Loyalty card in Apple Wallet and Google Wallet: how to create one

Plastic cards are disappearing from wallets, while the phone is always at hand. So the loyalty card is moving to where boarding passes, concert tickets and bank cards already live: Apple Wallet and Google Wallet.

This guide is for businesses such as cafés, bakeries, hairdressers and shops that want to give their customers a card of their own. You’ll learn what a wallet pass actually is, why customers accept it more readily than an app, how to create an Apple Wallet card and a Google Wallet card, and what matters for privacy.

What is a loyalty card in the wallet?

A wallet loyalty card is a small digital card stored in the phone’s wallet app. Apple calls it a “pass”, Google talks about “loyalty cards”. To the customer it looks like a card with your logo, your colours and a QR code.

Technically a wallet pass is not an app but a bundle of text, images and a code that Apple or Google displays. It doesn’t run in the background and can’t read any other data on the phone. The issuer, meaning your business or your provider, can still change the card later, for example when a stamp is added. That makes it a good fit for stamp cards, rewards cards and membership cards.

The developer documentation is public: Apple describes wallet passes in its Wallet Passes documentation, Google in the Google Wallet API documentation.

Why customers accept a wallet card more readily than an app

For the customer a wallet card is the smallest possible step: no download, no account, no password. With an app, each of those steps is a point where people give up.

• Already installed: Apple Wallet is on every iPhone, Google Wallet is on many Android phones and otherwise in the Play Store.
• No account: Customers don’t need to remember yet another password.
• No storage, no updates: The card is tiny and updates itself.
• Always at hand: The wallet opens quickly, and the card sits next to cards people already use.
• Easy to get rid of: Anyone who loses interest deletes the card with two taps. That makes it easier to add it in the first place.

For you, the wallet card has another advantage over paper and over a loyalty scheme in your till: it sits visibly on the customer’s phone and can speak up, for example when a reward is waiting. A till-based programme is only seen when the customer asks about it.

Creating an Apple Wallet card: the two routes

You can build a wallet card yourself or use a service. Building it yourself mostly pays off for companies with their own development team; for a single business a service is usually the realistic route.

Route 1: Build it yourself

For Apple Wallet you need a membership in the Apple Developer Program, which Apple charges for every year. With it you create a so-called Pass Type ID and a certificate that signs every card.

1. Create a Pass Type ID and a certificate in your Apple developer account.
2. Build the card as a package: a description file with texts and colours, images such as the logo and stamp strip, a checksum list and a signature.
3. Run your own server where phones register to receive changes.
4. With every new stamp, send a push notification through Apple’s service so the phone fetches the new version of the card.

For Google Wallet you need an issuer account in the Google Pay & Wallet Console and a service account in Google Cloud. You create a card class that describes the design and a separate card object for each customer. The card is saved through a signed “Save to Google Wallet” link. Before real customers can use the card, Google approves the issuer account for publishing.

Route 2: Use a service

A service takes care of certificates, servers and the connection to Apple and Google. You design the card in an editor and get a QR code customers use to save it. Stempelkarl is such a service, focused on stamp cards: you pick colours, a logo, a stamp icon or your logo as the stamp, the number of stamps and the reward, and the card appears on iPhone and Android.

Whichever route you take, test the card on an iPhone and on an Android phone before offering it at the counter. Colours, logo and texts look slightly different on each platform.

What customers see on their wallet loyalty card

Customers see the card with logo, name and progress on the front and the details on the back. On top of that come lock-screen notifications when something changes.

• Front: logo, card name, stamps or perk, the reward and a QR code to scan.
• Back: terms, contact details, the business’s latest message and, with reputable providers, a link to unsubscribe from messages.
• Updates: When a stamp is added, the card changes by itself. On the iPhone a notification appears on the lock screen.
• Messages: If the customer agreed, the business can send short messages that show up as a notification and stay on the card.
• Location hint: Near a saved shop location the card can appear on the lock screen. Whether and when is up to the phone.

With Stempelkarl the card also speaks up when a reward has been unlocked and, if you switch them on, with automations such as “almost there”, “reward expiring” or a birthday greeting. At most one promotional message per customer goes out in 24 hours, and only to customers who consented. How to write such messages so they don’t annoy anyone is covered in the guide to push messages and the GDPR.

iPhone and Android: the differences

For the customer, the card feels similar on both systems. Under the hood, though, Apple and Google work differently, and you notice that in a few places.

On the iPhone, customers can switch off the location hint for each card. The limit of ten places is stated by Apple in its pass documentation and by Google in its description of merchant locations. Businesses with more branches pick the closest ones for each customer.

Privacy: what does the business learn about the customer?

The business only learns what the customer enters when adding the card, plus the visits where a stamp is given. The card itself can’t read anything on the phone, neither contacts nor photos nor location.

• Voluntary details: Good providers ask only for what’s needed, often just a first name. Everything else should be optional.
• Separate consent: Messages only if the customer explicitly agreed, not hidden in the terms.
• Easy unsubscribe: One tap on the back of the card should be enough.
• Location stays with the customer: The phone or wallet compares the saved places; the business can’t see where anyone is.
• Deleting the card: Once the customer deletes the card from the wallet, no more messages reach them through it.

Stempelkarl only requires a first name. Whether last name, email and postcode are asked for is up to the business; the birthday (day and month only) is optional and only stored together with consent to messages. Messages only go to customers who consented, unsubscribing takes one tap, and the servers are in Frankfurt am Main. With these details you get to know your regulars instead of guessing. What such a programme can do overall is covered in the guide to the rewards program for small businesses.

Your own wallet loyalty card in five steps

If you go with a service, the path to your first card is short:

1. Set the reward and the number of stamps, as described in the guide to the digital stamp card.
2. Design the card with your logo, colours and a clear reward text.
3. Decide how stamping works at the counter: a QR scan with your phone or an NFC stamper.
4. Put a stand with a QR code where everyone sees it at the till and offer the card actively.
5. Add the card to your own phone and run through everything once before the first customers arrive.

You can try this with Stempelkarl for free for 30 days: start your trial. The terms after that are in the pricing section.