Glossary
What is 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.
Wallet cards matter for loyalty because they solve the two problems that kill paper cards: they cannot be lost, and they can change after issue. When a business adds a stamp, the card updates on the customer's lock screen without the customer opening anything. Apple calls the format PassKit; Google's equivalent is the Google Wallet API. Both platforms' developer documentation calls it a "wallet pass", which is also the name many people search for. A loyalty platform generates the card, signs it with a certificate issued in the business's name, and pushes updates to it over the customer's lifetime.
How does a wallet card update itself?
A wallet card updates because the phone's wallet registers with the issuing server and receives a push when the content changes, so the new stamp total appears without the customer opening anything. The card is a display of a record held by the business, not the record itself.
This is the property that separates a wallet card from a screenshot or a PDF. A business can change the reward, the design or the balance at any time and every card already installed reflects it: including cards on phones that are currently switched off, which update the next time they are online.
Can a wallet card be lost?
No. A wallet card is backed up with the phone: Apple Wallet cards are included in an iCloud backup and Google Wallet cards are tied to the Google account, so both reappear on a replacement device without the customer doing anything.
A customer can delete a card deliberately, and that is the only realistic way to lose one. Even then the business still holds the underlying record, so the card can be reissued with the balance intact.
What can a wallet card not do?
A card is a card, not an application. It cannot run logic, take a payment, show a menu or hold an account history beyond what fits on the card face. A business that needs any of those needs an app, and should build one for that reason rather than for loyalty.
See also
- 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.
- Google Wallet: Google Wallet is the Android equivalent of Apple Wallet, storing payment methods, tickets and loyalty cards, and supporting the same kind of remotely updatable loyalty card.
- Stamp card: A stamp card is a loyalty mechanic that rewards a fixed number of visits, one stamp per visit (buy ten coffees, get the eleventh free), and is the digital successor to the paper punch card.
- 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.
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.
Wallet card vs loyalty app vs paper punch card
The three ways to run a loyalty programme, compared on enrolment rate, retention, cost and what happens at the counter.