the payment too.
- Checking the payment: The popup says, for example, Checking the payment with Stripe… while Work Planner checks with the provider that the money was taken, rather than relying on what the phone reports.
When It Finishes
- Taken by card: The popup confirms the amount, such as £27.00 taken by card. To send the customer a receipt, tap Email receipt or Text receipt. Each opens a message to the customer, already written with the amount, your business name, the date and the card used, such as Visa card ending 4242, which you can change before sending. Tap Done when you have finished.
- The card was read: The provider has not confirmed the payment yet, so it shows as Pending until it does. Tap Done and do not take the card again. The provider usually confirms within seconds. If the phone lost signal or the app closed part-way, Work Planner checks with the provider itself a little later, and a card that has been read is never cancelled.
- Declined: The popup shows the reason, or The card was declined. If the card needs chip and PIN, the popup says so: try a card reader, or send the customer a payment link. You can still send the customer a receipt with Email receipt or Text receipt, so they have a record that nothing was taken. The email's subject is Your card payment to Shine Ltd was declined, and the email and text both say, for example, Your card payment of £27.00 to Shine Ltd on 8 October 2026 was declined, so no money was taken. The email also gives the service after For: when there is one.
- Declined after you leave the app: If you leave Work Planner before the popup can show the outcome, for example by closing the app while the payment is being checked, and Stripe then declines the card, you get a notification about a minute later saying the card payment wasn't approved. Tapping it opens the customer, so you can try again or send them a payment link. Nothing is sent if the popup showed you the decline, or if another card then went through. They can be switched off with Card payments that aren't approved in Notification Settings.
- Stopped: After Stop, the popup says the payment was stopped before the card was read.
- Didn't go through: The popup says what went wrong, such as the card reader not being found, location permission being turned off, or no connection. If Tap to Pay on iPhone hasn't been set up for the business yet and your role can't set it up, it says Tap to Pay on iPhone isn't set up for Shine Ltd yet. Ask your admin to set it up on the Card reader screen., with your business's name.
After a decline, a stop or a problem, the popup offers:
- Try again: Reads the card again for the same charge, so however many tries it takes there is still only one payment in Transactions.
- Send payment link: From Debts, when your business takes card payments online, this closes the popup and opens Card payment link, so the customer can pay by card online instead. See Sending a Card Payment Link.
- Close: Ends the charge, so nothing is left Pending. A declined card is recorded as a failed payment with the reason, and a payment stopped before any card was read as a cancelled one. If the app closes or loses signal before the popup is closed, this happens the next time the app opens on that phone, or automatically within the hour, as long as no card was charged.
What Work Planner Records
- Payment: A payment against the job, with a payment method named after the provider, such as Card (Stripe), the provider's payment reference, and a description such as Card payment for Window Cleaning. It appears in Transactions as Pending when the payment starts, and becomes Completed once the provider confirms it.
- Tip: A tip gets its own Tip entry, linked to the payment.
- Invoices: The payment pays the job's open invoices, oldest first, or the ones chosen in the popup from Debts. Anything more than they owe is recorded against the job, and the invoices update once the payment completes.
- Balance and Debts: Only a completed payment counts towards the customer's balance. While a payment is Pending, the job stays on Debts, and the amount the Pay popup starts with leaves the pending payment out, so it is not taken twice. The (i) beside a Pending payment says what it means.
- Failed or Cancelled: A declined card is marked Failed, with the reason, such as the card's decline, under Failure Reason. A payment stopped before any card was read is marked Cancelled. Neither counts towards anything, and the (i) beside either in Transactions says why.
- Provider fee: Once the provider reports its fee, Work Planner adds it as a Payment Fee expense, such as Payment Fee: Stripe. Square reports its fee when the payment settles, so it can appear a little later.
- Worksheets: A payment taken from a worksheet marks the job as paid there once it completes, and submitting the worksheet does not record it a second time.
Refunds
To give a card payment back, open it from Transactions and refund it there. See Refunding a Card Payment.
Related articles
- Card Reader Screen: Setting up Tap to Pay on iPhone or Android, or a card reader, on this phone, and checking it works.
- Payment Providers Screen: Choosing which connected provider takes card payments in person.
- Card Payment Provider Settings: Connecting Stripe or Square to your business.
- Taking a Payment: The other ways to take a payment from Debts.
- Editing Worksheet Item Payment and Reference Fields: Charging the customer from a worksheet, and what happens to a charged job.
- Sending a Card Payment Link: Letting the customer pay by card online instead.
- Refunding a Card Payment: Giving a card payment back.
- Notification Settings: Being told when a card payment isn't approved after you have left the app.