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Customer Display

Hyvä POS is in closed beta

Hyvä POS is currently in a closed beta (pilot phase) with a small group of merchants. It is not yet generally available: the App Store release follows the pilot, and features and configuration may still change - possibly in backwards-incompatible ways - before the general release. Want to take part? Sign up at hyva.io/pos.

A customer-facing display shows the sale as it happens: the customer watches lines appear while you scan, sees the total, and trusts the number before they pay. Hyvä POS supports three kinds, from a two-line text display to a full second iPad.

Star SCD222U (Free Tier)

A 2×20-character display for Star printers.

  • Connects to: the host Star printer's USB-A peripheral port, not to the iPad. Works with Star counter printers such as the mC-Print series and the mPOP (printer and cash drawer in one chassis).
  • How it communicates: the iPad sends display commands over the printer's existing connection (Bluetooth, USB-C or LAN); the printer firmware routes them to the display. No extra pairing, no own power or network.
  • Shows: the running total while you scan, and a welcome message between sales.
  • Setup: Settings → Printers → [your Star printer] → Customer Display (SCD222U). One Star printer hosts the display at a time.

Epson DM-D30 (Free Tier)

Epson's customer display for TM-series printers, same idea as the Star display.

  • Connects to: the host Epson printer. The DM-D30-111 plugs into the printer's peripheral (UB) port; the DM-D30-101 mounts on the printer chassis itself. It pairs naturally with the TM-m30III, the counter setup that also powers the iPad and drives the cash drawer over one cable.
  • How it communicates: the iPad never talks to the display directly. Commands travel over whatever connection the printer already uses, and the printer passes them through.
  • Shows: running total and welcome message, like the Star display.
  • Setup: Settings → Printers → [your Epson printer] → Customer Display.

Displays match their printer brand

A VFD only works behind a printer of the same manufacturer: the SCD222U needs a Star printer, the DM-D30 needs an Epson printer. Neither connects to the iPad on its own.

Paired iPad (PRO)

The full experience: a second iPad faces the customer and mirrors the sale live.

  • Connects to: the register iPad directly, over local peer-to-peer networking (MultipeerConnectivity). The two devices find each other on the spot; no server, no Magento round-trip, and it keeps working when the internet is down.
  • How to pair: on the second iPad, open Hyvä POS and choose Display mode; it searches for a register running PRO. On the register, enable Broadcast cart to display. The pairing is authenticated against the register's terminal identity, which is why this display is part of PRO.
  • Shows and does:
    • The cart, live, as lines are scanned.
    • At payment, a QR code the customer scans to reach their receipt page, where they download or email the receipt themselves.
    • An email prompt: the customer types their own address for an emailed receipt, so nobody has to spell it out loud across the counter.
    • A newsletter opt-in under the email field (PRO): ticked by the customer themselves, applied only after the receipt email sent. The checkbox only appears when the store can act on it.
    • Reward-point earnings on the completed sale.

What the Displays Show

The two-line VFDs run a small state machine driven by the register: a configurable welcome message when idle, the just-added item and running total while scanning, the total during checkout and payment, a thank-you, and a configurable "closed" message when the register is closed to customers. Both lines are limited to 20 characters (the hardware's grid) and the welcome/closed texts are settable per printer.

The paired iPad mirrors the sale through richer phases: live cart, payment in progress, paid, email capture, receipt QR, and thank-you. What crosses the wire is deliberately sanitised: item names, quantities and prices, never SKUs, internal ids or customer emails. Refund lines display as negatives. The pairing is remembered, so both devices reconnect automatically after a restart, and the two iPads only need to share a network; no internet is involved in the link itself.

Details that matter on a real counter, all on the paired-iPad display:

  • Closed register, closed screen: when no register session is open, every display phase collapses to a "closed" screen - the display never shows a cart nobody is serving.
  • Network blips stay invisible to customers: if the display loses its host it holds a customer-safe "one moment please" screen instead of dropping into a technical pairing picker; the picker only returns after a deliberate unpair.
  • The QR at payment needs receipt sync: the display offers the receipt QR when the sale has synced through PRO receipt sync; otherwise the customer gets the email option only.
  • Reward points show at the end: on the completed-sale screen the customer sees the points the purchase earned.

Which One to Pick

Star SCD222U / Epson DM-D30 Paired iPad
Tier Free PRO
Hardware Small text display behind your printer Any spare iPad
Connection Rides the printer's connection Peer-to-peer with the register
Shows Total + welcome message Full cart, receipt QR, email entry, points

A text display is cheap, robust and zero-maintenance. The paired iPad is the one customers notice, and it turns the receipt moment into self-service.