Abstract: Techniques described herein are directed to point-of-sale (POS) authorization and access control. A POS application operating in a first state can send a first instruction to a reader device to prepare to read payment data associated with a payment instrument and, responsive to receiving the payment data from the reader device, can process a transaction using the payment data. In a second state, the POS application can send a second instruction to the reader device to prepare to read non-payment data associated with an identification instrument of a user and, responsive to receiving the non-payment data from the reader device, can verify an identity of the user and/or grant the user permission to perform an operation. The POS application can transition between the first state and the second state based at least in part on a type of instrument to be read by the reader device.