Definition
Apple Wallet
Apple Wallet is the app built into every iPhone that holds passes: boarding passes, tickets, payment cards and loyalty cards. A business can issue a loyalty card into it, and update that card remotely so the customer’s stamp count is always current.
Also called PassKit, iPhone Wallet.
Why it matters for a café
It is already on the phone. Every iPhone ships with it, most people have used it for a boarding pass, and adding a card takes a scan and a single tap. That removes the step where loyalty programmes usually die — asking somebody in a queue to install an app — and it is the reason wallet-based loyalty converts at a completely different rate from app-based loyalty.
How updates reach the card
Apple does not allow a server to edit a pass in place. The pass registers the device with the issuing business, and when something changes the business sends a silent push that tells the phone to fetch the current version. The customer sees a number that is simply correct; they never refresh anything. If a phone is offline the update waits and arrives later, so nothing is lost.
What it will not do
A pass in Apple Wallet is not a marketing channel. It can update quietly and it can appear on the lock screen when it is relevant, but a business cannot push promotional messages through it at will, and treating it as though it can is how customers end up deleting the card. Anything that looks like a newsletter belongs somewhere else.
Questions
- Does a loyalty card in Apple Wallet work without signal?
- The card displays fine offline — it is on the device. Adding a stamp needs a connection on the staff side, and the balance catches up on the customer’s phone the next time it has one.
- Do customers need an Apple account to add a card?
- No. Adding a pass requires no sign-in, no App Store visit and no account with the café either.
Related terms
Google Wallet
Google Wallet is the app on Android phones that stores payment cards, tickets and loyalty cards. A loyalty card added to it is held as a record on Google’s servers, and the phone mirrors that record — so updating it on the server updates what the customer sees.
Wallet pass
A wallet pass is a digital card held in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet — the same container as a boarding pass, event ticket or bank card. Unlike a screenshot, a pass can be updated by whoever issued it, so a loyalty balance changes on the phone without the customer doing anything.
Pass update
A pass update is the process by which a card already sitting in a customer’s wallet is changed — most often to show a new stamp count. It happens without the customer opening anything, which is what separates a live loyalty card from a picture of one.
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