Apple Wallet Loyalty Card: How Shops Issue and Update Them

Shops issue an Apple Wallet loyalty card by creating a digital pass file that customers download to their iPhone or Apple Watch. Once installed, the card lives in the Wallet app, and shops can update it any time through push notifications—no new download needed.

See also: Google Wallet Pass Creator for Loyalty Cards · Loyalty Program Without an App Download: How It Works

This article explains the full process. You will learn how to build the pass file, what details to include, and how to send it to customers after a purchase or sign-up. It also covers the update workflow: changing point balances, adding new rewards, or refreshing the card design. Finally, you will see how these updates help keep your shop visible on the lock screen and encourage repeat visits.

How Loyalty Cards Work in Apple Wallet

A loyalty card in Apple Wallet behaves like a plastic stamp card, but with less friction for both you and the customer. The customer adds the card once, then presents it at your counter. You scan it, update it, and the change appears on their phone immediately.

The card itself is a digital pass built on the same system as boarding passes and event tickets. It can show a barcode or QR code, the customer’s name, a membership number, a points balance, and any custom fields you choose. For a cafe, that might be “8 of 10 coffees.” For a salon, it might be “3 visits until a free blow-dry.” For a car wash, it might be “current wash plan: Gold.”

What the customer sees

The card sits in the customer’s Apple Wallet app alongside their bank cards and transit passes. They do not need to open your app or remember a login. On newer iPhones, they can double-click the side button to bring up Wallet even when the phone is locked. The card also appears on their Apple Watch if they wear one.

When you update the card, the change is pushed to their device. A customer who buys a coffee sees their stamp count move from 7 to 8 within a second or two. If you issue a reward, the card can change colour, show a new banner, or display “Free coffee available.” That visual change is often what keeps people coming back.

What you need to issue and update cards

You need three things: a way to create the pass file, a way to sign it, and a way to update it after it is installed.

The pass file uses the .pkpass format. You do not need to write code to create one. You upload your logo, choose your colours, set your fields, and download a signed .pkpass file. You then share that file with customers through a link, a QR code on your counter, or an email after their first visit.

Updating a card is the part shop owners often overlook. A static pass shows a barcode but never changes. A dynamic pass connects to a small server or a third-party service that stores each customer’s current balance. When you scan the barcode at your till, your point-of-sale system or a staff-facing web page sends an update request. The service then pushes the new balance to the customer’s phone.

How scanning works in practice

Most shops use one of two methods. The first is a dedicated scanner app on a staff iPad or phone. The app reads the customer’s Apple Wallet barcode, shows their name and current balance, and lets the staff member add a stamp or redeem a reward with one tap. The second is integration with your existing POS. If your POS provider supports Apple Wallet passes, the update happens automatically when the customer’s loyalty account is linked at checkout.

A typical cafe flow looks like this. The customer orders a flat white. You ask, “Do you have our loyalty card?” They hold up their phone. You scan the barcode. Your screen shows “Sarah M. — 6 stamps.” You tap “Add stamp.” The customer’s phone buzzes and shows 7 stamps. The whole exchange takes under five seconds.

What to watch for

The barcode on an Apple Wallet pass is not the same as a standard EAN or UPC product barcode. Make sure your scanner is set to read QR codes or the specific barcode format your pass uses. Most modern 2D scanners handle this without issue, but a cheap laser scanner built only for product barcodes will not work.

Also decide early whether you want a simple stamp model or a points model. Stamp cards are easier to explain. Points cards are more flexible for discounts and tiered rewards. Whichever you choose, keep the visible fields short. A cluttered pass with eight data points confuses staff and customers alike. Show the balance, the reward threshold, and nothing else unless it serves a clear purpose.

Creating a Loyalty Pass for Your Store

A loyalty pass lives inside the customer’s Apple Wallet, right next to their payment cards and boarding passes. That placement matters. When a customer pays with Apple Pay, the wallet is already open, so your loyalty card is one tap away.

Before you design anything, decide what the pass should do. Most shops use one of three models. A stamp card works well for cafes and car washes: buy nine coffees, get the tenth free. A points card suits restaurants and salons where the average spend varies: earn points per dollar or per visit. A simple membership card fits gyms and small retail stores: show the pass to get a member price or early access to sales.

Your pass needs a clear visual identity. Use your logo, your brand colour, and the shop name exactly as customers see it on your storefront or receipts. Avoid clutter. The front of the pass should show the customer’s name, the current balance or stamp count, and one short instruction such as “Show at the till” or “Tap to scan”.

The back of the pass is where practical details belong. Add your opening hours, phone number, website, and a link to your location in Maps. If you run a salon, include a note about booking changes. If you run a restaurant, mention that the pass is not valid with other offers. Keep the text short. Customers read the back of a pass only when they need something specific.

You do not need to build the pass file by hand. A pkpass loyalty file is a small package that contains the pass layout, your branding, and the customer data. Several pass platforms generate this file for you after you upload your logo and fill in a form. Some point-of-sale systems also create passes directly from the customer record. Choose whichever route keeps the pass updated automatically when a purchase happens.

The pass must update after every transaction. If a customer buys a coffee and the stamp count stays the same, they will stop using the pass. The update usually happens in one of two ways. Either the cashier scans a barcode on the pass at the till, or the customer taps the pass on a reader. After the transaction, the system pushes the new balance to the wallet. The customer sees the change on the lock screen as a notification.

Test the full loop before you launch. Create a test pass on your own phone. Make a purchase. Check that the stamp or point appears. Then check what happens when the customer reaches the reward threshold. Does the free item apply automatically? Does the pass reset to zero? A broken reward is worse than no reward, because it creates a complaint at the counter.

Finally, train your staff. Every person at the till should know how to scan the pass, how to add a customer manually if the scan fails, and what to say when a customer asks how the loyalty program works. A well-built pass fails quietly if the staff do not use it.

Designing the Card Front and Back

A loyalty card in Apple Wallet has two sides: the front, which customers see first when they open the pass, and the back, which holds extra details and terms. Both sides need to work together, but they serve different jobs.

The front is the quick-glance side. When a customer holds their phone up at your counter, the staff member should see the customer’s name, the current points or stamps, and a scannable barcode or QR code without scrolling. Keep the front clean. A cafe might show a simple logo at the top, the customer’s first name, and a large points counter in the middle. The barcode sits at the bottom. Do not crowd the front with your full address, opening hours, or a long list of rules. Those belong on the back.

Choose colours that match your shop’s existing branding, but check the contrast. A dark green background with white text works well for a salon. A pale pink background with thin grey text will be hard to read under bright counter lights. Test the design on an actual phone screen, not just on a desktop monitor. If your staff cannot read the customer’s name from across the counter, the text is too small or the contrast is too low.

The barcode format matters more than the design around it. Apple Wallet supports several barcode types, including Code 128, QR, PDF417, and Aztec. Most point-of-sale scanners read Code 128 or QR without trouble. If you already use a barcode scanner at the till, match the loyalty card barcode format to what that scanner already reads for gift cards or product codes. A restaurant that uses QR codes for menu ordering can use a QR code on the loyalty pass as well. A car wash with older laser scanners should stick to Code 128.

The back of the card is where you put the details that answer questions before customers ask them. For a gym, the back might list how points are earned, when they expire, and what to do if the app does not update. For a salon, the back could show the phone number for booking and a short note that points cannot be combined with other offers. Keep the back text short. Three to five bullet points are enough. Nobody reads a wall of text on a phone screen.

Apple Wallet also lets you add relevant locations and a link to your website or booking page. A car wash can add its site location so the pass appears on the lock screen when a customer drives near. A cafe can add a link to its online ordering page. Use these fields only if they help the customer take the next step. A dead link or a wrong map pin is worse than no link at all.

One common mistake is putting the same information on both sides. The front should answer “who is this customer and how many points do they have.” The back should answer “what are the rules and how do I contact the shop.” If you find yourself repeating the shop name, logo, and phone number on both sides, cut the duplicates from the front.

Finally, design for the smallest common screen. Many customers still use older iPhones with smaller displays. A layout that looks spacious on a large phone may clip the barcode or hide the points counter on a smaller one. Leave breathing room around the barcode and keep the main points number in the upper half of the card.

Adding Barcodes and QR Codes

A loyalty card in Apple Wallet needs a scannable code to work at the counter. Most point-of-sale scanners read barcodes, while staff with phones or tablets can scan QR codes using the camera. The code type you choose depends on the hardware you already have.

If your till has a laser scanner, use a barcode format it supports. Common choices are Code 128, EAN-13, or Code 39. Code 128 handles letters and numbers and stays compact, which works well for a customer ID like "CUST-004217". EAN-13 is strictly numeric and often used if you want the loyalty card to look like a retail product barcode. Check your scanner manual or ask your POS provider which symbologies are enabled. A scanner set to read only EAN-13 will ignore a Code 128 pass, and the customer will watch you type their number by hand.

For cafes, salons, and small restaurants without a fixed scanner, a QR code is often the better route. Staff can scan it with the camera on an iPhone or Android device, or with the POS app if it has a built-in scanner. A QR code can also carry more than a customer ID. For example, a salon pass could encode a URL like https://yoursalon.example/loyalty/checkin?id=004217. When staff scan it, the POS opens the customer's profile and logs the visit. A car wash with a gate or terminal can use the same approach: the QR code triggers the wash package lookup without staff typing anything.

Keep the code area large enough to scan reliably. A barcode should be at least 40 mm wide on the phone screen. A QR code should be at least 20 mm square. Do not place the code over a busy background image. A white or very light block behind the code prevents scanner errors in bright shop lighting or direct sun at an outdoor car wash queue.

Test before you issue passes to real customers. Print a test pass or view it on two different phone models. Scan it with your oldest scanner, your newest scanner, and one staff phone. If any of them fails, adjust the code size or switch format. A gym with a self-check-in kiosk should test the pass at the kiosk camera height, not just at a desk.

The code value must be stable for each customer. Do not regenerate it on every pass update. If a customer's loyalty ID changes, their old pass stops matching your database. Use the same customer ID in the pass, your POS, and your email receipts. When you update a pass with new points or a new tier, keep the barcode or QR payload identical. Only the visual design and the text fields should change.

For a salon or restaurant that wants faster service, place the code on the front of the pass near the top. Staff should not have to scroll. Apple Wallet shows the front of the pass first, so the code should be visible without extra taps. If your pass has a strip image or logo, keep it small and push the code into the main body area.

Some POS systems generate the code for you when you create a customer record. Others expect you to supply the code in the pkpass file. If you build the pass yourself, encode the customer ID as a string, not a number, to avoid leading zeros being dropped. A customer ID of "000482" must scan as six digits, not "482". This matters when your POS matches the scanned value against a text field in the customer database.

Distributing Passes to Customers

Getting the pass into a customer’s phone is the moment your loyalty program becomes real. The goal is to make it feel like a small upgrade to their visit, not an extra chore. Most shops succeed by combining a low-effort digital method with a simple in-person backup.

Use a QR code at the counter

Print a QR code and place it where customers already pause: next to the till, on the menu board, or taped to the card reader. The code should link directly to the .pkpass file or to a short sign-up page that generates the pass. A cafe can put the code on the pickup counter so customers scan while waiting for a flat white. A salon can place it on the mirror at reception. The key is to keep the scan to install flow under ten seconds. If the customer has to type a name, email, and phone number before seeing the pass, many will abandon it.

Label the code clearly. “Tap to add your loyalty card to Apple Wallet” works better than a bare QR square. Staff should also know what happens after the scan. If the pass opens in Safari first, the customer may need to tap “Add” in the top right corner. Train one or two team members to walk a confused customer through it in under a minute.

Send passes by text or email after purchase

A restaurant or car wash can collect a mobile number at payment and send the pass link immediately. The message should be short: “Here’s your loyalty card for [shop name]. Tap the link, then tap Add to Apple Wallet.” This works well for businesses where customers often book or pay online first. A gym can include the pass link in the welcome email after a new member signs up. A car wash can text the pass after a customer pays for a full detail, while they are still on site and likely to return.

Sending by text tends to get faster adoption than email because the phone is already in the customer’s hand. If you use email, include a clear button labelled “Add to Apple Wallet” rather than a long URL.

Use NFC tags for tap-to-add

For shops that want the smoothest in-person flow, an NFC tag near the till can trigger the pass installation when a customer taps their iPhone. This removes the camera step entirely. Place the tag on the counter or embed it in a small stand. A cafe can put one next to the cake display; a salon can attach one to the appointment clipboard. The tag must be programmed with the pass URL, and staff should test it on both newer and older iPhones before relying on it.

Keep a manual fallback

Not every customer uses Apple Wallet, and some will not want to install anything during a busy lunch rush. Have a simple alternative: a paper stamp card, a phone number lookup at the till, or a basic points system in your POS. The Apple Wallet pass should be the better option, not the only option. A restaurant might offer the pass for automatic points tracking while still allowing a customer to give their name at the counter.

Train staff on the one-line pitch

The distribution method matters less than how staff introduce it. A short, specific line works best: “We have a loyalty card you can add to Apple Wallet — scan this and you’ll get points on today’s order.” Avoid vague phrasing like “Do you want to join our rewards program?” Tie the pass to an immediate benefit, such as points on the current purchase or a free item after the first visit. Staff should offer it at payment, not during a busy ordering queue when customers feel rushed.

Test every distribution channel yourself before launch. Scan the QR code, tap the NFC tag, open the text link, and check the pass installs correctly on an iPhone running the latest iOS. A broken link at the counter turns a simple loyalty offer into a frustrating moment.

Updating Passes Without Reissuing

A customer’s Apple Wallet loyalty card is not a static image. It is a live file that can pull fresh information from your server. This means you do not need to ask customers to delete an old pass and download a new one every time their points balance changes or your opening hours shift. You push an update, and the pass on their phone changes within seconds or minutes.

The most common update is the loyalty points balance. A cafe owner using a pass management platform can change the balance field in the backend after each purchase. The customer taps the pass, sees the new number, and the barcode or QR code refreshes if your system encodes the balance into it. For a car wash that offers a free wash after eight visits, the pass can show a progress bar that moves from seven to eight without any action from the customer.

Stamps and punch-style rewards work the same way. A salon running a “buy five haircuts, get the sixth free” program updates the stamp count after each appointment. The pass displays the correct number of filled circles. If the salon owner forgets to update the pass at the till, the customer will see an outdated count next time they open Apple Wallet. The fix is to make the update part of the checkout routine, not an afterthought.

You can also update non-reward content. A restaurant that changes its seasonal menu can push new text to the back of the pass. A gym that moves its Saturday class from 9:00 to 9:30 updates the relevant field. Customers do not need to download anything. The next time their phone checks for changes, the pass corrects itself. Apple Wallet checks for updates when the pass is opened, when the phone is unlocked, and periodically in the background.

Push notifications are tied to these updates. If you change a pass and mark the change as important, the customer’s lock screen can show a message such as “You earned a free coffee” or “Your loyalty balance is now 120 points.” Use this sparingly. A notification for every single point is annoying. Reserve it for meaningful milestones: a reward earned, a tier upgrade, or an expiry warning.

The technical side matters less than the workflow. Most small shops use a pass management service that handles the Apple push notification service for you. You log in, edit a field, and save. The service sends the update. If you built your own pkpass loyalty system, you need a server endpoint that Apple can reach and a registered web service URL in the pass. That is more work, but it gives you full control.

A common mistake is updating the pass in your point-of-sale system but not in the pass platform. The two must talk to each other. Many POS systems for cafes and salons have built-in integrations with pass providers. If yours does not, you may need a middleware tool or a manual export. Manual work is fine for a shop with twenty loyal customers. It becomes a burden at two hundred.

Test updates before relying on them. Issue a test pass to your own phone, change a field in the backend, and confirm the change appears within a minute. Then test a push notification. If either fails, contact your pass provider before customers notice. A loyalty card that shows the wrong balance is worse than no loyalty card at all.

Location Based Pass Alerts

A loyalty card sitting in Apple Wallet can do something a plastic card or a phone number lookup cannot: it can appear on the lock screen when a customer walks near your shop. Apple calls these location-based alerts. For a shop owner, this turns the pass from a passive reward tracker into a small, automatic nudge at exactly the right moment.

The mechanics are simple. When you create an Apple Wallet loyalty card, you can attach up to ten locations to the pass. Each location is defined by latitude, longitude and a radius. If a customer with your pass walks into that radius, iOS may show the pass on their lock screen. The customer does not need to open the app, search for the card or remember they have it. The phone does the work.

What this looks like in practice

A cafe near a train station sets a 150-metre radius around its front door. A regular customer who has the loyalty card in Apple Wallet gets off the train, walks towards the cafe and sees the card slide onto the lock screen with their current points balance. They tap it, see they are one stamp away from a free coffee, and walk in.

A salon sets a tighter radius, around 50 metres, because it sits on a busy high street. A client walking past on the other side of the road sees the loyalty card appear with a note such as “2 visits until your free blow-dry.” That reminder is often enough to make them cross the street and book the next appointment on the spot.

A car wash uses a wider radius, around 300 metres, because customers approach by car. The alert appears while the driver is still deciding between two car washes on the same road. Seeing their own loyalty balance at your business can tip the choice in your favour.

How to set the radius correctly

The radius is not a guarantee that the alert fires the moment someone crosses the line. iOS decides when to show the pass based on signal strength, movement and other factors. That means a tight radius of 20 metres can be unreliable indoors, especially in a shopping centre with thick walls and weak GPS. A radius of 100 to 200 metres usually works better for a shop on a street or in a strip mall. For a gym inside a larger building, 50 to 100 metres is often enough to catch members in the car park or lobby without firing constantly for people in neighbouring units.

Think about the customer journey, not just the front door. A restaurant on a second floor above a shop should set the location at the street entrance, not the dining room. A salon in a suburban plaza should centre the radius on the car park entrance, because that is where the customer makes the decision to walk in or drive past.

What the alert can and cannot do

The lock screen alert shows the pass design, the loyalty card name and whatever relevant information is on the front of the pass. You cannot push a custom message that changes per visit. You cannot send a notification that says “20% off today only.” The alert is tied to the pass itself, not to a marketing campaign. That means the front of the pass should carry the most useful default information: the customer’s name, current balance, and a short line such as “Show this card to collect stamps.”

Location alerts also respect the customer’s privacy settings. If someone has disabled location services for Wallet or for your pass, nothing appears. There is no workaround, and there should not be. The feature works best for customers who already visit regularly and want the reminder.

A practical setup checklist

• Add one location per shop branch, not one for the whole chain.
• Use the street or car park entrance as the centre point.
• Start with a 100-metre radius and adjust after a week of customer feedback.
• Keep the front of the pass clean: shop name, balance, and one short instruction.
• Test the pass yourself with location services enabled before rolling it out to customers.

Location-based alerts do not replace your other marketing. They reinforce it. The customer already chose to add your card to Apple Wallet. The alert simply reminds them you are nearby at the moment they are most likely to walk in.

Tracking Pass Usage and Engagement

You can see whether your Apple Wallet loyalty program is working by checking the data that comes back from each pass. When a customer taps their card at the till, scans it at a self-service kiosk, or opens it to read a push notification, that action can be logged. The key is to connect those logs to your point of sale or your pass management system, not to guess from memory.

Start with the basics. Most pass platforms record when a pass is installed, when it is opened, and when it is redeemed. For a cafe, this might mean seeing that a customer added the card on a Tuesday, opened it three times over the next two weeks, and then used it for a free coffee on the third visit. For a salon, you might notice that clients who have the pass open it the day before a booking, often to check their points balance or confirm the address. That pattern tells you the pass is part of their pre-visit routine.

Redemption data is the most direct signal. If you run a car wash with a “buy five washes, get the sixth free” stamp system, each scan at the wash bay should reduce the remaining count on the customer’s Apple Wallet loyalty card. A restaurant could use the same logic for a “visit ten times, get a free starter” offer. If the gap between first stamp and final reward is very long, the incentive may be too weak or the reward too small.

Push notification open rates matter too. When you send a message through the pass — for example, a gym telling members that a new class schedule is live, or a shop announcing a double-points weekend — the system can show how many people opened the notification and how many then opened the pass itself. Compare that to the number of redemptions in the following days. A high open rate with low redemption suggests the message got attention but the offer was not compelling enough to change behaviour.

Look for drop-off points. If many customers install the pass but never use it, the onboarding step may be unclear. A cafe might find that staff mention the loyalty card verbally but do not show customers how to add it to Apple Wallet. A salon could discover that clients receive an email with an “Add to Apple Wallet” button, but the button is below the fold on mobile. Fix the friction, then watch whether install-to-first-use time shortens.

Segment your data by customer type where possible. Regulars who visit weekly should show a different engagement pattern from occasional visitors. A car wash might see that weekly customers check their pass balance before each visit, while monthly customers only open the pass when they receive a notification. Use that difference to decide who gets what message. Weekly customers may not need reminders; monthly customers may respond better to a gentle nudge with a small bonus.

Finally, set a simple weekly review routine. Pick three numbers: new installs, active passes opened in the last seven days, and redemptions. Write them down. Over a month, you will see whether your Apple Wallet loyalty program is building repeat visits or just sitting on customers’ phones unused.

Common Mistakes With Loyalty Passes

Many shops treat an apple wallet loyalty card as a one-time setup. They create the pass, send it to a few customers, and assume the system runs itself. That approach leads to abandoned passes, confused staff, and customers who never return. The mistakes below show up repeatedly in cafes, salons, car washes, and small retail stores.

Mistake 1: Sending a static pass with no update plan

A coffee shop issues an apple wallet loyalty card with a simple rule: buy nine drinks, get the tenth free. The pass works for the first month. Then the shop changes the reward to a free pastry with any drink. The old pass still says “10th drink free.” Customers show a pass that promises something the shop no longer offers. Staff either honour it reluctantly or argue at the till. Either way, trust drops.

The fix is to plan updates before you launch. Decide who updates the pass, how often, and what triggers a change. A salon might update its pass every season when services or prices change. A car wash might update after a price rise or a new wash package. If you cannot commit to updates, keep the pass simple and permanent.

Mistake 2: Using one pass design for every customer

A gym issues the same apple wallet loyalty card to all members. The pass shows a generic logo and a points balance. But the gym has three membership tiers: basic, off-peak, and premium. A premium member opens the pass and sees no mention of towel service, guest passes, or priority booking. The pass feels disconnected from what they paid for.

Shops often assume one pass fits all because it is easier to manage. The result is a loyalty card that ignores the customer’s actual relationship with the business. A restaurant could issue different passes for lunch regulars and dinner regulars. A salon could issue one pass for colour clients and another for cut-only clients. Each pass should show the rewards relevant to that group.

Mistake 3: Hiding the pass behind a QR code with no context

A bakery prints a small QR code on the receipt and next to the till. The sign says “Scan for loyalty.” Customers scan it, see an apple wallet pass appear, and then hesitate. They do not know what the pass does, how points are earned, or what the reward is. Many close the screen and never add the pass.

The fix is to explain the benefit before asking for the tap. A short line on the sign such as “Add this card to Apple Wallet. Buy five loaves, get the sixth free” works better than a bare QR code. Staff should also say one sentence when handing over the receipt: “That code adds your loyalty card to Apple Wallet. It tracks your stamps automatically.” Context turns a confusing prompt into a simple action.

Mistake 4: Forgetting to update the pass after a customer redeems

A car wash uses an apple wallet loyalty program where customers earn a stamp per wash. After five washes, the sixth is free. The customer gets the free wash, but the pass still shows five stamps. The next visit, the customer expects another free wash. Staff check the till system and see the redemption, but the pass tells a different story.

The pass and the point-of-sale system must stay in sync. If your till records redemptions but the pass does not update, the customer sees stale information. That creates friction at the counter. Test the redemption flow yourself before launch. Walk through a full cycle: earn, redeem, update, and check the pass on a real phone.

Mistake 5: Making the pass too hard to find

A restaurant adds an apple wallet loyalty card link to the footer of its website and a small icon on the booking confirmation email. Most customers never see either. The pass exists, but nobody knows about it. Staff rarely mention it because they are busy. The loyalty program quietly fails.

The pass needs a visible home. Put the sign-up link on the printed receipt, the table tent, the front door, and the staff script. A cafe can add a line to the bottom of every receipt: “Add your loyalty card to Apple Wallet and get a free coffee after six visits.” A salon can mention it during checkout: “I’ve sent your loyalty pass to your phone. It updates after each visit.” Visibility beats cleverness.

Mistake 6: Ignoring expired or outdated passes

A shop changes its name, moves location, or switches loyalty providers. Old apple wallet passes still sit on customers’ phones. They show the old logo, old address, or old reward terms. When the customer opens the pass months later, it points to a business that no longer exists in that form.

Before you retire a pass, send a final update. Change the message to say the program has moved, include the new link, or thank the customer and direct them to the new pass. If your pass platform cannot push a final update, plan the shutdown carefully. A dead pass on a customer’s phone is worse than no pass at all.

How PassHive handles this

PassHive is built by the same team that publishes this site, so this section is deliberately direct about what the tool does and does not do. The goal is to let a shop issue an Apple Wallet loyalty card without paying per customer or wrestling with a complicated setup.

You design the card once. The card carries your shop’s name, colours and logo, and you preview it on an iPhone and an Android phone before paying anything. You can start designing your card free and only pay when you decide to go live.

How cards are issued

A customer joins by scanning a QR code at the counter or opening a link you send them. There is no app to download. The card is saved straight into Apple Wallet on an iPhone or Google Wallet on an Android phone.

PassHive supports two card types:

• A stamp or visit card, such as “buy 9, get the 10th free.”
• A points card, where each visit or purchase adds points the customer can later redeem.

When you add a stamp or points at the till, the card on the customer’s phone updates itself. You do not need to print a new card, and the customer does not need to open an app to refresh anything.

Updating cards after issue

The API exists for developers and agencies who want to issue and update cards from their own POS, website or app. The API can create a card, add a stamp, add points and send a message. Documentation is at passhive.app/docs.

Push notifications can be sent to saved cards. A cafe might send “your reward is ready” or a short offer. Google limits roughly three messages per card per day, so this is best used sparingly.

Location-based reminders can also be set up. Apple supports up to 10 locations per card with a radius of about 200 metres, while Google uses the merchant locations tied to the business. These are reminders only: the phone decides when to show them. A salon near a busy street might set a reminder for the block around the shop, but there is no guarantee every passer-by sees it.

What PassHive is not

PassHive is not a POS, not an e-commerce plugin, and it has no named integrations with Shopify, Square, Toast or similar systems. If you need card updates to happen automatically from your existing checkout, a developer can use the API, but PassHive does not claim those integrations out of the box.

The feature set is narrow on purpose: issue a branded card, update it, message customers, and set location reminders.

Pricing compared with per-customer tools

|---|---| | Up to 100 | $10 | | Up to 275 | $25 | | Up to 600 | $50 | | Up to 1,250 | $100 |

You can turn any branch off at any time, and its cards stop at once.

Compare this with PassKit, which starts at $39.50 per month and rises to $249.50 per month. PassKit includes 250 passes, then charges per pass after that. A cafe with 1,000 customers would pay roughly $73 per month on PassKit, while the same cafe on PassHive pays $10 per month. A shop with 10,000 customers would pay roughly $341 per month on PassKit, still $10 on PassHive. Those PassKit figures come from PassKit’s published pricing pages.

The difference is simple: PassHive does not charge more as your customer list grows.

PassHive is a flat monthly plan for the whole business, not a fee per branch. The plan sets the maximum number of active branches you can run: $10 a month for up to 100 branches, $25 for up to 275, $50 for up to 600 and $100 for up to 1,250. Yearly billing gives two months free ($100, $250, $500 or $1,000 a year). A cafe with one branch pays $10 a month in total, whatever the number of cards or customers. That is what "pay for your branches, not your customers" means: the plan size follows how many branches you run, never how many people save your card.