Definition
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.
Also called Google Pay, Android Wallet.
The architectural difference from Apple
Apple pushes; Google mirrors. With Apple the pass file lives on the phone and a push tells it to come and refresh. With Google the authoritative copy is an object on Google’s servers, and the phone reflects whatever that object says. Neither is better, but a product has to implement both, and the Google half is the one that is quietly missed — a card created only inside the save link is frozen at the balance it had when the customer tapped save, and never changes again.
How a customer adds one
A save link, usually behind a QR code or a button. Tapping it shows a preview of the card and an add button, and that is the entire process: no download, no Google account setup beyond the one the phone already has, no password. From the café’s side it is the same code the iPhone customers scan, with the phone deciding which wallet it belongs in.
What a loyalty card carries
A programme name, the business’s logo and colours, a balance, a barcode staff can scan, and a few blocks of text for the reward and the terms. There is room for a banner image across the top, which is the main visual difference from the Apple layout, where the equivalent artwork sits behind the stamps rather than above them.
Questions
- Is Google Wallet the same as Google Pay?
- They have overlapped and been renamed more than once. For loyalty purposes it is the app on an Android phone that holds cards and passes, and a save link puts a card into it.
- Do Android customers get the same card as iPhone customers?
- The same programme, balance and barcode, laid out to each platform’s own design. A customer who switches phone keeps their balance, because it belongs to the café rather than the handset.
Related terms
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.
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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