While we’ve built some of the best point-of-sale software on the market, we know that many industries have niche needs and businesses may need unique experiences that aren’t served by our existing products. That’s why we’re opening up our platform and providing developers direct access to Square hardware for the very first time.

Square Reader SDK is a set of developer tools for building custom, in-person checkout experiences. For the first time, iOS and Android developers can build unique checkout or point-of-sale applications like self-ordering kiosks, mobile points of sale, in-store line-busting apps, and more on top of Square’s hardware and payments ecosystem.

These customized solutions enable developers to work with existing Square merchants in popular industries such as retail and restaurants as well as new sellers in verticals not traditionally supported by Square, like transportation and health care. Ultimately, developers will use this SDK to help new types of businesses take payments with Square for the first time, help grow sales for existing sellers, and build more powerful and compelling experiences for both buyers and sellers.

The SDK provides secure payments through taps, dips, and swipes by enabling developers to integrate their application with Square’s elegant and affordable hardware. And it makes it easy for developers to deploy their apps across thousands of devices while also integrating them with critical business solutions like customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems.

Reader SDK is designed to be so simple and intuitive that a developer can integrate it, purchase a Square card reader online or at a store, and take payments minutes later. Nearly a dozen sellers and developers in a range of industries have already built and deployed applications that are running the SDK at scale during our early access program:

Shake Shack partnered with the design and development agency Fuzz to build a self-service kiosk at its “Shack of the Future” in New York City and at pop-up locations, where customers can order their food and pay with a card all on their own. The kiosk drives down wait times for customers and enables Shake Shack employees to focus on providing a world-class customer experience from the moment diners enter the restaurant.

“Square offers us a way to think outside of the box in terms of what’s possible for transactions and experiences in-Shack. We’re freed from the restrictions put on us by legacy products, and the Square suite of tools enables a variety of new opportunities,” said Anoop Pillarisetti, Digital Product & Strategy at Shake Shack.