Digital Membership Card in Apple and Google Wallet

A digital membership card is a version of your loyalty or membership card stored on a customer’s phone, inside Apple Wallet or Google Wallet. It works like a plastic card but removes the need to carry one, and it can be updated remotely when details change.

See also: Google Wallet Loyalty Card: How Shops Issue Android Cards · Location-Based Lock-Screen Reminders for Wallet Cards

This article explains how to create and manage these cards for your business. You will learn the setup steps for both wallet platforms, the practical benefits for shops, salons, and cafes, and which apps make distribution simple. You will also see how to send cards by email or SMS, update them after they are saved, and handle common issues such as lost phones or expired memberships.

Core Benefits of Wallet Based Cards

A digital membership card sits in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet, right next to payment cards and transit passes. For a shop owner, that placement changes how customers find and use the card. It stops being another app to download or another email to search for. It becomes part of the phone’s everyday toolkit.

Faster check-in at the counter

Staff no longer wait while a customer scrolls through photos, opens an old email, or digs through a handbag for a plastic card. The customer double-clicks the side button on an iPhone or opens Google Wallet on Android, taps the membership card, and holds it to the scanner or shows the barcode. In a busy cafe at 8:15 am, that saved time per customer reduces the queue. A barista can scan a wallet card in a second or two, apply the loyalty stamp, and move to the next order.

For a car wash with a drive-through lane, the benefit is even sharper. The driver does not need to hand over a wet, faded paper card. The phone stays in the mount, the wallet card opens with one tap, and the attendant scans it through the window. Fewer dropped cards, fewer manual lookups by surname or phone number.

Always-current details without reprinting

Plastic cards and paper stamp cards go out of date. A salon changes its phone number, a gym updates its class schedule, a restaurant moves to a new booking link. With printed cards, that means waste and cost. With a digital membership card, the owner updates the information in the membership platform, and every customer’s wallet card refreshes automatically.

A gym can change the QR code that opens the entry gate without issuing new fobs. A salon can update the loyalty reward from “10th visit free” to “birthday month discount” and push the change to all members at once. No reprint run, no postage, no front-desk explanation repeated fifty times a day.

Higher visibility than an app icon

Most small businesses do not need a standalone membership app. Customers download an app, use it once, then bury it in a folder or delete it. A wallet card avoids that problem. It appears when the customer opens Apple Wallet or Google Wallet to pay, to board a bus, or to show a concert ticket. That repeated exposure keeps the brand in view without sending push notifications or marketing emails.

A restaurant owner can add a wallet card with a simple loyalty counter and a link to the booking page. When a diner opens the wallet to pay for dinner, the card is right there. Next time they plan a meal, the booking link is one tap away. The card does the quiet work of staying visible.

Lower cost and less waste

Plastic card production, lamination, and replacement all cost money. A cafe that issues five hundred plastic loyalty cards a year pays for design, printing, and shipping. Many of those cards end up lost or thrown away. A digital membership card costs a fraction to issue and nothing to replace. When a customer gets a new phone, the card restores from their Apple or Google account. When a card design changes, the update is instant.

For a salon, that means the front desk stops managing a drawer of half-stamped cards and starts scanning phones. For a gym, it means fewer fobs to replace and fewer membership disputes about lost cards. The practical result is less admin time and fewer materials, without reducing the customer’s sense of belonging.

Works with existing POS and loyalty systems

A wallet-based card does not require ripping out the current till system. Many membership platforms generate a barcode or QR code that existing scanners can read. A cafe using a simple barcode scanner for loyalty stamps can switch to wallet cards without changing hardware. A car wash using a number plate lookup can add a wallet card as a secondary identifier. The wallet card is a front-end convenience, not a replacement for the back-end database.

This flexibility matters for small teams. The owner can start with a basic digital card, test it with regular customers, and add features later. No large upfront investment, no staff retraining beyond “scan the phone like you scan the card.”

How Apple Wallet Handles Membership

Apple Wallet stores a digital membership card as a pass that lives on the customer’s iPhone or Apple Watch. Once added, the card appears alongside debit cards, boarding passes, event tickets and loyalty cards. The customer does not need to open a separate membership card app to find it. They double-click the side button, tap the back of the phone on a reader, or open Wallet and select the card.

For a cafe, this changes the counter routine. A regular customer orders a flat white, holds their phone near the scanner, and the barista sees the member name, points balance or visit count on the point-of-sale screen. No plastic card to swipe, no phone number to type, no searching through a wallet full of crumpled loyalty cards. The same applies at a car wash. The customer pulls up to the pay terminal, presents the phone, and the system logs the wash against their prepaid plan or loyalty tier.

Apple Wallet supports location-based notifications. A salon can set the pass to appear on the lock screen when the customer walks within a set distance of the shop. This works well for appointment-based businesses. The client arrives for a haircut, and the membership card is already waiting on the screen without them opening anything. A gym can use the same feature so members tap in faster at the front desk during busy early-morning hours.

The pass itself can update after each visit. A restaurant that runs a “buy nine main courses, get the tenth free” scheme can push a new balance to the card after the customer pays. The next time the customer opens Wallet, the updated stamp count is there. This removes the need for paper stamp cards or staff manually marking loyalty progress.

Apple Wallet also handles expiry and renewal. A car wash that sells an annual unlimited plan can set the pass to show “Expires 31 March” in small text under the card. When the customer renews, the pass updates automatically. If a membership lapses, the card can move to the expired section of Wallet or display a clear “Renew” message. The customer sees the status without calling the shop or checking email.

One practical point for shop owners: Apple Wallet does not require customers to download your app. A customer can add a digital membership card directly from a link in an email, a QR code at the till, or a text message after signing up. This matters for small businesses that do not want to build and maintain a full membership card app. The pass is delivered through a service that supports Apple’s pass format, and the customer simply taps “Add to Apple Wallet”.

Staff training is minimal. The card is scanned like any other barcode or NFC pass. If your point-of-sale system already reads standard barcodes, an Apple Wallet membership pass will usually scan without extra hardware. For NFC-only passes, you need a reader that supports Apple’s Value Added Services protocol, which many modern payment terminals include.

The main limitation is Android users. Apple Wallet only works on Apple devices. Shops that serve a mixed customer base still need a Google Wallet version or a simple barcode fallback. But for iPhone-heavy customer bases, Apple Wallet turns a digital membership card into something customers actually use, because it sits where they already look: next to their payment cards.

Google Wallet Setup Explained

Google Wallet works differently from Apple Wallet, but the core idea is the same: your customers can carry a digital membership card on their Android phone and pull it up at your counter in seconds. Setup takes a few steps, and most of them happen on your side before you ever invite a customer to add the card.

The first thing to understand is that Google Wallet does not let you create a card directly in the app the way you might build a contact or a shopping list. You need a digital membership card file, usually in a format called a Google Wallet pass, or a link from a membership card app that supports Google Wallet. If you already use a loyalty platform or POS system with a membership feature, check its settings for a "Google Wallet" or "Add to Google Wallet" option. Many modern systems generate the pass automatically from the customer's profile.

Once you have that link or file ready, the customer-side flow is simple. You send the customer an email or SMS with an "Add to Google Wallet" button. The customer taps it, Google Wallet opens, and the card appears with your shop name, the customer's name, and usually a barcode or QR code. The customer taps "Save" and the card is stored on the phone. After that, no app download is required beyond Google Wallet itself, which comes pre-installed on most Android devices.

For a cafe or salon, the practical setup usually looks like this. You create the pass template once with your logo, brand colour, and the fields you want to show, such as member name, points balance, or membership tier. Then you generate a unique link for each customer. A car wash or gym might include a membership number that staff can type in manually if the barcode does not scan. Restaurants often add a simple member ID and let the POS look up the rest.

One common mistake is sending the same generic link to every customer. That creates a card with no personal details, which makes it harder for staff to verify who is standing at the counter. Instead, generate the link from the customer's record in your membership system. If your platform does not support unique links, ask your provider whether Google Wallet passes are on their roadmap. A generic card can still work for a simple stamp-style loyalty scheme, but it limits what you can do later.

Testing is straightforward. Create a test pass for yourself, open the link on an Android phone, and check three things. First, does the barcode scan at your normal scanning distance? Second, does the card show the right name and membership number? Third, does the pass update when the customer's points change? Some systems push updates automatically, while others require the customer to delete and re-add the card. Knowing which behaviour applies to your setup saves confusion at the till.

A salon owner might worry that customers will not understand how to add the card. In practice, the tap-and-save flow is familiar to most Android users because it mirrors adding a boarding pass or event ticket. Keep a short instruction card at the counter for anyone who asks. The wording can be as simple as: "Tap the link we text you, then tap Save." That covers nearly every case.

The last step is deciding how you will send the link. Email works well for gyms and restaurants that already collect addresses. SMS tends to perform better for cafes and car washes because the customer is often standing in front of you and can add the card immediately. Whichever channel you choose, send the link at the moment a customer signs up or asks about membership, not days later when the moment has passed.

Choosing the Right Card App

A membership card app is only useful if your staff can scan it quickly during a busy lunch rush or right before a Saturday morning fitness class. The wrong app adds friction. The right one removes it. Start by looking at how your team actually works behind the counter, not by comparing feature lists on a website.

For a cafe, speed matters more than anything else. If a barista has to unlock a tablet, open a separate app, and wait for a camera to focus while five customers wait, the digital card will fail. Choose an app that opens directly to the scanner or lets staff scan from the lock screen. Some apps also support a dedicated barcode scanner connected to the point-of-sale system, which is faster than using a phone camera.

Salons and barbershops have different needs. Appointments are longer, and the front desk often handles multiple tasks at once. Here, a membership card app that shows the client's name, visit count, and loyalty balance on one screen works well. Staff can check a client in without switching between a booking system and a separate loyalty tool. If the app cannot display visit history or notes, it creates double entry.

Gyms and fitness studios should test how the app handles check-in during peak times. A digital membership card in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet lets members tap their phone at the door without opening an app. That matters when ten people arrive for a 6 a.m. class. The card itself should be readable from a locked phone screen. If members must open the app, log in, and find their card, they will ask for a plastic card again.

Restaurants and car washes often run promotions that change weekly. Look for a membership card app that lets you update offers without republishing the card. A digital member card stored in a wallet can be updated remotely when the pass is linked to a backend system. For example, a car wash might offer a free rinse after five visits. If the card updates automatically after each scan, staff do not need to count punches by hand.

Ask the app provider three specific questions before committing. First, does the digital membership card work offline? Second, what happens when a customer changes phones? Apple Wallet and Google Wallet passes can usually be restored, but the app must support that transfer without losing visit history. Third, can you export member data? If you ever switch apps, you need a CSV export of names, contact details, and visit counts.

Test the full customer journey before rolling it out. Create a test card, add it to both Apple Wallet and Google Wallet, and scan it at your actual counter. Time the process. If scanning takes more than two or three seconds, the app is not ready for a busy shift.

Finally, check the pricing model. Some apps charge per member, which becomes expensive as your list grows. Others charge a flat monthly fee. For a small salon with 300 members, a per-member fee may be fine. For a gym with 2,000 members, a flat fee is usually better. Do the maths with your own member count, not the provider's example.

Design Tips for Member Cards

A digital membership card lives on a phone screen, often next to payment cards and boarding passes. The design decisions you make affect how quickly staff can scan it, how members feel about your brand, and whether the card gets used at all. Think about the moments where the card appears: a customer at the counter with a queue behind them, a member tapping their phone at a gym turnstile, or a driver holding a phone out of a car window at a car wash.

Keep the top half scannable

Most wallet apps show the card as a rectangular pass. The barcode or QR code should sit in the upper half, not buried under text. Staff at a cafe counter often scan from across the counter, sometimes at an angle. A large, high-contrast code with a quiet margin around it scans faster than a small code squeezed between a logo and a phone number. Test the code on a real phone at the actual scanning distance used in your shop. A code that works on a designer's screen may fail under a salon's warm lighting or a restaurant's dim dinner setting.

Do not place a dark background behind a dark barcode. Black code on white or very light grey works reliably. If your brand colours are dark, use them for the header strip, not the area behind the code.

Show only what staff need at the counter

A membership card is not a brochure. Staff usually need three things: the member's name, the membership tier or status, and the scannable code. Everything else is secondary. A cafe barista does not need your full address, a list of ten benefits, or a social media handle while a line forms. Put the name in a clear, readable size. Put the tier, if you have one, as a short label such as "Gold" or "Monthly" rather than a long sentence.

For a car wash, the card might need to show the plate number or the wash package name. For a gym, the member's photo helps staff verify identity at the front desk. Choose the two or three details that match your check-in process and leave the rest out.

Use contrast and legible type

Phone screens vary in brightness and quality. A pale grey font on a white background disappears outdoors. A member standing outside a restaurant waiting to be seated may struggle to read a low-contrast card. Use dark text on light backgrounds or white text on a solid dark header. Avoid thin, decorative fonts for the member name and ID number. A simple sans-serif at a reasonable size works better than an elegant script that blurs at small sizes.

Design for both wallet formats

Apple Wallet and Google Wallet render cards slightly differently. Apple Wallet tends to crop the top and bottom of a pass image. Google Wallet may show a thumbnail in a list view. Do not place critical information within the top or bottom few millimetres of the design. Keep the logo and card title in the centre area. Test the card in both wallets on at least two phone sizes, one small and one large. A design that fits a large Android screen may clip awkwardly on a smaller iPhone.

Match the card to the moment of use

A salon membership card used at reception can carry a little more detail, such as points balance or next appointment date. A gym card used at a turnstile should be almost entirely barcode and name, because the member may be moving quickly. A restaurant loyalty card shown at the table can include a short benefit reminder, but only if it does not push the code off the main screen. Think about where the phone is held, how far from the scanner, and how much time the member has. Design for that moment, not for a printed brochure.

Test with real staff before launch

Print a few paper mock-ups or load a test pass onto a staff phone. Ask the person who actually works the counter to scan it during a busy period. Watch where they hesitate, what they squint at, and whether they need to ask the member to zoom in. Those observations tell you more than any design checklist. Adjust the layout, increase the code size, or remove a line of text based on what you see. A digital membership card earns its place on a phone only when it works quickly and looks like it belongs to your brand.

Distribution Methods That Work

Email is the most reliable channel for getting a digital membership card into a customer’s Apple or Google Wallet. The flow is simple: after signup, send a welcome email with a clear button labelled “Add to Apple Wallet” or “Save to Google Wallet.” The button links to a wallet pass file that opens the native wallet app on the phone. For a cafe, this works well at the counter. A barista asks, “Want a stamp for today’s coffee?” The customer opens the email, taps the button, and the card lands in their wallet in seconds. No app download, no login.

SMS is faster for customers who sign up in person. A salon receptionist can send a text while the client is paying. The message contains a short link. Tapping it opens the wallet pass directly. This removes the friction of checking email on a small screen. For a car wash, the attendant can send the SMS before the customer drives away. The card appears on the phone before the next visit. Keep the message short: “Here’s your wash club card. Tap to add it to your wallet.” No extra words, no marketing pitch.

A QR code at the counter or on a table tent works for walk-in traffic. Print a small sign that says “Join our loyalty club. Scan to get your card.” The code opens a web page with two options: “Add to Apple Wallet” or “Save to Google Wallet.” A restaurant can place this on the bill tray or near the till. A gym can put it on the front desk. The key is that the QR code leads straight to the wallet pass, not to a landing page asking for more details. The customer should be able to add the card in one tap after scanning.

Social media works for existing followers. A short post or story can say “Tap the link in bio to get your member card in your phone’s wallet.” For a cafe or bakery, this catches people who already like the brand but have not joined the loyalty scheme. The link goes to the same simple page as the QR code. Do not ask for an email address first. Let the customer add the card, then collect details later at the first redemption.

Staff prompts are the most underused method. Train employees to mention the digital membership card at a natural moment. At a restaurant, the server can say after the meal: “We have a loyalty card that lives in your phone’s wallet. I can text you the link if you like.” At a salon, the stylist can mention it while the client is at the mirror. The request feels helpful, not pushy. This works because the customer is already in the shop and has a reason to return.

Finally, printed receipts can carry a short URL. A gym or car wash can print “Get your member card: yourshop.com/wallet” at the bottom of every receipt. This is passive but consistent. It reaches customers who missed the email or ignored the QR code. The URL should be short and typed exactly as printed. Test it on a phone before sending it out.

Updating Cards Without Reprints

A printed membership card locks you into whatever was true on the day it was made. Change a phone number, a tier level, a loyalty balance or a renewal date and the card becomes wrong. The usual fix is ordering another batch, waiting for delivery and handing out replacements. A digital membership card removes that cycle.

With an Apple Wallet membership card or Google Wallet pass, the card lives on the customer’s phone and pulls its content from your membership card app or backend. When you update the record, the phone updates the card. A cafe that moves from a stamp system to a points system can switch every active card in one afternoon. A salon that changes its opening hours or booking link does not need to reprint anything. The next time the customer opens the wallet, the new details are already there.

This matters most for tiered loyalty programmes. A gym might promote a member from basic to premium after twelve months. With plastic cards, the front desk has to issue a new card and the member has to remember to carry it. The customer sees the upgrade without visiting the desk.

Car washes and quick-service restaurants often run short seasonal offers, such as a free upgrade in winter or double points in summer. Printing cards for each promotion is slow and expensive. A digital membership card lets you push a temporary benefit to every member, then remove it when the offer ends. No stock to store, no obsolete cards to throw away.

Renewals are another clear case. A restaurant membership that expires at the end of the year can be extended by updating the expiry date in the membership card app. The pass on the customer’s phone shows the new date within minutes. If someone cancels, you can deactivate the pass remotely. The card disappears from the wallet or shows as expired, which protects you from people presenting old printed cards that still look valid.

The practical workflow is simple. The update reaches the phone through the wallet’s normal refresh process. Most customers do not need to download anything again or reinstall the pass. For a shop owner, this means one person can manage hundreds of card updates in an hour, instead of unpacking boxes and manually replacing cards at the counter.

The biggest saving is not the printing cost, though that is real. It is the time and confusion you avoid. Staff no longer have to explain that a card is out of date. Customers no longer carry two versions of the same card. And you can correct a typo, a wrong tier or a changed benefit without touching a single piece of plastic.

Security and Privacy Controls

A digital membership card in Apple or Google Wallet stores data differently from a plastic card or a paper form. The card itself sits in the customer's phone, not in a binder behind your counter. That changes what you need to protect and what you can stop worrying about.

What stays on the phone

When a customer adds your card to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet, the core identifier, such as a membership number or a hashed token, lives in the device's secure element or protected app storage. Your point-of-sale system or scanner reads that identifier only when the customer presents the card. You do not need to collect a home address, date of birth or phone number just to issue a digital member card. If your loyalty programme does not require that data, do not ask for it.

For a cafe or salon, this means the phone replaces the paper sign-up sheet. A customer taps their card at the till, and your system logs the visit or stamps a reward. No clipboard with names and email addresses left on the front desk. No box of old forms waiting to be shredded.

What you should control on your side

The card in the wallet is only one half of the system. Your membership card app or backend still holds the customer record. Apply the same basic controls you would use for any customer list.

• Limit staff access to the minimum needed. A barista does not need to export the full member database. A receptionist at a gym does not need to edit loyalty points.
• Use role-based logins. The manager can view reports. Front-desk staff can scan cards and update visit counts.
• Turn on two-factor authentication for admin accounts. A stolen password should not give someone access to every member's name and contact details.
• Review inactive staff accounts monthly. A former employee should not still be able to log in from home.

Real-world example: car wash membership

A car wash offers a monthly digital membership card for unlimited basic washes. The customer's phone shows a QR code in Apple Wallet. The gate scanner reads the code and checks the subscription status in your system. The card itself does not store the customer's payment card number or home address. The next time someone tries to scan the old code, the system rejects it.

What to tell customers

Be direct about what you collect and why. A short line on your sign-up screen works better than a long privacy policy no one reads. For example: "We store your name and visit history to run the loyalty programme. We never sell your data." If you use a membership card app provider, check where the data is hosted and whether the provider can use it for their own marketing. Ask for a data processing agreement if you operate in a region with privacy laws.

Practical steps for a shop owner

• Issue digital membership cards with a unique identifier, not a customer's email address or phone number as the visible card number.
• Disable card transfer by default. A screenshot of a QR code should not work if your scanner checks for a live wallet presentation.
• Set an expiry or review date on inactive member records. Delete or anonymise records after a set period of inactivity.
• Test what a customer sees. Add your own test card to Apple Wallet and Google Wallet, then check what data appears on the lock screen and in the wallet details.

The goal is simple. The customer carries a convenient digital member card. You carry only the data you actually need, protected by the same controls you would apply to your till or your staff roster.

Common Implementation Mistakes

A digital membership card only works if customers can add it, find it, and use it without friction. Many shops set up the system but overlook small operational details that cause frustration at the counter. These are the mistakes we see most often across cafes, salons, car washes, and gyms.

Treating the digital card as a one-time download

Some businesses send the Apple Wallet or Google Wallet pass once and assume the customer will keep it forever. Phones get replaced, wallets get cleared, and passes get deleted by accident. If there is no easy way to re-issue the card from the shop floor, staff end up searching through an email inbox or asking the customer to download an app again. A simple fix is to keep a QR code at the till that lets any customer re-add their digital membership card in a few seconds. Staff should also be trained to offer this before the customer asks.

Putting the wrong information on the pass

A membership card that only shows a name and a barcode wastes the screen. Customers expect to see their current points balance, membership tier, expiry date, or next reward. A cafe that issues a digital member card with no visible stamp count forces the customer to ask at the counter every time. A gym that does not show membership expiry creates awkward conversations at reception. Decide what the customer actually needs to see before they scan, and make sure that data updates on the pass. Static passes that never change quickly become useless.

Forgetting that staff need to scan it

A digital membership card is not a screenshot. Some staff try to visually check a phone screen instead of scanning the barcode or QR code. This leads to errors, especially with similar names or shared family accounts. If the point-of-sale system does not support scanning wallet passes, the implementation is incomplete. Test the scan with the actual till hardware, not just a phone camera. A salon that issues an Apple Wallet membership card but cannot scan it at the desk will see staff typing in phone numbers manually, which defeats the purpose.

Making the add-to-wallet step confusing

The most common failure point is the moment a customer tries to add the card. If the email says “download our app” but the card is actually stored in Apple Wallet, the customer gets lost. If the SMS link opens a webpage that is not mobile-optimised, the add button may not appear. A car wash that sends a generic link to a desktop landing page will lose customers before the pass is ever installed. The add flow should be one tap from a phone, with clear wording such as “Add to Apple Wallet” or “Save to Google Wallet”.

Ignoring expired or updated passes

When a customer changes phone number, upgrades a membership tier, or renews a plan, the old pass often stays unchanged. A restaurant that launches a new loyalty programme but leaves old digital membership cards active creates confusion at the till. Two customers with the same tier may show different-looking cards. Set up automatic pass updates so that when the customer record changes in your system, the wallet pass refreshes. If that is not possible, plan a manual re-issue process and communicate it clearly.

Not training staff to talk about it

A digital membership card fails quietly when staff do not mention it. If a regular customer pays and nobody asks whether they have the card in their wallet, adoption stalls. Staff need a simple script: “Would you like me to add your membership card to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet? It takes about ten seconds.” A gym with a front desk team that never offers the digital option will keep handing out plastic cards by default. The technology is only as good as the habit behind the counter.

How PassHive handles this

PassHive exists because we kept seeing the same problem: small shops wanted a digital membership card in Apple Wallet and Google Wallet, but the tools available were built for big chains or charged per customer. That pricing made no sense for a cafe with 900 regulars or a salon with 300 clients.

This site is published by the team that builds PassHive. We do not hide that. When we compare PassHive to other options, we compare it honestly, and we only list features we actually ship.

PassHive lets shops, cafes, salons, car washes, restaurants and gyms issue their own branded loyalty cards that customers save to Apple Wallet and Google Wallet. You can choose a stamp card (buy 9, get the 10th free) or a points card. The card shows your own name, colour and logo. When you add a stamp or points at the counter, the card updates itself on the customer's phone. There is no app for your customer to download. They scan a QR code at the counter or open a link, and the card lands in their wallet.

You can design the card and preview it on iPhone and Android for free. You pay only when you go live. That covers up to 100 branches at $10 each, up to 275 branches at $25 each, up to 600 branches at $50 each, and up to 1,250 branches at $100 each. You can turn any branch off at any time, and its cards stop at once.

The card can also do two things that paper cards cannot. First, you can send push notifications to saved cards, such as an offer or a "your reward is ready" message. Google limits this to roughly 3 messages per card per day, so it is built for occasional, useful nudges, not spam. Second, the phone can show a lock-screen reminder when a customer is near your shop. Apple supports up to 10 locations per card with a radius of about 200 metres; Google uses your merchant locations. We say "can remind" because the phone decides when to show it.

For developers and agencies, PassHive has a public REST API with API keys. The docs are at passhive.app/docs. That is the full feature set. PassHive is not a POS, not an e-commerce plugin, and has no named integrations with Shopify, Square, Toast or similar systems.

The pricing difference is easiest to see against PassKit. PassKit charges from $39.50 to $249.50 per month, includes 250 passes, then adds per-pass fees. A cafe with 1,000 customers would pay about $73 per month on PassKit. The same cafe pays $10 per month on PassHive. A shop with 10,000 customers would pay about $341 per month on PassKit, still $10 on PassHive. You can check PassHive pricing and compare it yourself.

If you want to see how your own card would look, you can start designing your card free and preview it on both iPhone and Android before paying anything.

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.