How to Add a Loyalty Card to Apple Wallet & Google Wallet

How to add a loyalty card to Apple Wallet

1. Scan the QR code the business shows at the counter, on the table or on your receipt with your iPhone camera. Or open the link they sent you by text or email.
2. The card page opens in Safari. Fill in any sign-up fields, then tap Add to Apple Wallet.
3. Check the card preview and tap Add in the top-right corner.
4. Open the Wallet app. The card sits with your other passes and updates itself when you earn stamps or points.

Once it’s added, tap the card and then the more (…) button to see the back of the card. There you can turn on automatic updates and, where the business supports it, notifications when you’re nearby.

Adding a plastic or paper loyalty card

Apple Wallet only accepts passes that a business or an app issues. Its own app has no option to scan the barcode on a plastic or paper loyalty card. You have two options:

• Ask the business if they have a digital card. Many now do, and it’s usually a QR code at the till.
• Use a third-party app that turns a barcode into a pass. That shows the barcode at checkout, but the business can’t update it, so you won’t see your stamps or points.

Google Wallet on Android

It works the same way: scan the QR code or open the link, then tap Add to Google Wallet. Google Wallet also lets you add some loyalty cards by hand: open Google Wallet, tap Add to Wallet, chooseLoyalty, then find the program or scan the card’s barcode.

For businesses: how to offer an Apple Wallet loyalty card

Customers can only add your card if you issue it as a wallet pass. Apple requires every pass to be signed with a certificate from an Apple Developer account. A loyalty tool handles that for you, so in practice it takes five steps:

1. Pick a loyalty tool that issues Apple Wallet and Google Wallet cards (see below).
2. Design the card: your logo, colours, and the reward (for example, 10 stamps for a free coffee).
3. Print the sign-up QR code for the counter, tables and receipts, and add the link to your website and socials.
4. Staff scan the customer’s card at checkout with a phone or tablet to add stamps or points.
5. Send updates through the card: a reminder when a reward is ready, or an offer for a quiet afternoon.

Customers sign up in seconds with no app to download, the card can’t be lost, and you get a way to reach them again.

Tools that create Apple and Google Wallet loyalty cards

• Revio: points, stamps, tiers and referrals on one wallet card. Our top pick.
• Loopy Loyalty: a simple wallet stamp card from $25 a month.
• Stamp Me: stamp cards with a tap device for the counter.
• BonusQR: wallet cards on a free-forever plan.
• Boomerangme: many card types, plus SMS and email.

See them ranked side by side in the best digital loyalty card apps.