Collect card payments while offline

Use a Configuration object or the Dashboard to enable offline mode for the supported devices at your Location.

curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/terminal/configurations \
  -u "
sk_test_BQokikJOvBiI2HlWgH4olfQ2
:" \
  -d "offline[enabled]"=true

After you enable offline mode on a Configuration object, you can assign it to a Location. You can also enable offline mode by default for all Locations by updating the default Configuration object for your account. Configuration API changes can take several minutes to propagate to your SDK and reader, and require you to disconnect from and reconnect to your reader to take effect.

The reader stores necessary Location information locally after connecting online. On subsequent offline connections, it uses the stored configuration information from that Location.

To collect payments with a smart reader while offline, you must have previously connected to any mobile reader of the same type at the same Location while online within the last 30 days, on the same local network.

The reader stores the Location information locally after connecting online, and it derives configuration information from that Location while operating offline. Your reader and POS device must be on the same local network used to connect online. You can’t switch networks while offline.

If you attempt to connect to a reader while offline without meeting these requirements, the request fails with an error.

To allow your application to receive updates about the SDK’s network status and the state of forwarded payments, implement the offline callbacks on the useStripeTerminal hook.

const { connectReader, disconnectReader, connectedReader } = useStripeTerminal({
    onDidChangeOfflineStatus(status: OfflineStatus) {
       // Check the value of `offlineStatus` and update your UI accordingly.
       //
       // You can also check the SDK's current offline status calling
       // `getOfflineStatus`.
    },
    onDidForwardingFailure(error) {
       // A non-specific error occurred while forwarding a PaymentIntent.
       // Check the error message and your integration implementation to
       // troubleshoot.
    },
    onDidForwardPaymentIntent(paymentIntent, error) {
       // The PaymentIntent was successfully forwarded, or an error occurred.
       // Reconcile any local state using the backend-generated `paymentIntent.id`
       // and the metadata you supplied when creating the PaymentIntent.
       //
       // Note that the `paymentIntent.id` may still be null if creating the
       // PaymentIntent in the backend failed.
    },
  });

To support operating offline, use the SDK’s createPaymentIntent to create PaymentIntent objects. This allows the SDK to create PaymentIntents while offline and forward them to Stripe after you’ve re-established connectivity.

While operating offline, PaymentIntent objects have a null id. We recommend adding a custom identifier to the PaymentIntent’s metadata to help reconcile PaymentIntent objects created offline in your database.

You can set up a webhook endpoint to receive PaymentIntent events when offline payments are forwarded to Stripe, and use your identifier to associate them with a PaymentIntent ID.

const _createPaymentIntent = async (cart) => {
  const {error, paymentIntent} = await createPaymentIntent({
    amount: cart.total,
    currency: cart.currency,
    metadata: {
      "unique-id": UUID().uuidString
    }
  });
}

The Terminal.createPaymentIntent accepts a CreateConfiguration parameter. By default, if you’re operating offline, the Terminal SDK stores all offline payments, then forwards them to Stripe’s backend when connectivity is restored.

To customize this behavior, you can pass in a CreateConfiguration object with an offlineBehavior attribute set to as REQUIRE_ONLINE, PREFER_ONLINE or FORCE_OFFLINE.

Managing risk

Setting offlineBehavior to REQUIRE_ONLINE fails the current transaction if you’re operating offline. For example, you might want to disallow transactions above a certain amount or disallow all offline transactions if the reader has stored a set of transactions whose sum exceeds a certain amount.

The SDK exposes two properties to help you manage risk:

1. OfflineStatus.reader.offlinePaymentsCount
2. OfflineStatus.reader.offlinePaymentAmountsByCurrency

Managing latency while offline

Based on your network connectivity, the Terminal SDK automatically determines whether to collect payments online or offline. However, you might want to operate offline despite having an active network connection (for example, if you need to collect transactions quickly and your network connection is slow). You can set offlineBehavior to force_offline to collect the payment offline regardless of connectivity.

Payments collected offline while the Terminal reader has an active network connection are forwarded in the background.

const _createPaymentIntent = async (cart) => {

  // Your app might want to prevent offline payments for too large an amount.
  // Here, we require a network connection if the payment if the amount is over 1000 usd.
  // Otherwise, we allow collecting offline if the network connection is unavailable.
  let offlineBehavior:
  if (cart.total > 1000000) {
    offlineBehavior = 'require_online'
  } else {
    offlineBehavior = 'prefer_online'
  }

  const {error, paymentIntent} = await createPaymentIntent({
    amount: cart.total,
    currency: cart.currency,
    offlineBehavior,
  });
}

Collecting payments while offline is similar to collecting payments while online. Your smart reader automatically displays the available payment options to the customer.

const _collectPaymentMethod_ = async () => {
  const { paymentIntent, error } = await collectPaymentMethod({ paymentIntent: paymentIntent });

  if (error) {
    // Handle errors in your application.
  }

  // ... Confirm the payment
}

Confirming payments while offline is similar to confirming payments while online. The primary difference is that your integration must handle offline-specific error cases, such as when the transaction exceeds the Stripe-enforced offline maximum of 10,000 USD or equivalent in your operating currency.

In some cases, the SDK might create a PaymentIntent online, but confirm it while offline. When this happens, the PaymentIntent might have a non-null id. If it was confirmed offline, offlineDetails will be defined and populated.

const _confirmPaymentIntent = async () => {
  const { paymentIntent, error } = await confirmPaymentIntent({ paymentIntent: paymentIntent });

  if (error) {
    // Handle offline-specific errors in your application (for example,
    // unsupported payment method).
  }

  if (paymentIntent.offlineDetails) {
    console.log('confirmed offline');
  }
  else {
    console.log('confirmed online');
  }
}

Providing receipts

You might require information about the card used to complete a payment while offline. For example, you might need to generate a receipt for customers who require one at the time of purchase.

If the PaymentIntent is confirmed offline, retrieve its OfflineCardPresentDetails from the paymentIntent.offlineDetails.offlineCardPresentDetails property.

This hash contains a ReceiptDetails property you can use to generate a receipt, as well as other card details like the cardholder name and card brand.

The account_type and authorization_response_code receipt fields are unavailable on PaymentIntents processed offline. Prebuilt email receipts are only sent after connectivity is restored and the payment is successfully captured.

When network connectivity is restored, the reader automatically begins forwarding the stored offline payments.

The reader attempts to forward payments even if its network status is offline. This means your connection token provider might receive a request to provide a connection token even when the device is offline.

If you disconnect or power off your smart reader too soon, your payments might not be forwarded. You can query OfflineStatus.reader.networkStatus to make sure your reader is online and can forward payments, and OfflineStatus.reader.offlinePaymentsCount to check how many payments the reader has to be forwarded.

If your smart reader becomes damaged or otherwise can’t take payments, your stored payments can often still be forwarded. Make sure to connect the smart reader to your POS and re-establish Internet access to allow it to re-connect to Stripe.

While offline, you can create PaymentIntents with captureMethod set to automatic.

After you confirm these PaymentIntents, they have a succeeded status instead of requiresCapture . Stripe automatically captures the payments after you forward them.

If you opt for manual capture, payments that are successfully forwarded and authorized require capture from your backend or application.

• To capture payments from your backend, use webhooks to listen for PaymentIntents with a requires_capture status.
• To capture payments from your application, wait for your application to receive calls to useStripeTerminal hook’s onDidForwardPaymentIntent for each PaymentIntent as the reader forwards it. A PaymentIntent is ready to capture if its status is requiresCapture and the OfflineDetails is null or has a requiresUpload value of false .

const _confirmPaymentIntent = async () => {
  const { paymentIntent, error } = await confirmPaymentIntent({ paymentIntent: paymentIntent });

  if (error) {
    // Handle offline-specific errors in your application (for example,
    // unsupported payment method).
  }

  if (paymentIntent.status == 'requiresCapture') {
    const offlineDetails = paymentIntent.offlineDetails;
    if (offlineDetails.requiresUpload === true) {
      // Offline payment, wait for `onDidForwardPaymentIntent` (see snippet below)
    }
    else {
      // Online payment, can be captured now
    }
  }
  else {
    // handle other paymentIntent.status results here
  }
}

Capture an offline payment after the reader forwards it in onDidForwardPaymentIntent:

const { connectReader, disconnectReader, connectedReader } = useStripeTerminal({
    onDidForwardPaymentIntent(paymentIntent, error) {
       if (error) {
           // Handle the error appropriate for your application
       } else if (paymentIntent.status == 'requires_capture') {
           // The paymentIntent is ready to be captured
       } else {
           // Handle the paymentIntent.status as appropriate.
       }
    },
  });

After authorization, you can use the PaymentIntents API to examine offline details on a payment. Access the payment method details on the latest Charge object on a PaymentIntent to determine if it was collected offline.