Once you have selected your reader from the available readers at your location as detailed in article - Stripe Terminal - Discover Readers | Operate you will see the status of your reader update.
The various status you may see here are -
No Location Selected
No Reader Selected
Connecting
Connected
Failed to Connect
Not Connected
Further information about each status is detailed below:
No Location Selected
To enable Operate to communicate with Stripe to get the Terminal data you first need to select your Operate location.
No Reader Selected
To enable Operate to attempt connection to your Stripe Terminal you must select your local reader from the dropdown list. If you do not see your Terminal in the list please check with your Stripe administrator.
Connecting
Once your Stripe Terminal is selected you will see the status updating to Connecting whilst a connection is established between your Operate Point of Sale and the Stripe Terminal. Once you have selected a reader once each time you open your Point of Sale it will automatically attempt connection to the last Stripe Terminal you connected to. You will not be required to select a location or Terminal again unless your location or Terminal needs to be changed.
Connected
Your Point of Sale is now connected to your Stripe Terminal and ready to continue to take payment.
Failed to Connect
There are a few reasons which may cause this status.
The terminal is already in use (A payment it showing for collection already on the terminal) - If the user clicks to connect to the terminal again it will take over control and clear that payment.
The Stripe Terminal and the Point of Sale are not connected to the same internet. Please ensure that both are connected to the same internet connection, it can be a different SSID but must be on the same physical network to establish connection.
There are ports that may be required to be open on your network, please refer to the below link and speak to your network administrator - https://support.stripe.com/questions/my-point-of-sale-application-cannot-connect-to-the-terminal-smart-reader-using-terminal-sdks
Not Connected
If your Stripe Terminal is offline or in use by another Point of Sale user then your status may show Not Connected. If you click to Connect Reader it will take over a Stripe Terminal that is in use and your status will updated to Connected.
Once your Stripe Terminal and Point of Sale are connected you can continue to take the payment through your Point of Sale.