2014: Top 5 Consumer Point of Sale Apps Review

Payments transactions will reach 1.3 trillion U.S. dollars per year before 2017. A lot of people are already using mobile applications to easily purchase stuff from online stores. There are a lot of retail POS applications for businesses, which are now replacing bulky, and dumb billing machines. If you do a search for point of sale applications, chances are you will find more retail PoS applications compared to applications that are meant to be used by consumers. These consumer PoS applications are mainly used in places like restaurants, pubs, cafes, bars and parlors. With these application you will be able to easily pay your bill at a restaurant or bar without producing your credit card or paper money.

We have reviewed some of the top point of sale applications for consumers below.

Pay With Dash

It is said that Dash, was founded since the Jeff and Gennady (founders) were really frustrated about not able to get the attention of the waiters to pay the bill when they were I a hurry to leave a venue. Pay With Dash is currently one of the most popular PoS applications available for your iPhone and Android. Dash, the company that backs this application in February 2014 also raised 1.2 million dollars. The application makes use of proprietary API to connect your iPhone to the retail point of sale system available at the venue. One great feature of Pay With Dash is the ability to split the bill with your buddies. This does require everyone dining with you to have the application installed on their phone. However, it still is a good feature to easily split the check.

You will also be able to leave a tip to the wait staff. The best thing about this application is, you will be able to use it in thousands of venues – the number of venues in which you could use this application to pay the check has been rapidly increasing ever since they bagged that $1.2 million fund.

Platforms available: iOS and Android

Tabbed Out

The company boastfully claim that Tabbed Out is the only POS-integrated payment solution exclusively for hospitality industry. Tabbed out also has all the features that are available in other PoS applications like, split, email receipt and instant payments. What makes Tabbed out unique is the in-app discounts. The more you use the application to pay at all your favorite venues, more discounts you will be able to avail. The best part is you don’t have to make a note of these discounts and manually use them when you pay the check. The best offers and coupons will be automatically redeemed when you close the tab.

The split feature in Tabbed Out is not that flexible. People could only separate their items to pay and could not just split the amount. For instance, if your buddy and you order a plate of Sushi and a bottle of soda. If the plate of Sushi costs $30 and the bottle of soda costs $2. You can’t pay $16 each. You can only separate the items and can not split the amount.

Platforms Available: iOS and Android.

Clipp

Clipp is probably the only application in the list also available for BlackBerry apart from iPhone, and Android. They have also mentioned on their website that there will be an Windows 8 version rolled out soon. Clipp uses PayPal to process payments. All you need to do is link your credit card with your PayPal account and add it to the application. When ever you close a tab, your check will be paid using your PayPal account and a soft copy of the receipt will be emailed to you in minutes, if not seconds.

The most fascinating thing about the application is that, you can set your payment threshold for the day before you walk in to a venue. This comes very handy when you walk in to a bar – no more late night surprises. Unlike Tabbed Out, Clipp lets you split the bill in 4 different way, by Amount, Quantity, Items combination, and Fraction. Clipp could be currently used in thousands of venues in Australia. When you are in a hurry and leave the restaurant, even if you forget to close the tab, the tab will be automatically closed on behalf of you, using GPS proximity technology.

Watch video here

Platforms Available: iOS, Android, BlackBerry, and Windows (coming soon).

ISIS mobile wallet

You will need an iPhone or Android phone with Near Field Communication for this application to work This PoS applications might not be suitable for tab management and making payments when you are at a bar or restaurants, but it can be quite helpful to pay your bills in a super market.

Unlike the 3 applications mentioned above, you can’t remotely make payments from your mobile phone and this is the reason the application could not be used in venues like bars and restaurants. If you are in a mall at the counter to pay the bill, you simply have to point the back of your phone over the contact-less symbol when asked by the cashier and your can take your stuff and leave. A great thing about this application is that, you will be able to add any credit or debit or U.S. bank account to the application.

One disadvantage to this application is, you won’t be able to use this application on Android devices without NFC and you will have to buy an additional Isis ready case for your iPhone.

Platform: Limited number of Android Phones, iPhones need additional NFC case.

Bitcoin Wallet

Bitcoin is a virtual alternative currency. You will be able to make payments using Android smartphone with “Bitcoin Wallet”. It works as a fully functional wallet using the Bitcoin currency. Transactions are initiated and secured using QR codes. A payment is initiated when you scan a QR-code and the merchants can receive payments securely and instantly.

Bitcoin payment options are not available in many of the venues, but it is still growing popular everyday and worth keeping an eye on. The user can also request for money from other Bitcoin users and receive it fast and secure. It will take time for the open source project to make its way into all the major restaurants and bars around the world, but is has a lot of potential.

Watch Bitcoin video here

Platform: Android.

Kerry Blake is a MS Office expert, trainer and lecturer for past seven years.

As he put it, “Most of my articles are inspired by people I meet in class. You can find me writing about technology and cars when I feel I got something to say.”