Google Wallet and Apple Wallet for business: a loyalty card with no app

What a wallet card is

Every smartphone has a digital wallet: Google Wallet on Android and Apple Wallet on iPhone. People keep credit cards, boarding passes, concert tickets and loyalty cards in it. In the developer world, a card like this is called a pass.

Google writes that loyalty cards in the wallet help users redeem their points efficiently, and that saving them in the wallet reduces clutter and gives quick access. To find the card, you open Google Wallet, swipe and choose.

Apple lists loyalty cards, points cards and gift cards among the types of passes in the wallet, and notes that they can be updated to show the current balance.

How a customer adds the card

1. Scan the QR code on the sign at the register.
2. Type a phone number and get a code.
3. Press the button to add to the wallet: Google Wallet on Android, Apple Wallet on iPhone.

According to Google, the "Add to Google Wallet" button opens the Google Wallet app, where the customer follows the instructions and saves the card on the phone and in their Google account.

The customer has no reception? The staff member signs them up from the scanner. And a customer whose phone is in Arabic gets everything in Arabic.

Android versus iPhone

Both wallets do the same job, but not in the same way. This is how it looks in Shortip:

Why the sound on Android is only once a day

Google limits notifications. According to its documentation, up to 3 messages that trigger a notification can be sent every 24 hours. One card can get, on the same day, both a service message from you and a message about a full card.

So in Shortip, a card on Android makes a sound only on its first visit of the day. A second visit on the same day still updates the line on the card, just without sound.

How the iPhone knows the card changed

According to Apple's documentation, the phone registers the pass with the server of whoever issued it. When something changes, the server sends a notification, and the phone downloads the updated pass. In Shortip, after every visit a line appears like "Visit added. 2 more visits to your reward: coffee".

The card that appears near the business

Apple lets a pass show on the lock screen when it is relevant, and gives an example: a gym membership card, when you arrive at the gym. Each pass can have up to 10 locations.

In Shortip it works like this: near the business, the iPhone suggests the card on its own on the lock screen. The staff member does not wait for the customer to search for it on the phone.

What the business sets on the card

Google lists what the issuer of a loyalty card sets on it: the logo, the program name, the background color and a main image. The layout itself, where the name goes and where the logo goes, is set by Google and Apple.

That is actually good. The customer knows the layout from other cards, and immediately finds what they are looking for. In Shortip you set your business's colors, logo and stamp.

What happens at the register

The customer opens the wallet and shows the card. Each staff member uses their own phone: scans the card and presses the button. The scan only identifies. The visit is recorded only when the staff member presses.

Forgot their phone? Find them by number. Reception dropped? The visit is saved and sent when it comes back. And there is also a way without scanning: the staff member offers an NFC sticker, the customer brings the phone close, and the visit is recorded.

A moment later, the wallet card already shows the new number. The customer sees it without opening anything.

And beyond counting, each customer has their own page: how many visits, what they got, when the next reward is. It also has the business address, today's hours, a call button and directions. In their birthday month the card reminds them of the benefit you set, and the customer can send a friend the link to join.

A wallet card or the business's own app

For a large business with many services, an app can make sense. For a cafe, a hair salon or a studio, the wallet does the job without the customer having to decide to download anything.

Privacy

• Joining only with a code sent to the customer's phone.
• What reaches the card: the line after a visit, and a service message like "Closed today", once a day.
• The customer is in control: they can delete the card or ask for no advertising.
• Changed phones? The card is restored with a code, and the visits stay.

Frequently asked questions