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Update to a new release

Learn about automatic updating, the beta program, and manual updating.

Interested in automatic updating?

Contact the Support Team to find out which update strategy you are following or to switch to automatic updating.

Adyen terminals should be kept up-to-date with the latest software release in order to ensure availability of new features, functionalities, and bug fixes, as well as to meet security and compliance requirements.
Adyen makes new software versions available for terminals every four weeks, after rigorous testing.

As a standard practice, Adyen automatically rolls out new releases to your terminal fleet every month. We roll out releases gradually and monitor the performance.
In exceptional cases, you can can select and roll out releases yourself, which we refer to as manual updating or manual update strategy. This update strategy has to be approved by Adyen.

When a terminal receives an update request, the terminal automatically installs the new software after rebooting at the restart hour. The restart hour is configurable in the Customer Area and set to 6:00 AM local time by default. To update successfully, a terminal needs to be turned on and connected to your network for at least one maintenance interval (by default 180 minutes) before the restart hour. If the update fails, the terminal will continue to use the previous software version.

Release testing

Our release testing process involves multiple state-of-the-art testing frameworks to ensure maximum reliability of software and hardware releases. Testing spans from unit tests at the individual implementation level, to end-to-end testing of the software release on the terminal. Every release goes through several rounds of rigorous testing including:

  • Robot testing: More than 50 robots perform test transactions for thousands of test cases on different terminal models. We can simulate payment methods from around the world and verify, among others, the terminal screens shown to customers.
  • Lab testing: Our lab simulates mobile networks, as well as scenarios where connectivity is lost and terminals process offline.
  • Test environment: New releases are made available to you on the Test environment to collect merchant-specific feedback.
  • Beta testing: Before making a release available, we release new versions to beta merchants around the world. This allows us to monitor transaction performance in a live environment.

Automatic updating

Automatic updating is suitable for all integration types and the standalone solution, regardless of the terminal model or terminal fleet size.

After a new release version passes our rigorous testing process and is considered stable, we update terminals gradually across several weeks. The update on the terminal takes place outside business hours at an hour that can be specified by you. A new software update and the release notes are announced in system messages. During peak season in November and December, we adjust our release schedule.

Automatic updating has the following benefits:

  • Subscription to innovation. You benefit from the latest improvements, functionalities, and bug fixes, as soon as they become available.
  • Never miss vital updates. Any security or compliance enhancements are immediately applied.
  • Convenience. You do not have to do anything. Adyen takes care of the testing, scheduling, and monitoring of the update.
  • Faster troubleshooting. When terminals are already on the latest release, our Support Team can immediately start looking for solutions, without updating to the latest release first.
  • Lower update risk. The changes from one release to the next are smaller compared to a manual updating process.

In case of unexpected issues, we can pause the update process or revert to a previous release at any time.
If you want to move from manual updating to automatic udpating, you can contact the Support Team.

Manual updating

To manually update your terminals, submit a request in your Customer Area at least two business days in advance. Refer to Manually schedule terminal software updates for more details.

Unlike automatic updating, we do not actively monitor terminals that are updated manually.

When you schedule a release update, the terminal automatically installs the new software after rebooting at the restart hour. The restart hour is configurable in the Customer Area and set to 6:00 AM local time by default.

To update successfully, a terminal needs to be turned on and connected to your network for at least one maintenance interval (by default 180 minutes) before the restart hour. If the update fails, the terminal will continue to use the previous software version.

To switch to automatic updates, contact our Support Team.

Long Term Support version

A Long Term Support (LTS) version is a terminal software version that we continue to maintain with critical fixes for an extended period after its release. This way we ensure the stability of an earlier software version if you are on the manual update strategy and you do not update frequently.

We typically maintain the LTS version for about four to five months until we create a new LTS version. After we create a new LTS version, you can still update your terminals to any of the three latest LTS versions, but we will only fix new issues in the latest LTS version. New LTS releases and patches are announced in system messages.

To ensure that you are using terminal software that is compliant and still supported, keep your terminals updated to one of the three latest LTS releases.

Beta testing

The beta testing program allows us test the latest release in a live environment, monitor the performance of payment terminals, and discover potential issues at an earlier stage. Terminals that are part of the beta testing are updated to the latest version at the beginning of the automatic update process.

Setting up and running the beta testing program requires no extra effort from your side. The whole process is handled by Adyen.

Benefits

For you, participating in the beta testing program has the following benefits:

  • Early access to the latest features.
  • Testing and bug fixing specific to your industry.
  • Highest priority with IPP Support.
  • Dedicated monitoring during the beta testing.

Mitigation

To avoid impact on your business operations in rare cases of potential issues related to software updates, we have the following strategies in place:

  • To ensure business continuity, we try to select terminals from stores with at least two other active terminals.
  • If the update fails, the terminals continue to transact using the previous software version.
  • In case of unexpected issues, we can pause the update process or revert to a previous release at any time.

Expectations

In addition to the benefits of the beta testing program, we also have some expectations from you during this stage:

  • Report issues diligently. You have priority when reporting issues to our Support Team.
  • Keep terminals in the beta group always active.
  • Inform your staff which terminals are part of the beta testing program.
  • Instruct your staff on how to report issues to Adyen.

All of this helps us improve the current version before the official release.

See also