How to put a loyalty stamp card in Apple and Google Wallet, and pair it with online booking

To put a stamp card in Apple Wallet and Google Wallet, you give each customer a pass from a link, and your booking system updates that pass every time they visit. There is no app to download: Apple calls it a store card, Google calls it a loyalty object, and both phones redraw the card with the new stamp on their own.

Most UK adults are already set up to pay with their phone: 65% of them were registered for at least one mobile payment service in 2025, up from 57% in 2024, according to UK Finance’s UK Payment Markets Report 2025, published in August 2026.

I build online booking with Wallet stamp cards for local service businesses: a car care business where every car gets its own card, and a dog club where every dog has a membership. Here is how the pieces work, checked against Apple’s and Google’s developer docs.

How does a digital loyalty card (stamp card) in Wallet work?

1. The customer books online. The booking creates their record, and the confirmation page shows an Add to Apple Wallet or Add to Google Wallet button.
2. They tap it once. The card sits in Wallet next to their bank cards, with the business name, the stamps and a barcode.
3. They turn up. Staff scan the barcode or open the booking and mark the visit done.
4. The server adds the stamp. Apple or Google tells the phone, and the card redraws.
5. The card fills up. The reward shows. Staff scan it to use the reward, and the count starts again.

The server holds the count and the card only shows it.

How do you make an Apple Wallet loyalty card?

Apple’s format is a pass: a signed bundle with a .pkpass extension. For loyalty you use the store card style, Apple’s pass type for loyalty, gift and points cards. The steps, from Apple’s Building a Pass:

1. Join the Apple Developer Program, at $99 a year, for access to Certificates, Identifiers and Profiles.
2. Create a pass type identifier, a reverse-DNS string for your business and card.
3. Generate a Pass Type ID certificate from a certificate signing request.
4. Write pass.json: name, serial number, colours, stamp count, barcode, and the webServiceURL and authenticationToken that let you update it later.
5. Add the images. On store cards, a strip image runs across the card, a natural place for the row of stamps.
6. Sign and package it. Write manifest.json with a SHA-1 hash of every file, sign it with a PKCS #7 detached signature using the certificate, zip the folder and rename it to .pkpass.

Apple treats each pass type identifier plus serial number as one unique pass. So one card per car is simply one serial number per car.

Passes can be handed out from a web page, by email or from an app (Apple). For a local business, the booking confirmation page is the one that matters.

How does an Apple Wallet pass update after each visit?

Apple’s web service guide sets out the loop:

1. When the customer adds the pass, their phone registers it with your server and sends a device ID and a push token.
2. After a visit, your server sends a push through Apple’s push service, with an empty payload.
3. The phone asks your server which passes changed, then downloads each new version.

The lock-screen message comes from a field’s changeMessage, a format string such as Stamps: %@, where Wallet fills in the new value. Leave it out and the card updates quietly. Two catches from the same guide: the web service must use HTTPS in production, and update pushes only work in the production environment.

How do you make a Google Wallet loyalty card?

Google splits the card in two. A loyalty class is the programme, shared by everyone: name, logo, colours. A loyalty object is one customer’s card in that programme, with their account, points balance and barcode. The flow:

1. Set up an issuer account in the Google Pay and Wallet console.
2. Create the loyalty class once.
3. Create a loyalty object per customer, or per car, or per dog.
4. Sign it. Put the object in a JSON Web Token signed with your Google Cloud service account key. That token becomes the Add to Google Wallet link.
5. Ask to go live. New issuer accounts start in demo mode, where only test accounts can save passes and each pass is marked “[TEST ONLY]”, until the Google Wallet team grants publishing access.

To add a stamp, you patch the object’s loyaltyPoints.balance. Per Google’s update guide, changing the class updates every holder, while changing an object affects only that customer.

Can Google Wallet send a notification when a stamp is added?

Yes, within a limit set out in Google’s push notification guide. Add notifyPreference: notifyOnUpdate to the update, and a change to loyaltyPoints.balance puts a notification on the lock screen. You can also add a message with the type TEXT_AND_NOTIFY. Both share one cap: 3 notifications per pass in 24 hours, and the customer must have Wallet notifications switched on.

So I spend Wallet notifications on the stamp and the reward, and send booking confirmations by email or message. Switch the demo above to Android and book a few times to watch the cap kick in.

Can the card show up when the customer is nearby?

• Apple lets a pass list up to 10 locations, and Wallet can put it on the lock screen near one of them. Test on a real phone: Simulator does not show passes on the lock screen (Apple).
• Google takes up to 10 locations per class and 10 per object, and reminds customers who gave Google Wallet precise, always-on location access. Google decides the distance and the wording (Google).

A good extra, not the business case.

Can customers tap the card on a reader?

They can, and a small business rarely needs it. Apple’s NFC passes need a special entitlement issued by Apple, and Google’s Smart Tap needs a certified terminal. Staff scanning the barcode with a phone does the same job on day one.

Wallet card, paper card or loyalty app: which is better?

• Paper stamp card. Cheap, and everyone takes one. It gets lost, is easy to fill by hand, and tells the owner nothing: no name, no visit history, no way to invite someone back.
• Loyalty app. It can do the most, but the customer has to find it, download it and make an account before the first stamp. A local business is asking for space next to apps people already use.
• Wallet card. One tap from the booking page, no account, and it updates itself. The limits: Apple’s and Google’s templates decide the layout, Google caps notifications, and you run a small server.

Why pair the stamp card with online booking?

Because the booking is where the card gets its data.

• Every customer gets a card. It is issued with the booking, so nobody has to remember to offer one.
• A stamp is a tap on a booking. The visit is already in the system, so staff close it and the stamp follows.
• No-shows are visible. A missed slot is recorded against the card, so the owner sees who books and does not come.
• Repeat visits become a number, not a feeling.
• The card can belong to the thing. One card per car, per dog or per member, each with its own count.

What’s the best booking system for a small business or salon?

For most small salons, a ready-made system is the right start, and several have a free plan. A custom booking system with a Wallet card pays off when loyalty is part of what you sell, or when the card has to belong to a car, a dog or a membership instead of a person.

Here is what the main options charge, from their own pricing pages on 15 October 2026.

• Square Appointments, UK. Free plan at £0 a month for a single location. Plus is £29 and Premium £69 a month per location. In-person card payments are 1.75% on Free and 1.6% on the paid plans, and online UK cards are 1.4% + 25p. Square Loyalty is separate: £25 to £65 a month per location, depending on loyalty visits.
• Fresha. $19.95 a month for a one-person business, or $14.95 per team member a month, in US dollars; prices differ by country. Client loyalty is a paid add-on per location.
• Booksy, UK. £40 a month with all features, plus £5 a month for each extra staff member. Its Boost marketplace charges a one-time 30% fee, minimum £5, on a new client’s first visit. Card payments are 1.29% + 20p + VAT.
• SimplyBook.me. Free for 50 bookings a month and one provider. Basic is €11.90 a month billed yearly (100 bookings, 5 providers), Standard €24.90 (500 bookings, 15 providers) and Premium €49.90 (2,000 bookings, 30 providers). SimplyBook itself takes no fee per booking.
• Calendly. Free for one event type and one calendar connection. Standard is $10 and Teams $16 a seat a month, billed yearly. It is made for scheduling meetings, so it suits a consultant better than a salon with chairs, staff and services.

How I’d pick between them:

1. One person, standard services. Start on a free plan and pay the card fees.
2. A team. Price it per person, since Fresha, Booksy and Calendly all charge more as you add staff.
3. New clients from a marketplace. Booksy’s Boost fee is what a new client costs you, so compare it with what else you spend to win one.
4. Loyalty. Check whether it is built in or an add-on, and whether the card can live in Apple and Google Wallet.

Is there a free booking system?

Yes. Square Appointments, SimplyBook.me and Calendly all have free plans that cost nothing a month. Each has a limit: one location on Square, 50 bookings a month on SimplyBook.me, one event type on Calendly. You still pay card processing fees when customers pay online.

How much does it cost to create a loyalty app?

There is no fixed price, since it depends on what you build. The fixed parts are small and published.

• Apple Developer Program: $99 a year, needed for Wallet passes and for an iPhone app.
• Google Play developer account: a one-time US$25 registration fee, needed only for an Android app. A Google Wallet card comes from an issuer account in the Google Pay and Wallet console instead.
• Ready-made Wallet stamp cards: Loopy Loyalty lists $25 a month for one card design and one location, up to $95 a month for ten of each.

The rest is the build and a small server. A Wallet card skips the app store, the download and the account, which is why I build loyalty as a card first.

When does a custom booking system with a Wallet card make sense?

• The card belongs to a thing. One card per car, per dog or per membership, each with its own count.
• Your rewards follow your own rules, such as bigger jobs earning more stamps, which a ready-made loyalty add-on may not offer.
• You pay for several tools that don’t talk to each other: booking, loyalty and messages, each charged per staff member or per location.
• You want your own brand and your own customer list, kept in your own database and locked down (this is how I check that), not a listing next to other businesses on a marketplace.
• You want the visit, the no-show and the stamp in one record, as in the pairing above.

If none of those apply, a ready-made system on a free or low plan is the right call.

What I built for a car care business and a dog club

A car care business. Booking in any phone browser, a staff view to run the day, and a Wallet stamp card per car, not per person. Bigger jobs earn more stamps, so more work on the car earns better offers.

A dog club. Every dog has a member card. Owners book stays and day care online, staff run the day from one dashboard, and the card belongs to the dog, not the owner.

Both run in the browser with no app to install. I built them with AI in the loop as I describe in can one person with AI do a whole team’s work.

Questions people ask

Do customers need to download an app for a Wallet loyalty card?

No. Apple Wallet is built into the iPhone, and on Android the customer saves the card to Google Wallet from a link. One tap from the booking page in both cases.

Does a digital stamp card work on both iPhone and Android?

Yes, as two builds: a .pkpass for Apple Wallet, and a loyalty class with one object per card for Google Wallet.

What does it cost to issue Apple Wallet passes?

Apple requires an Apple Developer Program membership, $99 a year, for the pass type ID and signing certificate. On top of that you pay for the build and a small server that holds the counts and sends the updates.

What stops someone faking stamps?

The count lives on your server, not on the card. A stamp only lands when staff close a booking, and the card shows whatever the server says.

What happens if a customer deletes the card or changes phone?

They add it again from the same link. The stamps are on your server, so the new card shows the same count.

What is the best free booking system for a small business?

Square Appointments, SimplyBook.me and Calendly all have free plans. Square’s covers a single location, SimplyBook.me’s covers 50 bookings a month and Calendly’s covers one event type. Card fees still apply when customers pay.

How much does a loyalty app cost?

The published fixed costs are Apple’s $99 a year and, for an Android app, Google Play’s US$25 once. Ready-made Wallet stamp card services start at $25 a month. A custom build adds design, build and a small server on top.

How much does loyalty program software cost?

On their own pricing pages, Square Loyalty is £25 to £65 a month per location, depending on loyalty visits, and Loopy Loyalty lists $25 a month for one card design and one location, up to $95 a month for ten of each. Fresha sells client loyalty as a paid add-on per location. Before you compare prices, check whether the card can live in Apple and Google Wallet and whether it is tied to your bookings.

If you need online booking and a Wallet stamp card built for your business, see booking and Wallet loyalty cards or write to m@tawfik.tv.