Apple Wallet vs Google Wallet for Loyalty Cards

Visual layout

Apple Wallet

Pass background is your full brand color. Logo top-left. Stamps render as filled circles below. Lock-screen relevance: enabled — when the customer is near your store the pass surfaces automatically.

Google Wallet

Hero strip at the top in your brand color, white body below. Logo in a circular avatar. Stamps render in a grid in the body. No lock-screen relevance — the pass is always reachable from the Wallet app.

Push notifications

• Apple Wallet: pushes appear as a small alert badge on the pass and as a banner on the lock screen if the user has enabled them.
• Google Wallet: pushes appear as a notification in the Android system tray.
• Both platforms: pushes are silent if the user has muted notifications for the wallet app.

Updating the pass

Both platforms support real-time pass updates via push tokens. When you stamp a customer, the new stamp count appears within 1-3 seconds on most devices.

Sharing a pass

Apple Wallet allows pass sharing via AirDrop and Messages. Google Wallet does not. We rely on each customer adding the pass via your QR code/share link rather than passing the file around.

When Apple Wallet support is gated

Apple Wallet pass signing requires Apple Developer Program membership. While we set this up, the Google Wallet path is fully live; Apple Wallet pass downloads on iPhone are unsigned (visually correct but cannot be added). Once our certificate provisioning completes, Apple Wallet is enabled across all shops automatically.