Wallet loyalty passes are documented in public, by the two companies that built them, and most of the questions businesses ask have a published answer. The twenty below are taken from Apple’s Wallet Developer Guide and Google’s Wallet documentation, fetched on 5 September 2026, with the exact page named for each in the source note on this article.
Two answers are about Fideliya rather than about the platforms, and they say so. Everything else is the platform’s own statement about itself.
| Question | Apple Wallet | Google Wallet |
|---|---|---|
| Loyalty style | storeCard | Loyalty class plus loyalty object |
| How a customer adds it | Mail or Safari, application/vnd.apple.pkpass | A signed JWT link |
| How it updates | Your web service plus a push over HTTPS | Class or object update through the API |
| Message limit | Not stated as a count | 3 push-triggering messages in 24 hours |
| Delivery promise | Pushes are not guaranteed to be delivered | The user must have notifications enabled |
| Companion app | Passes should not require one | Links work on the web, in email and in SMS |
What is a wallet loyalty pass?
Apple describes passes as a digital representation of information that might otherwise be printed on small pieces of paper or plastic, and says they can contain images and a barcode and be updated using push notifications. The technology has three parts: a package format, a web service API for updates, and an API for apps to read the pass library.
Which Apple pass type is a loyalty card?
The store card. Apple states that the storeCard key is appropriate for store loyalty cards, discount cards, points cards and gift cards. The other four styles are boarding passes, coupons, event tickets and generic passes, and Apple gives gym membership cards and metro passes carrying a balance as generic examples.
Does a customer need an app?
No. Apple states that users do not need to have your app installed to add your passes to Wallet, and adds that passes should not require a companion app. That is the platform’s own position, not a vendor’s marketing line, and it is the reason a wallet loyalty card can be joined at a counter in one tap.
How does a customer add a pass on an iPhone?
Through Mail or Safari. Apple states both have supported passes since iOS 6 and macOS v10.8.2, that on iOS they add passes to the pass library directly, and that on macOS they use iCloud to add them to the user’s iOS devices. Both expect the application/vnd.apple.pkpass MIME type.
How does a customer add a pass on Android?
Through an Add to Google Wallet link. Google states the link is a dynamically generated URL containing an encoded and signed JSON Web Token, in the form pay.google.com/gp/v/save followed by that token, and that it works anywhere hyperlinks work, including websites, email and SMS.
What is inside the Add to Google Wallet link?
A signed JWT describing the pass. Google states that the safe length of an encoded JWT is 1800 characters, recommends presenting the link as an Add to Google Wallet button on surfaces that support hyperlinked images, and notes that saving can only be initiated in the context of a logged-in Google identity.
Does the customer have to approve the pass?
Yes. Apple states that adding passes to Wallet requires explicit permission and that the user must always see and approve the pass before it is added. There is no silent install path on either platform, which also means a pass cannot be pushed onto a phone that never asked for it.
How does a pass update after it is issued?
Apple describes a web service on the issuer’s server, reached over HTTPS, that devices register with after a pass is installed. When the pass changes, the server sends a push notification to the registered devices, and the device fetches the new version and compares it against the one it held.
Are wallet notifications guaranteed to arrive?
No, and this is the most useful sentence in either document. Apple states that push notifications are not guaranteed to be delivered and that multiple push notifications from the same source are coalesced into a single notification. Google states that users must have notifications enabled for their passes to receive them.
How many messages can a Google Wallet pass send?
Google states a maximum of 3 messages that trigger a push notification in a 24 hour period, and describes TEXT_AND_NOTIFY as the message type that adds a message to the pass details and triggers the notification. Update notifications on specific fields are subject to the same ceiling.
What is a change message on an Apple pass?
A per-field string shown when that field’s value changes. Apple states that if the value of a field has changed and the field specifies a change message, the device shows the message, and warns that change messages interrupt the user and are typically appropriate only for time-sensitive information.
What can never change on a pass?
Two things. Apple states that any field on a pass can be updated except for the authentication token and the serial number, and warns specifically against changing the authentication token in an update, because passes are not guaranteed to update and some devices may still hold the old token.
What identifies a pass uniquely?
Apple states that the combination of pass type identifier and serial number is used throughout PassKit to uniquely identify a pass, and that two passes of the same type with the same serial number are understood to be the same pass even if other information on them differs. The serial number is opaque to PassKit.
Which barcode formats can an Apple pass use?
Apple names PKBarcodeFormatQR, PKBarcodeFormatPDF417, PKBarcodeFormatAztec and PKBarcodeFormatCode128 as valid on iOS 9 and later, so none of them needs a fallback. It also notes that watchOS does not support Code128, and that a pass carrying only a Code128 barcode displays no barcode there at all.
How many fields fit on the front?
Apple states that a pass can generally have up to three header fields, a single primary field, up to four secondary fields and up to four auxiliary fields. Coupons, store cards and generic passes with a square barcode carry up to four secondary and auxiliary fields combined. The back of the pass can have as many fields as needed.
Which images does a store card use?
Apple lists logo, icon and strip for the store card style. The logo image sits in the top left corner beside the logo text with 160 by 50 points allotted, and Apple notes it should usually be narrower. The icon, shown on the lock screen and in Mail, measures 29 by 29 points.
Can one pass be shown in more than one language?
Yes. Apple states a pass can be localized in three ways: by displaying numbers and dates in the localized format, by providing localized strings, and by providing localized images. Each localization needs its own .lproj directory, and images that do not need localizing sit at the top level of the pass.
Can a loyalty pass appear near the shop?
Within limits Apple publishes. A pass can carry up to ten relevant locations, each with longitude, latitude and optional altitude, and up to ten unique beacon UUIDs. Apple also states that a store card does not support a relevant date, so a loyalty card cannot claim relevance by time the way an event ticket can.
What is a Google Wallet class and object?
Google states that passes issued to users are created by combining a passes class with a passes object. The class is the template that every holder of that pass shares; the object is one person’s card. Google offers a REST API and an Android SDK for issuing and managing both.
What does a business need before issuing passes?
Five things, four from Apple and one from Google.
- A pass type identifier that matches the signing certificate.
- A team identifier matching that certificate’s Team ID.
- A PKCS #7 signature including the WWDR intermediate certificate.
- An HTTPS web service, which Apple requires for all pass communication.
- A Google Wallet issuer account, and a signed JWT per save link.
Sources
Fideliya holds all five of those centrally, which is the practical difference between issuing passes and buying a platform that issues them: a business supplies a logo, a goal and a reward. The comparison with the app-based alternative is on loyalty app or wallet pass, the design choices sit on fifteen punch card ideas, and what to send once the card is live is on twenty loyalty campaign ideas.
Every answer above comes from one of seven primary pages, all fetched on 5 September 2026: Apple’s Wallet Developer Guide chapters on About Wallet, Pass Design and Creation, Distributing Passes and Updating a Pass, and Google’s Loyalty card overview, its Add to Google Wallet web guide and its Trigger Push Notifications guide. The source note above this article maps each question to the page it was answered from. No statistic, price or percentage appears on this page, and nothing here is inferred from a vendor’s marketing material.
Fideliya is wallet-native loyalty program software for small businesses. Customers add a stamp or points card to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet in one tap, with no app to download and no account to create. Fideliya runs stamps, points, gift cards and referrals on one platform in English, French, Spanish and Arabic with full right-to-left support, and the free plan issues a real wallet pass for up to 20 customers. The Apple side is described on Apple Wallet loyalty cards, and the plans are on the pricing page.