Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. Flow is a mobile interface for Stripe, so a Stripe account is required to accept payments. You can create a free Stripe account directly from the app during setup, or connect an existing one. Stripe accounts are free to create and there are no monthly fees from Stripe itself - you only pay per transaction when you accept payments.

After you install FlowPOS, enter your email to continue or use Sign in with Stripe when available. Existing Flow merchants verify with a one-time code. New merchants finish Stripe connection and onboarding, then Flow loads the account status, payments, balances, and payout information needed by the app.

If you have an existing verified Stripe account, you can complete Flow setup in minutes after installing the app. If you need to create and verify a new Stripe account, the additional time depends on Stripe’s identity verification process, which can be near-instant or take up to a few days depending on your business type and location.

Yes, Stripe requires account verification before you can accept live payments. This is a Stripe requirement for all merchants, not specific to Flow. Stripe typically collects your name, address, date of birth, and business information. For most individuals, this process can be completed quickly within the app.

Flow supports all the following payment collection methods:

• Tap to Pay - Contactless NFC payments using your phone (no reader hardware needed)
• Card Reader - Chip, tap, or swipe using a Stripe-compatible Bluetooth reader
• Manual Card Entry - Type in card details for card-not-present transactions
• Payment Links - Send a URL the customer pays online
• Invoices - Send a professional invoice via email

The specific methods available may depend on your country and Stripe account settings.

Tap to Pay uses your phone’s built-in NFC chip to accept contactless credit cards, debit cards, Apple Pay, and Google Pay - with no extra hardware. Any modern iPhone (iPhone XS or later) or Android phone with NFC hardware should support it. The feature must be enabled in your Stripe account and may not be available in all countries. Check Stripe’s documentation for current country availability.

No. Tap to Pay and manual card entry work without any hardware. If you want to accept chip or magnetic stripe cards using a reader, Flow supports Stripe-compatible Bluetooth card readers (such as the Stripe Reader M2). A reader is entirely optional.

Payout timing is controlled entirely by Stripe - not Flow. By default, Stripe pays out on a rolling 2-business-day schedule for most accounts. Your payout schedule may vary based on your account history, business type, and country. You can view your pending and paid balances in Flow’s account section.

Flow has no monthly subscription. On successful payments, Flow charges a 1% app fee plus Stripe’s standard per-transaction fee. There is no Flow fee on failed payments. See our Pricing page for full details.

Stripe deducts their processing fee automatically from each successful payment before depositing the remainder to your bank account. Failed or declined transactions are not successful payments. The exact rate depends on the payment method and your country. Visit stripe.com/pricing for the current rates in your region.

Yes. You can install Flow on multiple phones or tablets. Since Flow reads current payment, balance, payout, invoice, and hosted-link activity from Stripe/Flow services, signed-in devices see the same current business activity.

A dedicated in-app disconnect screen is not available yet. You can sign out from Flow Settings to clear the merchant session on the device. For account-level connection changes, use Stripe Dashboard or contact Flow support.

Yes. All financial data is stored and secured by Stripe, which maintains PCI-DSS Level 1 compliance - the highest level in the payment industry. Flow reads your account data from Stripe’s API and displays it in the app; it does not maintain its own database of your transaction history.

No. Flow never stores raw card numbers. When a customer pays by card, the card data is tokenized by Stripe’s SDK and processed entirely within Stripe’s PCI-compliant infrastructure. Flow only handles the tokenized reference, not the underlying card data. See our Privacy Policy for full details.