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Square will lay its Order app to rest on March 20th
Let's have a moment of silence for Square's Order app: its funeral's already scheduled for March 20th. Oh, you don't even remember what that is? We're not surprised. It's one of Square's apps for consumers, instead of for merchants, that you can use to order coffee on the way to the cafe. The place's barista gets a notification when you're near, so he can start preparing your drink. By the looks of it, though, it didn't quite take off -- it's never even ventured beyond San Francisco and New York, and you can only use it to buy from those cities' Blue Bottle Coffee shops. The company launched Order less than a year ago, the same time it phased out Wallet, but now it has decided to focus on its other products.
Square now tells your barista when to start brewing
Square isn't just in the business of selling things -- it wants to help you buy stuff too. And now, it's taking the latter a step further by simplifying your daily quest for a piping-hot cup o' joe. After today's update, you can use the Square Order app to purchase coffee from a nearby Square-friendly cafe. So? Here's the cool part: By using your phone's location data, Order alerts the barista to start brewing the drink once you're within a certain distance from the shop.
Square's new app lets you pre-order food and drink before picking it up
Square is one of those apps you may have heard of, but have no idea what it does -- because it mostly sells point-of-sale software and readers to businesses. It has just quietly expanded its consumer presence with Square Order, however, which looks like the customer-based app used in conjunction with Square Pickup for merchants. We says "looks like" because the app has quietly slipped into the iOS and Android (Beta) Play stores without any official announcement. Using it seems simple enough: you locate a restaurant, cafe or shop (Whole Foods, for instance) from a list of Square Pickup merchants. Then, you can place a pre-order, pay for it and receive a notification from the app when it's ready. That'll put it into competition with apps like PayPal's wallet and GrubHub, though so far Order is only available in New York and San Francisco (more cities are promised soon). We've reached out for more info, but if you're in one of those 'burgs, grab it here. Update: We've just learned that Square Order is really a phasing out of Square Wallet. Head on over to this post to learn more about it.
