What a pass is
An Apple Wallet pass is a small signed file. It carries your logo, your colours, a few fields (stamps, member name, next reward), a barcode, and the address of a server that can update it. Apple calls the loyalty kind a store card. Once added, it sits in the Wallet app next to bank cards and boarding passes and is rarely deleted.
How it gets onto the phone
- The customer opens your join page
From a tap on an NFC stand or a QR scan. The page runs in Safari; nothing is installed.
- They press Add to Apple Wallet
Apple's own button. The phone downloads the pass file, checks its signature against the issuer's certificate, and shows a preview.
- They tap Add
The pass is now in Wallet. In the background the phone tells the issuer's server 'this device holds this pass', which is how updates reach it later.
How a stamp reaches the card
When staff scan the card at the till, our server records the visit and sends the phone a silent push. The phone then asks the server for the new version of the pass and swaps it in. The whole round trip takes a few seconds. If the stamps are drawn into the card's image, the image is re-rendered too, so the lock screen shows five filled circles instead of four.
A field marked as changed shows a short notice on the lock screen: "Stamp 5 of 8". That is the only notification; there is no sound unless the card is full and the reward field changes.
The lock screen near your shop
A pass can carry up to ten locations. When the phone decides it is near one, it puts the pass on the lock screen with the short text the issuer attached to that location. This happens on the phone, offline, and the phone tells nobody it did so. Apple does not report it to the business, and neither can any product built on Wallet. The distance is roughly 100 metres and is Apple's decision, not a setting.
What the customer controls
The back of the pass carries whatever links the issuer puts there. Ours carry four: the terms, change what we send you, see or download your data, delete your account. The customer can also remove the pass at any time from Wallet, which tells the issuer's server to stop sending updates.
See one on your own iPhone
On a fifteen-minute call we build your card and add it to your Wallet before we hang up.
Questions
Does the customer need an Apple ID or iCloud?+
Only what any iPhone already has. Nothing extra is created.
Does it work on Apple Watch?+
Yes. Passes in Wallet appear on a paired Apple Watch, barcode included, so a customer can be stamped from their wrist.
Can the business see where the customer is?+
No. Location checks run on the phone. The business sees the till scan and nothing about movement.