Google Wallet and Apple Wallet for business: passes, buttons, notifications and requirements
Google Wallet and Apple Wallet are the wallets built into Android phones and the iPhone. Besides payment cards, they hold passes from businesses: loyalty cards, coupons, gift cards and tickets. In this guide you'll see which types of pass exist, how a customer adds one, how passes update, what each platform requires to issue them and when it makes sense to use a platform.
What a Wallet pass is
A pass is a digital card that lives in the phone's wallet. It carries the business's logo, a few customer details (their name, their stamps) and almost always a QR code that gets scanned at the register.
The customer doesn't install anything. Apple says so in its guide to getting started with Wallet: a pass can be added without installing the related app, and a pass can even have no app behind it at all.
Pass types on each platform
Both platforms sort passes by use:
| Use | Google Wallet | Apple Wallet |
|---|---|---|
| Loyalty or points | Loyalty Cards | Store cards |
| Coupons | Offers | Coupons |
| Gift card | Gift Cards | Store cards |
| Other cases | Generic Pass | Generic passes |
At Apple, store cards cover loyalty, discount, points and gift cards (Apple Wallet for developers). Google recommends the generic pass when your case doesn't fit the defined types (Google Wallet overview). For a coffee shop or a bakery, the usual choice is the loyalty card, which works like a digital stamp card.
How a customer adds a pass
It all starts with a link. When the customer taps it, the phone shows the pass and a button to save it. The link can arrive like this:
- A QR code printed at the counter.
- The Google Wallet button or the Apple Wallet badge on your website or in an email.
- A text message or another kind of message.
For loyalty passes, Apple lists the app, App Clips, SMS, email, NFC tags and QR codes (Apple loyalty passes). With Google, the link carries a signed token (JWT) and saving can only be started from a signed-in Google account (issue passes via web, email or SMS).
How the pass updates after a purchase
The pass stays connected to the business's server. When the cashier adds a stamp, the data changes on the server and the wallet receives the new version.
At Apple, the phone registers the pass with your server using an identifier and a token. When something changes, your server sends an empty notification through Apple's service (APNs) and the phone requests the updated pass. HTTPS is required in production (web service for updating passes). At Google, the business modifies the pass through the API and the change shows up in the wallet.
An example with hypothetical data: Ana buys a coffee, the cashier scans her code and her card goes from 4 to 5 stamps. The next time she opens her wallet, she sees the 5 stamps.
Notifications and their limits
On its page about push notifications, Google sets, as of October 2026, a maximum of 3 messages that trigger a notification within 24 hours, and a separate maximum of 3 updates that trigger one in the same period. Only some fields trigger an alert when they change, the customer has to have notifications turned on, and Google may lower your quota if it decides you're sending spam.
Apple allows one change message per field, along the lines of "You now have 6 stamps." Its Wallet design guidelines ask you to use it only when the person needs to know and never for marketing. Letting customers know their card is full makes sense; sending the promo of the day doesn't. To bring people back without overwhelming them, see how to get your customers to come back.
What you need to issue passes on your own
Google Wallet
- Create a Google Wallet API issuer account and, if you don't develop for Android, a Google Cloud account (loyalty cards in Google Wallet).
- The account starts in demo mode: it only issues passes to users with an admin or developer role, or to test accounts, with the label "[TEST ONLY]".
- To issue to any user, you complete the business profile, create at least one pass class and request publishing access in the Google Pay & Wallet Console. The Google Wallet team reviews the request (publishing access).
Apple Wallet
- Be a member of the Apple Developer Program. As of October 2026, the program page lists "$99 annual membership."
- Sign every pass with a certificate issued by Apple. If it expires, installed passes keep working, but you can't sign new passes or send updates. If it's revoked, they stop working properly (Apple, get started with Wallet).
- Set up the HTTPS server that registers phones and sends updates.
Reading the pass by holding the iPhone to an NFC reader requires a separate certificate and certified terminals, according to Apple's loyalty passes page. At a small counter, the cashier can scan the QR code with a phone.
Brand rules for the buttons
Google requires its official buttons: they come only in black, you can't change the font, color or corner radius, they're at least 48 dp tall and they need 8 dp of clear space. If there's no version in your language, you use the English one.
Apple requires its official badges: SVG for web and email, EPS for print pieces with a QR code, with no rotating or animating. The badge stays secondary to your brand, and in an email it's worth explaining how to open it on an iPhone, because the customer may be reading on a computer.
Privacy
At Apple, iCloud copies passes to all of the user's devices (Apple, get started with Wallet). Show only what's needed to serve the customer on the pass: a first name and the stamps are enough.
At sign-up, ask only for the data you'll actually use, explain why you're keeping it and check your country's personal data law.
Build it yourself or use a platform
Doing it on your own means two integrations, Google's review, Apple's membership and certificates, an update server and a web version for people who don't use Wallet. It makes sense if you already have a development team and your own app.
For a shop with one or two counters, a platform is usually the better fit. Club Card, for example, delivers the stamp card in Google Wallet and Apple Wallet with the business's brand, and anyone who doesn't use Wallet opens it in their browser (pricing). If you run a coffee shop, the guide to a coffee shop loyalty program brings all this down to day-to-day practice.
Frequently asked questions
Does the customer need to download an app to save a pass?
No. Apple states that a pass can be added without installing the business's app, and with Google it's saved from a link while signed in to a Google account.
How many notifications can I send through Google Wallet?
As of October 2026, up to 3 messages and 3 updates that trigger a notification within 24 hours. If you go over, the API returns a quota error.
Does Google Wallet work in my country?
As of October 2026, Google's country list includes Argentina, Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Uruguay, among others. Some passes are only available in certain countries or on certain devices, so test yours before you print the QR code.
Sources
- Google Wallet, Google for Developers
- Loyalty card overview, Google for Developers
- Issue passes: web, email, SMS, Google for Developers
- Trigger Push Notifications, Google for Developers
- Request publishing access, Google for Developers
- Brand guidelines, Google for Developers
- Google Wallet availability by country, Google Wallet Help
- Wallet, Apple Developer
- Get started with Wallet, Apple Developer
- Loyalty passes, Apple Developer
- Adding a web service to update passes, Apple Developer
- Wallet, Human Interface Guidelines, Apple
- Add to Apple Wallet guidelines, Apple Developer
- Apple Developer Program, Apple
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