Square Team

First Impression

My friend Sarah wouldn’t stop talking about this app she uses for her side hustle. She said it was the easiest way to stop texting about every little task. I was skeptical—my last attempt at using a “project app” for my neighborhood book club ended with everyone confused and me doing all the work anyway. I downloaded Square Team on my Samsung Galaxy A54 one lazy Sunday afternoon. I expected a steep learning curve. I was wrong. Within maybe ten minutes, I had a board set up for our next meeting. I added lists for “Books to Vote On,” “Snack Duty,” and “Discussion Questions.” It felt stupidly simple, like digital sticky notes that actually stayed where you put them. The clean look didn’t have a million buttons screaming at me. I sent the invite link to the group chat, half expecting complaints. By Tuesday, three people had joined and moved their names onto snack slots without me having to ask twice. That never happens.

What It Does Well

It keeps everything in one spot, and that’s its biggest win. Last month, we were arguing over email about which edition of “Klara and the Sun” to get. Links were getting buried, it was a mess. I just made a task card in Square Team, attached the Amazon link, and tagged the two people debating. They hashed it out right there in the comments on the card. Done. The argument was contained and now we have a record of the decision. I love that I can pull a file from my phone’s gallery or Google Drive and stick it right on a card. Last week, I was at the dentist waiting for my appointment and remembered I needed to share the meeting recap. I pulled out my phone, found the “April Meeting” board, and uploaded the notes I’d typed. Our treasurer, Mark, saw it instantly and added the budget update. That feeling of taking care of something in two minutes from a waiting room is everything. The app never feels slow or glitchy on my phone, and everything I do shows up immediately when I check on my laptop later.

Where It Falls Short

For all its simplicity, it can feel a bit bare bones sometimes. The chat feature is just… fine. It’s basically a text box. If someone shares a funny meme about our book, you can’t react with a laugh emoji or anything. You just have to type “haha.” It makes the chat feel a bit sterile for a casual group like ours. I also hit a wall when I tried to get a bigger picture of what we’d done. I wanted to see if we were leaning towards more sci-fi books this year, but there’s no way to look back at all our past “Book Chosen” cards in one view. You have to click into each old board, which is a pain. It’s perfect for what’s happening right now, but not great for looking back. If your team is huge or you need fancy charts, this isn’t it.

Is It Worth the Price?

It’s free. Let me say that again: it doesn’t cost anything. For my book club of eight people, that’s perfect. We get unlimited boards and storage, which is wild because I’ve seen other apps charge just for adding a tenth member. We don’t need bells and whistles, we just need a central place to stop the 50-text planning threads. For that, getting this for free feels like finding money in an old coat. I’d never ask my friends to pay for an app to organize our fun, so the fact that a solid tool like this exists at zero cost is the main reason I’ll keep using it. If they started charging, I’d have to seriously think about whether we need it enough to pitch in.

Developer & Support

The app is made by Block, the same company that does Square payments. That made me trust it a bit more from the start. But my actual experience trying to get help wasn’t great. A few weeks ago, my notifications just stopped working. I wasn’t getting alerts when someone assigned me a task. I went into the app settings, messed with my phone’s settings, nothing. I finally sent a message to their support through the app. The auto-reply said they’d get back to me soon. “Soon” turned out to be four days later. The response was a generic paragraph about checking notification permissions, which I’d already done. I wrote back explaining that, and I never heard another word. The issue just fixed itself a week later, maybe after an app update. But that whole thing left a sour taste. It works great until it doesn’t, and then you feel kind of on your own.

Privacy & Safety

I’m not a security expert, but I do care about my group’s privacy. Our book club boards are just silly stuff, but I still don’t want them public. The app lets me make each board private, so only the people I invite can see it. That’s a must-have for me. I looked at their privacy policy, and it seems standard. They collect data to make the app work, like your email and the files you upload. Since it’s from a bigger company like Block, it feels less sketchy than some random app from who-knows-where. I haven’t seen any weird ads or had any spam come from using it. For our purposes, it feels safe enough.