Set Up the Register

One-time setup for each register lane — an iPad running the Ayuna POS app, its Epson receipt printer, and the cash drawer the printer pops. Plan on about ten minutes per register. Once this is done, day-to-day use is covered in Open and Close the Register.

What you need:

• An iPad with the Ayuna POS app installed, signed in to your store
• An Epson receipt printer on the same Wi-Fi network as the iPad
• A cash drawer connected to the printer's drawer-kick port (the small RJ12 cable plugs into the printer, not the iPad)
• A store manager or admin account for the setup steps

1. Pair the receipt printer

The printer prints sales receipts, the register's opening and closing slips, and report summaries — and it's what physically pops the drawer.

1. In the POS app, go to the Settings tab and find Receipt Printer.
2. Tap Pair Printer. The app discovers Epson printers on the network — pick yours.
3. Tap Test Drawer Kick. The drawer should pop open; that confirms both the printer connection and the drawer cable in one step.

Need to change it later? The same section has Pair Different Printer and Forget Printer.

2. Check the register's name

A register belongs to the store, and one device holds it at a time. That name is on every sale, drawer session and cashier sign-in the register makes, and two registers at a store can't share one. An iPad that already had a register keeps it when the app updates.

• An iPad with no register here. The first time an iPad opens a store, the app asks Which register is this iPad? and lists the store's registers: Free ones, ones held by this iPad, ones in use on another device right now, and idle ones whose device has been quiet for ten minutes (those are free to take). Tap one to use it. A store manager can also add a register from the picker, or take over one that is in use (see below). At a store with no registers yet, the picker offers Add a register and Register as register-1. Until a register is chosen, a banner reads This iPad has no register with a Choose register button.
• The browser register has no picker; the first time it opens a store it registers itself and gets the next free name — register-1, register-2, and so on.
• On the iPad, the name shows in the top bar next to the store, and in the Drawer tab as a pill like Register: register-1. Tap the pill to rename, or use Settings → Register, where Change register opens the same picker at any time.
• On the web register, the name shows next to the store in the header. Rename it under Settings → This register.
• Naming. A register's name is any text up to 50 characters, like front-1 or Donations desk. Two registers at a store can't share a name, and capital letters don't make a name different (Front and front are the same name).

Taking over a register. A register in use on another device can be taken over by a store manager from the picker. The confirmation says which kind of device holds it and when it was last seen. The other device loses the register at once: its next action shows This register is now used by another device with a Choose register button, and it picks another. The register's cart, drawer session and signed-in cashier stay with the register, not with the device. A register that is only idle, not in use, needs no takeover; anyone can pick it.

Who counts as the manager is whoever is signed in as the cashier. An iPad usually stays signed in to one account all day while cashiers come and go with their PINs, so the cashier's own permissions decide: with a staff cashier signed in, the row reads Manager only even though a manager's account is signed in to the iPad. Switch the cashier to a manager first. With nobody signed in as cashier (an iPad being set up), the account signed in to the iPad decides. Add a register follows the same rule.

The same banner appears when a register this iPad held was retired or released from the store's page (a manager's tool for a lost or replaced iPad; see Manage a Store). Switching registers also switches card readers: the iPad uses the reader bound to the register it now holds.

A rename or a reader change made on the web reaches the iPad when the app returns to the foreground, or at once with Settings → Refresh settings from server.

A rename is refused while the register has a drawer session open, from every screen: close the drawer first. Two registers at a store can't have names that differ only in capital letters, so Front and front are the same name.

Each register keeps its own drawer session. A second iPad on its own till needs no setup beyond this: it is its own register.

A store manager sees every register on the store's page (Store Management, click the store, Registers tab): who holds each one, its reader, its drawer. That page is also where a register is added ahead of a device, renamed, released from a lost iPad, or retired. See Manage a Store.

3. Bind the card reader

Card payments from a register go to the one reader bound to it. A store with a single card reader binds it automatically. With several readers, a store manager picks each register's reader:

• iPad: Settings → Register → Card reader.
• Web: Settings → This register → Card reader, or the Bind to register button on the card screen at checkout.
• From the store's page: Registers tab, ⋯ → Card reader… on the register's row. The Devices tab shows which registers each reader serves.

The card screen then starts on that reader and refuses any other. A register with no reader bound can't take cards until one is bound.

A PAX D135 is the exception. It's a Bluetooth reader that pairs with a single iPad, so it never binds automatically, and Payment Devices marks it iPad only. Binding one to an iPad register also sets up the reader's own payment key with Finix, so it needs your organization's Finix merchant onboarding to be complete; if it isn't, the binding is refused and the message says so. See Pair a Bluetooth Card Reader for the whole setup, the reader's lights, and what to do when an iPad or reader goes missing.

4. Check who can do what

Access is role-based and works out of the box:

• Cashiers (store staff) can open and close the register, record paid in/out and safe drops, and print slips. They count blind — the expected amount is revealed only after they enter their count.
• Store managers and admins can additionally see the running expected cash during the day and review over/short alerts.
• EOD Closeout and Sales Summary (in Settings → Reports) appear for people who can view store reports — managers and admins by default.

Cashiers also need their time-clock PIN for cashier switching at a shared register.

5. Review the store's drawer settings

Sensible defaults apply to every store; your administrator can adjust them per store:

Setting	Default
Standard float	Not set — set your till amount
Blind close	On
Over/short alert threshold	$5.00
Auto-print open/close slips	On
Witness required at close	Off
Cash blocked until register opens	On
Submit card batch at close	Off (leave off — card payments settle automatically)

The one worth setting on day one is the standard float (for example $150): it pre-fills the opening count so cashiers just confirm it.

Receipt settings

Also per store, and left alone until your administrator sets them. To change them, open Administration → Stores and click the receipt icon on the store's row. The dialog shows what the copies will say and an example pickup-by date as you edit, before anything is saved.

Setting	Default
Return policy footer on receipts	Blank (nothing printed)
Sold tags for items awaiting pickup	Off
Pickup window	3 days
Count only days the store is open	On
Days the store is closed	None
Pickup policy wording	"Items must be picked up within 3 days."
Customer signature line on the store copy	On

Everything on a sold tag comes from these settings, so set the pickup window, the closed days, and the wording to match your store's policy before turning sold tags on. See Sold tags.

6. Do a dry run

1. Open the register with a counted float — the drawer pops and the opening slip prints.
2. Ring a small cash sale and a card sale, then void or refund them.
3. Close the register, count blind, and check the close slip's breakdown.
4. Tap Reprint Close Slip and confirm the copy is marked as a reprint.

If all four work, the lane is ready for a real day.

Troubleshooting

• Pair Printer doesn't find the printer. Make sure the printer is powered on and on the same Wi-Fi network as the iPad (guest networks often isolate devices).
• Test print works but the drawer doesn't pop. Check the drawer's RJ12 cable is seated in the printer's drawer-kick port.
• Slips aren't printing at open/close. Auto-print may be turned off for your store — ask your administrator.
• The register name won't change. It's locked while a drawer session is open; close the register first. If the message says another register already has that name, choose a different one — names are unique per store.
• The card screen says the register is bound to a different reader, or has no reader bound. A store manager binds the right reader under Settings → Register (iPad) or Settings → This register (web).
• The card screen says to take the payment on the iPad the reader is paired with. The register is bound to a PAX D135, which only its paired iPad can drive. On a web register, a store manager binds a different reader under Settings → This register.
• "This station could not register at the store" (web). The browser couldn't reach the store to register itself; check the connection and tap Retry on the banner.
• A cashier doesn't see the Drawer tab or Reports. Their account is missing the store role for it — ask an admin to check their roles.

Related docs

• Open and Close the Register
• Process a Sale
• End-of-Day Closeout
• Sales Reports