Square Local Cash: Pausing the Prompts Isn't Opting Out

Quick answer: Square gives you three separate controls for Local Cash, and only one of them takes your restaurant out. The timed pause on the point of sale (Settings > Checkout > Neighborhoods > Rewards upsell) hides the sign-up prompt from new customers for the time you pick, then turns it back on by itself. Square documents that pause for Square Register X2 only. If your register isn't an X2, you aren't sure, or the setting isn't there, stop and have the owner confirm with Square or choose the Dashboard pause instead. Pause Local Cash sign-up in Square Dashboard (Channels > Neighborhoods) stops that prompt until an account owner turns it back on. With either pause, customers who already follow your business can still earn and redeem Local Cash with you. To stop sign-ups, earning and redemption completely, you have to contact Square support. They verify the request and confirm your consent, and Square says the change can take 5–10 minutes to show up across Square and Cash App.

So if a regular redeems Local Cash the day after you paused it, the pause didn't fail. That's what a pause does. Decide which outcome you actually want before you change anything: a quieter rush, no new sign-ups while you look at it, or out entirely.

This is based on Square's support articles and Neighborhoods guides as they read on October 28, 2026. We haven't run these settings on a Square account, so the labels on your screen may differ.

The three controls side by side

Timed pause. Square's staff guide says anyone running your point of sale can set it, and that customers can still redeem while it's on. Square's "How Neighborhoods works" article labels this pause "Square Register X2 only." Its "Manage your Neighborhoods experience" article and the staff guide don't name a device, which doesn't show the pause works on anything else. So treat it as an X2 control. On another register, on hardware you can't identify, or if Rewards upsell isn't under Settings > Checkout > Neighborhoods, stop there rather than hunting for a workaround. Have the owner confirm with Square that your device has it, or have the owner choose the Dashboard sign-up pause. That's a different control: only an account owner sets it, it stays on until an owner turns it back on, and it doesn't end by itself after a rush. And a three-hour maximum won't cover a full day. One owner in Square's seller community said it doesn't help much at more than 100 transactions a day.

Dashboard sign-up pause. Square's help says account owners do this one. Square's marketing page calls it pausing your participation, but the support articles are more specific. New customers stop getting the prompt to follow you and earn Local Cash, and customers who already follow you keep earning and redeeming. Plan around the specific version. One owner who used it quoted the Dashboard as saying the setting applies to all locations. Square's help doesn't say either way, so if you run more than one location and want them set differently, ask support before you count on it.

Full removal. There's no switch for this in Square's help. You contact support, a team member verifies the request and confirms your consent, and then it's submitted. After that, customers can't sign up for, earn or redeem Local Cash at your business through Neighborhoods. Check your buyer-facing display after about ten minutes, not right away.

If what bothers you is the way your logo now looks on the customer display, that's a separate setting. Square's manage article puts it under Channels > Neighborhoods > Update brand logo and recommends a square image with the logo centered on a solid background.

Which one fits your situation

• Customers are confused at the register during a rush, but you're fine with Local Cash otherwise. On a Square Register X2, use the timed pause for the length of the rush. Prompts come back on their own, so nobody has to remember to turn them back on. On any other or unknown device, or if Rewards upsell isn't there, don't improvise. The owner confirms with Square or decides whether the Dashboard pause is worth it, knowing it stays on until the owner turns it back on.
• You didn't choose this and want time to decide. That was the original question in Square's community thread in August. Use the Dashboard sign-up pause. It doesn't expire, and it stops new sign-ups. Regulars who already follow you will still redeem at your register, so tell staff to expect that.
• You want it gone. Ask support for full removal. Before you confirm consent, ask two things Square's help doesn't answer. First, what happens to your Cash App ordering profile and orders placed through Cash App? Square's help treats the ordering profile as part of Neighborhoods but doesn't say what removal does to it. Second, does removal cover every location? Write down who you spoke to and when.

While a sign-up pause is on, check whether anyone actually uses Local Cash at your restaurant. In Square Dashboard, go to Payments & orders > Transactions, open the All Payment Methods dropdown and select Local Cash. Square's help notes that Local Cash activity from before July 2026 is still grouped under Cash App transactions, so look there for anything older. The Neighborhoods tab shows your followers. Judge it the way you'd judge any promotion: by what those orders contribute after cost, not by how many there were.

If you were about to launch Square Loyalty, as the owner who started that thread was: Square's help says sellers using Square Loyalty "may not be included at this time." It doesn't say turning on Loyalty takes you out of Neighborhoods, so don't use it as an exit. Decide on Loyalty on its own merits, and use one of the three controls above for Local Cash.

What staff will still see after a pause

Both pauses leave redemption on, so your team still needs to know how it works. Square's redemption article and staff guide describe it this way. The customer taps Redeem on your buyer-facing display and scans the QR code with Cash App, and the Local Cash applies automatically. The customer has to use their whole available balance, and only one account can redeem per transaction. Anything left on the bill gets paid another way. Square's Neighborhoods marketing page describes it differently, with the customer showing a code for your team to scan. Train the help-article version. If your screen asks for something else, staff should follow the screen and tell the manager.

Tipping is where owners got worried, and Square's help is narrow about it. When Local Cash covers the whole order and the customer has some Local Cash left over, they can tip from that remaining balance. When Local Cash covers the whole order and nothing is left, Square says the POS won't prompt for a tip. The customer can skip Local Cash and pay another way, or leave a cash tip. That's all Square's help says about tips. It doesn't cover what the tip prompt does when Local Cash pays only part of the bill. Don't tell staff anything about that case until you've seen it happen on your own screen.

Neither pause removes this tipping case, because customers who already follow you can still redeem. Only full removal does. A Square employee wrote in the community thread on September 10 that Square was working on letting customers tip on a credit card after using all their Local Cash. Square's redemption article still read as described above on October 28. Neither source establishes whether that change has reached registers since, so its current status is unverified. Train the documented behavior, don't tell customers they can or can't tip by card in that case, and have staff follow the screen and tell the manager if it offers something different.

What pausing does and doesn't do to cost

Square's fees article says Square initially funds Local Cash rewards as part of your enrollment offer. After the introductory period, you pay only for Local Cash redeemed at your business, not for rewards customers earn there. Your monthly Local Cash cost is capped at the total Local Cash earned at your business that month. Square's Neighborhoods page and one-page guides say Cash App pays for the first 12 months. The fees article says reward rates and funding terms may vary and are subject to change, so check the offer attached to your own enrollment rather than assuming twelve months. Square's Neighborhoods page says it will tell you what's changing before the funded period ends.

Once that period is over, a sign-up pause still leaves your existing followers earning and redeeming at your business. On its own it doesn't stop those redemption costs. Full removal does, because no one can redeem at your business through Neighborhoods after that.

The 1% processing fee Square advertises applies only to orders placed directly through Cash App, including your Cash App ordering profile. Square's fees article says in-store payments, web ordering profile orders and other payments made with Cash App pay your standard rates. Square's help doesn't say whether full removal changes Cash App ordering, which is why it's on the list of questions for support. It only matters if you actually get orders through Cash App, and the order source in Square Dashboard tells you whether you do.

Copy this shift note

Fill in the manager section before the shift, and keep the rest for whoever is on the register. It lists only what Square's help documents. The STOP list is there so that anything else goes to a manager.

LOCAL CASH SHIFT NOTE
Date / shift: ________
Manager on duty: ________

CONTROL IN USE (manager ticks one)
[ ] Timed POS pause
    (Square Register X2 only)
    Ends at: ________
    Prompts come back by
    themselves after that.
[ ] Dashboard sign-up pause
    Set by owner on: ________
    Stays on until owner
    turns it back on.
[ ] Full removal confirmed by
    Square support on: ________
[ ] Nothing paused. Prompts on.

WHAT A PAUSE DOES
- Stops the sign-up prompt for
  NEW customers only.
- Customers who already follow
  us can still earn and redeem.
  That is normal, not a failure.
- After full removal: no sign-up,
  earning or redeeming here.

AT THE REGISTER
- No need to explain or promote
  Local Cash unless asked.
- Redeeming: customer taps Redeem
  on our display and scans with
  Cash App. Whole balance applies.
  Rest of bill: card, cash, etc.
- Local Cash covers the order and
  nothing is left: per Square
  help, no tip prompt. Customer
  can pay another way or tip in
  cash. Don't push either option.
- Card tip after using all Local
  Cash: status unverified. Don't
  promise it either way.
- Screen asks for something else:
  follow the screen, tell manager.

STOP AND GET THE MANAGER IF
- Sign-up prompt shows during a
  pause
- Customer can't redeem
- Refund or void on a Local Cash
  sale
- Anyone asks to take us out of
  Local Cash (owner decision)

MANAGER / OWNER ONLY
- Timed pause (Square Register
  X2 only): POS Settings >
  Checkout > Neighborhoods >
  Rewards upsell
  Not an X2, not sure, or no
  Rewards upsell? Stop. Owner
  confirms with Square or picks
  the Dashboard pause (stays on
  until owner turns it off).
- Sign-up pause (owner): Square
  Dashboard > Channels >
  Neighborhoods > Pause Local
  Cash sign-up
- Full removal: owner contacts
  Square support
Paths per Square help, read
Oct 28, 2026.

Sources

Square Support, "Manage your Neighborhoods experience". Square Support, "How Neighborhoods works at your business". Square Support, "Accept Local Cash rewards with Neighborhoods". Square Support, "Understand Neighborhoods fees and payments". Square, "Your guide to Local Cash", including its linked staff guide. Square Community, Food & Beverage group, "'Local Cash' we did not opt in, what & why?!", August 26 to September 21, 2026. The Square pages show no publication date. All were read October 28, 2026.