Glossary
What is card certificate?
A card certificate is the cryptographic credential, issued in a business's name, that signs its wallet cards and proves to Apple or Google that the card is legitimate.
Certificates are why wallet loyalty cards cannot be forged the way paper punch cards can. They are also why there is a short setup delay when a business joins a loyalty platform: the certificate has to be requested and provisioned before any card can be issued. Loonine completes this within two business days.
Why does a card need a certificate?
Because a wallet card is cryptographically signed, which is what prevents a customer from editing their own stamp count. The certificate identifies the issuing business and makes the card tamper-evident.
This is the structural reason a digital stamp card cannot be forged the way a paper punch card can. There is no artefact on the customer's side to alter.
Who owns the certificate?
It is issued in the business's name, and it is worth confirming that with any platform before signing up. A certificate held in the platform's name rather than yours is a dependency you may not want.
Provisioning typically takes one to three business days, which is the main reason a loyalty programme cannot be launched the same afternoon it is decided on.
What happens to cards if a business changes platform?
They stop working, because a card signed with one platform's certificate cannot be transferred to another. Every customer has to be re-enrolled, which is the single largest cost of switching loyalty platforms and the reason a migration should run both systems in parallel for six to eight weeks.
See also
- Wallet card: A wallet card is a digital card stored in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet (the same place people keep boarding passes, event tickets and payment cards) that can update itself remotely after it has been issued.
- Apple Wallet: Apple Wallet is the app pre-installed on every iPhone that stores payment cards, boarding passes, tickets and loyalty cards, and it can display and update loyalty cards without any additional app.
- SMS enrolment: SMS enrolment is signing a customer up to a loyalty programme by taking their phone number and texting them the card link, so the customer does nothing at the counter but receive a message.
- Double opt-in: Double opt-in is confirming a customer's agreement to be contacted a second time, through the channel itself, so that the business holds evidence the person who gave the number is the person who owns it.
Further reading
How to add a loyalty card to Apple Wallet
A step-by-step guide for customers and business owners on getting a loyalty card into Apple Wallet, and what to do when the Add button does not appear.
The best digital loyalty apps for small businesses in 2026
A comparison of the main wallet-based loyalty platforms for cafés, salons and independent retailers, including where each one is the better choice.