Mobile Loyalty Card: Phone-Based Rewards That Customers Keep

A mobile loyalty card puts your stamp card or rewards programme on a customer’s phone instead of in their wallet or purse. It removes the friction of carrying plastic cards and gives you a direct way to reward repeat visits, send updates, and track what works.

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

This article covers the main benefits of phone-based rewards, how to set up a mobile loyalty card for your shop or salon, and practical wallet pass strategies that keep your brand visible. You will learn what to offer as a reward, how to promote sign-ups at the till, and how to avoid common mistakes that make customers ignore digital cards.

Why Plastic Cards Are Fading Fast

Plastic loyalty cards fail in predictable ways. A customer buys a coffee, gets handed a stamped card, and shoves it into a wallet already thick with receipts, gym passes and old business cards. Next visit, the card is at home in a drawer. The shop loses the repeat purchase. The customer loses the free coffee they had half-earned. Both sides walk away mildly annoyed.

The Daily Reality of Card Loss

Think about a busy lunch spot. A regular customer comes in three times a week. Each time, the cashier asks if they have their loyalty card. Two out of three visits, the answer is no. The staff member either issues a new card, which fragments the customer’s progress across multiple cards, or just shrugs and moves on. The loyalty program quietly stops working.

Salons see a version of this too. A client visits every six weeks for a cut and colour. The stamp card sits in a handbag pocket, forgotten between visits. When the client finally remembers to bring it, the card is creased, the stamps are smudged, and the salon owner has no record of how many visits the client actually made. The reward feels like a chore, not a thank-you.

Car washes and gyms face the same friction. A gym member scans a plastic tag at the front desk. The tag breaks, gets lost, or stays in a gym bag that never leaves the car. A car wash hands out punch cards that fade in the glovebox. Each lost card is a lost data point. The business never learns who its repeat customers are.

Why Replacement Costs Add Up

Plastic cards are not free. A small cafe ordering 1,000 printed cards pays a real cost for design, printing and shipping. When half those cards disappear into kitchen drawers and coat pockets, that money is gone. Reordering every few months becomes a quiet expense that no one tracks.

There is also the staff time cost. Every “Do you have your card?” question takes a few seconds. Multiply that across a busy Saturday morning with fifty customers, and the delay adds up. Staff also have to manage the awkward moment when a customer has two half-stamped cards and wants them combined. No one enjoys that conversation.

The Deeper Problem: No Useful Data

A stamped card tells a shop owner almost nothing. You know a customer made eight purchases, but you do not know their name, their email, or what they bought. You cannot send a reminder when they have not visited in three weeks. You cannot offer a birthday reward. You cannot tell your best regulars apart from occasional visitors. The plastic card is a one-way transaction: customer collects stamps, customer redeems reward, story ends.

A mobile loyalty card changes that dynamic. The customer always has their phone. The business always has a record. But first, shop owners need to accept that the plastic card era is ending, not because of a trend, but because the old system simply stops working the moment a customer walks out the door.

Core Mechanics Behind Phone Rewards

A mobile loyalty card works because it removes the two biggest barriers to traditional punch cards: forgetting the card at home and losing it in a drawer. The phone version lives in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet, which means customers carry it without thinking about it. When they pay, the card is already there.

The basic mechanic is simple. A customer taps a link, scans a QR code at your counter, or opens a link from your SMS or email. The card installs into their phone wallet in a few seconds. No app download, no password, no account to create. From that moment, the card sits alongside their bank cards and boarding passes.

Each visit, you scan their phone or they tap the card against an NFC reader. The system adds a stamp, point, or visit. The phone shows the updated balance immediately. If the customer has location services enabled, the card can appear on their lock screen when they walk near your shop. That reminder alone often triggers a return visit.

For a cafe, the flow might look like this: a customer buys a flat white, you scan their phone, the card shows seven of eight stamps filled. The next coffee is free. The customer sees that progress bar every time they open their wallet. They do not need to remember how many stamps they have. The phone does that job.

A salon can use a points-based mechanic instead of stamps. Each dollar spent adds points. At a set threshold, the card unlocks a discount on their next visit. The mechanic is the same as a paper card, but the phone removes the friction of carrying and checking it.

Restaurants and car washes often use a visit-based mechanic. Buy nine washes, get the tenth free. The phone card tracks the count automatically. If a customer has not visited in three weeks, you can send a push notification through the wallet pass: "Two washes left before your free one." That nudge is specific and tied to a real balance, not a generic promotion.

Gyms and fitness studios can attach a membership element. The phone card can display a barcode that staff scan at reception. It can also show class credits remaining. When a member books a class, the credit count drops. When they buy a new pack, the count resets. The card becomes a live record of their account, not just a marketing gimmick.

The update mechanism matters. Wallet passes can be updated remotely. If you change your reward threshold, add a new location, or launch a seasonal bonus, the change appears on every customer's phone without them doing anything. That is a practical advantage over printed cards, which become outdated the moment you change your offer.

The core mechanic is therefore a loop: install, scan, update, remind. Each step happens on a device the customer already carries. The shop owner controls the rules. The customer sees their progress. The phone does the remembering.

Wallet Passes Versus Branded Apps

A wallet loyalty pass lives inside Apple Wallet or Google Wallet. The customer taps the pass, the shop scans it, and the stamp or point lands on the spot. No download from an app store. No account to create. No password reset email two weeks later when the customer tries to use it again.

A branded app asks for more before it gives anything back. The customer searches the store, waits for the download, opens the app, creates an account, confirms an email, and often grants notification permission before seeing the first reward. For a coffee shop or a car wash, that is a heavy ask for a free tenth coffee or a discount on a wash.

The difference shows up at the counter. A cafe owner can print a small sign near the till: “Tap your phone to collect stamps.” The customer scans a QR code, the pass appears in their wallet, and the first stamp is applied in under ten seconds. The same cafe with an app needs the customer to leave the counter, find the app, install it, and register while the queue grows. Staff end up acting as tech support.

Salons see the same pattern. A client booking a cut and colour may tolerate an app if they already use one for booking. But a walk-in client buying a bottle of shampoo rarely downloads anything. A wallet pass can be added while the payment terminal processes the card. The loyalty balance sits next to their bank cards and train tickets, not buried in a folder of rarely opened apps.

Restaurants face a retention problem with branded apps. A customer downloads the app for a one-time welcome offer, uses it once, and then ignores it. The app stays on the phone, but it is invisible. A wallet pass shows up when the customer opens their wallet to pay with a contactless card or use a boarding pass. That visibility is the difference between a loyalty program the customer remembers and one they forget.

Gyms and car washes often have repeat visits on a schedule. A wallet pass can show the current balance or membership status on the lock screen when the customer arrives at the location, because wallet passes support location-based notifications. A branded app can do the same only if the customer has allowed location access and has not disabled notifications. Most have.

Cost is another factor. A branded app requires development, app store fees, updates for new phone operating systems, and often a monthly maintenance contract. A wallet pass can be issued from a loyalty platform or a simple pass generator, usually for a fraction of the cost. For a single-location salon or a small chain of car washes, the app budget is often better spent on staff training or a faster scanner at the till.

The practical choice is not always one or the other. A business with a booking system, online ordering, or a membership portal may need an app. But the loyalty card itself does not need to live inside that app. The pass can sit in the wallet, where it is quick to find and quick to scan, while the app handles the heavier jobs. For most small shops, the wallet pass alone is enough.

Designing a Card People Save

A mobile loyalty card earns a permanent spot on a customer’s phone when it feels useful, not decorative. The design starts with one question: what does the customer see every time they open it? If the answer is only “points,” they will forget it exists. If the answer is their current reward status, a clear next step, and a reason to return this week, the card gets saved.

Put the next action on the front

A cafe owner should design the card so the customer sees “2 stamps until a free coffee” immediately after a purchase. A salon can show “1 visit left for 20% off your next cut.” The customer should never have to tap through menus or scroll to find out where they stand. Wallet loyalty passes on iPhone and Android allow you to update the front-facing message each time a customer checks in. Use that. After a customer buys a sandwich, the lock screen notification should say “You’re 1 stamp away from a free soup” rather than a generic “Thanks for your visit.”

The same rule applies to the card’s visual layout inside the wallet. Keep the business name small but legible. Make the reward progress bar the largest element. Use a single colour block for the stamp grid or point meter. If a customer glances at the phone while standing in line, they should know within one second whether they are close to a reward.

Remove friction from check-in

A phone loyalty card only gets saved if checking in takes less than five seconds. For a car wash, that means a QR code at the payment window that opens the customer’s card and adds a wash credit without asking for a name or email again. For a restaurant, the server can scan a barcode from the customer’s wallet pass at the table when the bill arrives. If the customer has to open an app, log in, search for the business, and tap three buttons, they will hand over a physical punch card or nothing at all.

Design the card so the customer can add it to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet in one tap from a text message or a printed QR code at the counter. The wallet pass then stays on the phone’s lock screen when the customer is near your shop, using location-based notifications. A gym can set the pass to appear when a member walks into the car park, reminding them to scan at the front desk before a workout.

Give people a reason to keep it after the first reward

A loyalty card that disappears after the tenth stamp is a missed opportunity. Build the design around a repeating cycle. A cafe might show a progress bar for the current free drink, then automatically reset to a new goal: “Next reward: free pastry after 5 more visits.” The customer sees the card still has value, so they do not delete it.

For a salon, the card can display a tiered message. After a client reaches a free haircut, the card updates to “You’ve unlocked 10% off colour services. 3 visits to your next reward.” The customer keeps the card because the goal changed, not because they feel guilty about deleting it.

Keep the design boring in the right way

Do not fill the card with rotating banners, pop-up offers, or links to your Instagram. A customer saves a loyalty card because it is predictable and fast. Use the card for one job: tracking rewards. Put menu updates, event invites, and seasonal promotions in a separate email or text message. If the wallet pass tries to do everything, the customer stops opening it, and then deletes it.

A simple test: hand your phone to a staff member who has never seen the card. Ask them to check in a customer and tell you what reward the customer has earned. If they hesitate or tap the wrong thing, simplify the layout. The card should be so obvious that a new employee can use it on their first shift without training.

Push Notifications That Drive Visits

A mobile loyalty card sits on a customer’s phone. That means you can reach them with a push notification when they are not standing in your shop. But most small businesses misuse this tool. They blast generic “We miss you” messages that get swiped away or, worse, cause the customer to delete the pass entirely. The goal is simple: send fewer notifications, make each one tied to a reason the customer already cares about, and always offer a clear next step.

Timing beats volume

The best push notifications are triggered by real behaviour, not a marketing calendar. A cafe can set a rule: if a customer has not visited in 21 days, send a notification offering a free pastry with any coffee. That is specific, low-cost, and easy to act on. A salon can send a reminder when a client’s last booking was six weeks ago, suggesting it is time for a trim. The customer sees the message as helpful, not pushy, because it matches their own rhythm.

Car washes get this right by tying notifications to weather. After a rainy week, a message that says “Your car earned a clean-up. Show this pass for 20% off a wash today” feels relevant. A gym can send a notification on a Sunday evening: “You trained twice this week. A third visit before Tuesday keeps your streak alive.” The customer already has the pass on their phone, so one tap opens it and shows the reward.

What to write

Short messages work. Aim for under 20 words. Lead with the benefit, not the brand. Instead of “Joe’s Cafe is happy to announce our new loyalty offer,” write “Free coffee tomorrow before 10am. Tap to open your card.” The customer does not need your shop name in the first line; they can see which app sent it.

Include one action. “Tap to open your card” or “Show this at the counter” tells the customer exactly what to do. If the notification requires them to open an app, log in, find a code, and then show it, you will lose most people. The mobile loyalty card should open directly to the barcode or QR code.

Avoid discount-only traps. A salon that sends “20% off everything this week” every Tuesday trains customers to wait for the discount. Instead, rotate the reason: a free add-on service, early access to a booking slot, a double-points day. The notification still drives a visit, but it does not devalue your core service.

Frequency and opt-outs

One or two notifications per month is plenty for most shops. A restaurant might send one on a slow Tuesday and one before a holiday weekend. A car wash might send one after heavy rain and one when a customer’s prepaid washes are running low. If you send more than that, expect pass deletions.

Always make it easy to turn off notifications without deleting the card. On iPhone, customers can manage this in the Wallet app settings. On Android, it is in the Google Wallet pass details. Tell customers this once when they sign up: “We send one or two useful reminders a month. You can turn them off anytime and keep your card.” That honesty builds trust and reduces churn.

A simple weekly workflow

Check your point-of-sale data on Monday morning. Find one group of customers who have not visited in three weeks or more. Send them one notification with a specific, time-limited reason to return. Track how many open the pass within 48 hours. Adjust the offer next week based on what worked. This takes ten minutes and beats any generic “sale alert” you could send.

Collecting Data Without Annoying Users

A mobile loyalty card gives you a direct line to customer behaviour without asking for a 20-question survey at the till. The phone does the heavy lifting. Each scan or tap records when a customer visits, what they buy, and how often they return. That is enough to build a useful picture. You do not need birthdays, shoe sizes, or household income to make smarter decisions.

The key is to collect data as a by-product of the reward, not as a separate chore. When a customer scans their phone loyalty card to earn a stamp or point, the transaction data is captured automatically. They get value. You get insight. Nobody feels interrogated.

What to track from day one

Start with three simple data points:

• Visit frequency: how many days pass between scans
• Average spend per visit
• Product or service mix: what they actually buy

A cafe owner can see that a regular buys a flat white every Tuesday and Thursday morning. If that customer stops appearing for three weeks, the data tells you something changed. Maybe they moved jobs. Maybe a competitor opened nearby. Either way, you can send a targeted offer through the wallet loyalty pass: “Your usual spot is waiting — 20% off your next flat white this week.” That feels helpful, not creepy, because it is based on their real behaviour.

Avoid the sign-up form trap

Salons and gyms often make the mistake of asking for everything upfront. A long registration form kills adoption. Instead, collect the minimum at sign-up: first name and phone number or email. That is enough to send a digital pass and start tracking visits. You can add optional fields later, but only when there is a clear reason.

For example, a hair salon might ask for a client’s preferred stylist after their third visit. By then, the client already trusts the salon and understands the value of the mobile loyalty program. The question feels relevant, not intrusive.

Use passive data before asking questions

A car wash can learn a lot without asking a single question. If a customer buys the premium wash every time, you know they care about appearance. If they only visit after heavy rain or road trips, the pattern tells you they are event-driven. You can then tailor messages accordingly. No survey needed.

A restaurant can track which menu items a loyalty member orders repeatedly. If someone always orders the same pasta dish, send them a notification when that dish is on special. That is personalisation based on observed behaviour, not a guess.

Give users control

Transparency matters. Tell customers what you collect and why in one plain sentence: “We track your visits and purchases to give you better rewards and offers.” Put that sentence on the sign-up screen, not buried in a 4,000-word privacy policy. Allow them to opt out of marketing messages while keeping their loyalty points. A phone loyalty card that respects boundaries gets kept. One that spams gets deleted.

Practical example

A small gym runs a mobile loyalty card where members earn points for each check-in. The system records check-in time, day of week, and class type. After 60 days, the owner sees that Tuesday 6pm spin classes are consistently full, but Thursday 10am yoga has empty spots. She sends a wallet loyalty pass notification to members who attend spin: “Bring a friend to Thursday yoga free this week.” The data drove the offer. No member was asked to fill in a form about their schedule preferences. The behaviour told the story.

Integrating With Your POS System

A mobile loyalty card only works if staff can apply it quickly at the till. Long queues at a cafe counter or a salon front desk kill the experience. The fix is to connect your loyalty program to the point-of-sale system you already use. That way, points and rewards appear automatically during checkout instead of requiring a separate app, a paper punch card, or a manual lookup.

Start With Your Existing POS

Check whether your POS provider offers a built-in loyalty module or an integration with a wallet-based loyalty pass. Many modern systems for cafes, quick-service restaurants, and salons support this. If yours does, you can usually switch on loyalty in the settings and link it to the phone number or barcode on the customer's mobile loyalty card.

For example, a customer at a car wash pays for a monthly wash plan. The cashier scans the wallet loyalty pass on the customer's phone. The POS reads the pass, adds the visit, and applies a free wash after the tenth visit. No separate tablet, no paper tracking.

If your POS does not support wallet passes directly, you may need middleware. This is a small piece of software that sits between the wallet pass system and your POS. It translates a scan into a customer ID that your POS can understand. Ask your POS provider which loyalty integrations they already support before buying anything extra.

What to Sync Between POS and the Loyalty Program

A useful integration shares three things in real time:

• Customer identity: name, phone number, or loyalty ID from the scanned pass.
• Transaction value: the amount spent before discounts, so points are calculated correctly.
• Earned and redeemed rewards: points added and free items or discounts used in that visit.

Without transaction value, you end up giving one point per visit. That may work for a gym or a car wash with fixed visit frequency. But a restaurant or salon with variable ticket sizes benefits more from spend-based points.

Handling Staff Workflow

Train staff to ask one simple question at checkout: "Do you have your loyalty card on your phone?" The customer opens Apple Wallet or Google Wallet, taps the pass, and shows the barcode or QR code. The cashier scans it with the existing barcode scanner. If the scanner cannot read phone screens, use the customer's phone number as a backup lookup.

Avoid making staff switch between two screens. If the loyalty balance appears on the same POS screen as the sale, adoption stays high. If staff must open a separate browser tab or app, they will skip it during busy periods.

Common Integration Problems and Fixes

One common issue is duplicate customer records. A customer may have a loyalty pass under one phone number and a POS profile under another. Merge rules matter. Decide that the phone number is the single source of truth. When a new pass is created, the system checks the phone number first. If it exists in the POS, the pass links to that profile instead of creating a new one.

Another issue is offline mode. Cafes and salons sometimes lose internet. If your POS goes offline, the loyalty scan may fail. Ask your provider whether the POS can queue loyalty events locally and sync them when the connection returns. If not, train staff to record the phone number on a paper slip and enter it later. That is not ideal, but it prevents customers from losing points.

Testing Before Launch

Run a test with three or four real transactions. Use a staff member's phone with a test mobile loyalty card. Check that points appear correctly, that a free item redemption removes the right number of points, and that a refund reverses points properly. Refunds are often forgotten in loyalty integrations. If a customer returns a product or cancels a service, the points earned on that sale should be deducted. Otherwise you create points out of thin air.

Also test what happens when a customer scans the pass twice in one visit. The system should prevent double points for a single transaction. Some POS systems handle this automatically. Others need a rule that limits one loyalty scan per receipt.

Choosing a POS-Friendly Loyalty Provider

If your current POS has no loyalty option, look for a wallet loyalty pass provider that publishes a clear integration guide for your POS. Ask for the names of other shops using the same combination. A provider that only offers a standalone app with manual entry will slow down your counter. A provider that supports barcode scanning through your existing hardware is a better fit.

The goal is simple: the customer taps their phone, the cashier scans, and the reward happens on the same screen as the sale. That is the difference between a mobile loyalty card that gets used every visit and one that gets forgotten after the first week.

Common Launch Mistakes to Avoid

A mobile loyalty card only works if customers actually add it to their phone and pull it out at the till. Most failures come down to a few predictable mistakes that are easy to fix before launch.

Treating the card like a secret

Some owners print a small QR code on the receipt or bury a sign behind the counter. Staff never mention it. Customers never notice it. The program quietly dies. A cafe that puts a small tent card on one table and hopes word spreads will see almost no sign-ups.

The fix is simple. Train every staff member to say one line at the till: "We have a phone loyalty card, it takes ten seconds to add and your next coffee is on it." Then hand the customer a card with a QR code or point to a clear sign at eye level. The ask has to happen during the transaction, not after it.

Making sign-up a chore

A salon that asks for name, email, birthday, postcode and marketing consent before the customer can join will lose most people at the counter. Every extra field cuts the number of people who finish. The phone loyalty card should need nothing more than a tap or a scan. Name and phone number can come later, or never.

Keep the first step under ten seconds. If the customer has to download an app, create a password and verify an email, most will say "I'll do it later" and never do it.

Offering a reward that feels unreachable

A car wash that says "buy ten washes, get one free" is fine. A restaurant that says "spend £500 to get £5 off" is not. If the first reward sits months away, the card has no pull. Customers add it and forget it.

Set the first reward low. A gym might give a free smoothie after three visits. A cafe might give a free pastry after five stamps. The first win should be close enough that the customer checks their progress on the second or third visit.

Ignoring the wallet pass format

Some businesses build a web page that customers must bookmark or log into. That is not a mobile loyalty card in any useful sense. Customers do not return to a saved link. A wallet loyalty pass sits in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet, shows up on the lock screen when the customer is nearby, and updates automatically with each stamp or point.

If your card requires opening a browser and typing a URL, treat it as a sign-up page only. The real card belongs in the wallet.

Launching without a staff rehearsal

A shop owner sets everything up, prints the QR codes and assumes the team will figure it out. The first customer asks how it works. The staff member shrugs. The customer walks away. That one interaction teaches the customer that the program is not worth their time.

Run a ten-minute practice before launch. Each staff member adds the card to their own phone, earns a stamp and redeems a reward. They need to know what the customer sees at each step. A team that has used the card themselves will explain it confidently.

Forgetting the redemption moment

The reward only feels real when a customer redeems it. If staff look confused or the process takes too long, the whole program loses credibility. Decide in advance how redemption works at the till, who approves it and what the customer sees on their phone. Then make the first redemption easy and public. When other customers see someone tap their phone and get a free item, they ask how to join.

Measuring Retention Beyond Signups

Signups tell you almost nothing about whether a mobile loyalty card is working. A customer can add the pass to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet in five seconds and never open it again. The number you need to watch is not how many people joined, but how many came back and spent money after joining.

Start with a simple comparison you can do in any point-of-sale system. Look at customers who joined your mobile loyalty program at least three months ago. Compare their visit frequency in the three months before joining and the three months after. If a cafe sees a regular who used to visit six times a month now visiting eight or nine times, the card is doing its job. If the number has not moved, the reward or the reminder system needs adjustment.

Track redemption, not just collection

A phone loyalty card only changes behaviour when customers actually redeem something. A salon owner should check how many loyalty members have redeemed a free or discounted service in the past 90 days. If the redemption rate is very low, the reward threshold is probably too high or too vague. A customer who needs twelve visits before earning anything will often lose interest before getting there. Lower the first reward to something reachable within four to six weeks, such as a free coffee after five purchases or a discount on a haircut after three visits.

Car washes illustrate this well. A car wash with a mobile loyalty card might offer a free basic wash after eight paid washes. If the owner sees that most members stop at three or four washes, the gap between the reward and the customer's natural visit pattern is too wide. Moving the first reward to five washes, or adding a smaller mid-point perk like a free tyre shine after three visits, gives customers a reason to keep the pass on their phone instead of deleting it.

Watch lapsed members, not just active ones

Retention is also about how quickly people drift away. A restaurant or gym should run a monthly check on loyalty members who have not scanned their phone loyalty card in 30, 60 or 90 days. A gym that sees a large drop-off after the first month may have a signup process that is too easy and an onboarding sequence that is too weak. Send a push notification or an SMS to members who have been inactive for three weeks. A simple message like "Your next visit earns you double points" costs nothing and reactivates a meaningful share of lapsed customers.

The same applies to salons. A salon owner can filter the loyalty list for clients who used to book every five or six weeks but have not returned in ten. A targeted offer tied to the mobile loyalty card, such as bonus points on their next colour service, is far cheaper than acquiring a new client and often brings back customers who simply forgot to rebook.

Compare loyalty members against non-members

The clearest retention signal comes from a side-by-side view. Pull a list of customers who joined the mobile loyalty program at least six months ago. Pull a similar list of customers who have visited in the same period but never joined. Compare average visits per month and average spend per visit. If the gap is small or nonexistent, the program is not creating loyalty; it is just giving discounts to people who would have come anyway. That means the reward structure, the communication cadence or the in-store mention of the card needs to change.

For a cafe, the practical fix might be a time-based reward rather than a purchase-based one. Instead of only offering a free drink after ten purchases, add a bonus for visiting before 9am on weekdays. That shifts behaviour in a way that shows up clearly in the retention numbers. For a car wash, the fix might be a weather-triggered reminder sent to wallet loyalty pass holders after a rainy day. The goal is not more signups. It is more repeat visits from people who already have your card on their phone.

How PassHive handles this

PassHive is a tool for issuing mobile loyalty cards that customers save to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet. This site is published by the team that builds PassHive, so we can describe exactly what it does and does not do.

The core idea is simple: you design a card with your shop’s name, colour and logo, then customers add it to their phone wallet by scanning a QR code at the counter or opening a link. There is no app download for them. The card sits in the wallet next to payment cards and boarding passes, and it updates itself when you add a stamp or points.

Two card types are available. A stamp card works like a paper loyalty card: buy nine coffees, get the tenth free. A points card works the other way: each visit adds points, and you decide what the points are worth. You choose which fits your business.

You can design the card and preview it on iPhone and Android for free. You pay only when you go live. Larger groups pay by branch count: $25 per month for up to 275 branches, $50 for up to 600, and $100 for up to 1,250. Yearly billing gives two months free. You can see the full breakdown on PassHive pricing.

The card can send push notifications to saved cards, such as “your reward is ready” or a quiet offer on a slow Tuesday. Google limits these to roughly three messages per card per day. Apple and Google also support location-based lock-screen reminders near your shop. Apple allows up to 10 locations per card with a radius of about 200 metres; Google uses merchant locations. The phone decides when to show the reminder, so phrase this as “can remind” rather than a guarantee.

If you run a chain and close one branch, you can turn that branch off at any time. Its cards stop working immediately, and you stop paying for that branch.

For developers or agencies, PassHive has a public REST API with API keys. Documentation is at passhive.app/docs.

PassHive is not a POS and not an e-commerce plugin. It has no named integrations with Shopify, Square, Toast or similar systems. If you need a card that talks to your existing checkout, you or your developer would use the API.

A common comparison is PassKit. PassKit charges from $39.50 per month and includes 250 passes, then adds per-pass fees. At 10,000 customers, PassKit is about $341 per month; PassHive is still $10.

If you want to see how a card looks on your own phone before committing, you can start designing your card free.

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.