GOOGLE WALLET
A Google Wallet loyalty card is a pass an Android customer adds to Google Wallet and shows at the counter. A loyalty or prepaid card saved to Google Wallet, next to the boarding passes and payment cards. What it takes, and what happens for the customers carrying an iPhone.
A saved loyalty object: your business name, colour and logo, a barcode, and a points balance that Google displays. It is not a file the customer downloads — it is a record held in their Google account, which is why it stays current across their devices.
When you record a visit, the balance is updated where Google holds it. The customer does not reopen anything; the card in their wallet simply shows the new number.
Google requires an issuer account, a service account key to sign save links, and — before passes can be saved by the public — publishing access granted by Google after a review. That review is the real barrier for a small business: it is a one-off process, but it stands between you and your first saved card.
Using a service means the issuer account, the signing key and the approval are already in place.
Google Wallet is Android. iPhone customers use Apple Wallet, which is a different format with its own certificate. Returnpass holds both, so the same link offers whichever fits the phone that opened it, and the balance updates on either.
Nobody has to be asked what phone they carry. The Apple Wallet side is covered here.
Yes, through an issuer account with publishing access. Google reviews an issuer before the public can save passes, which is a one-off process most small businesses would rather not run themselves. Returnpass issues under its own approved issuer account.
Google Wallet is already on most Android phones. They open a link and tap save. There is no account to create with us and nothing to install.
iPhone customers are offered Apple Wallet from the same link, and the pass behaves the same way. Anyone who would rather not use a wallet keeps the link itself, which shows the same balance.
Yes. Recording a visit updates the object Google holds, so the card shows the new balance without the customer doing anything.
Google does not charge for loyalty passes. Returnpass is free for five active passes and then priced by how many customers currently hold one.
Yes. Google shows a primary points balance and a secondary one, so a pass that is both a prepaid block and a stamp card displays both — and you choose at the counter which a scan spends.
Five active passes free, no card required. Two minutes to see what an Android customer sees.