Articles
Wallet passes,
clearly explained.
Practical guides to enrollment, identification and loyalty mechanics, and what it takes to run a wallet program well.
All articles
28 articles
Strategy6 min readCreate a Pass: when the customer builds the wallet passiOS 27 lets customers scan a physical card and make their own wallet pass. It solves their problem, not yours, and it takes the slot you needed.Sep 21, 2026
Platform4 min readConnect Stell's docs to ChatGPT, Claude or your coding agentStell's documentation ships as an MCP server. Connect it once and ChatGPT, Claude or your coding agent answers from the live docs, not stale training data.Sep 21, 2026
Strategy4 min readBuild or buy: the real cost of wallet pass infrastructureSigning a pass is a weekend project. Keeping a million passes updated, registered and renderable across every wallet is a team. Here is the real scope.Sep 21, 2026
Basics4 min readWallet pass design: what makes a pass worth keepingA wallet pass has a handful of fields, two logos and a barcode area, and most brands still get it wrong. How to design a pass that earns its place.Sep 21, 2026
Enrollment4 min readLoyalty enrollment channels compared: six ways customers joinA loyalty program grows exactly as fast as its enrollment channels allow. Every place a pass can enter a wallet, and what each channel is good for.Sep 21, 2026
Engagement5 min readHow to put your wallet pass on the lock screen when a customer is near your storeA wallet pass can surface on the lock screen when a customer walks near your store. How location relevance works, what it is not, and how to use it.Sep 21, 2026
Engagement5 min readiBeacons for wallet passes: indoor relevance where GPS failsWhere GPS stops working, beacons take over. How a small Bluetooth transmitter puts the right pass on the lock screen at a counter, gate or entrance.Sep 21, 2026
Engagement5 min readTen loyalty retention tactics, and how a live wallet pass supports eachEnrollment gets the attention, but retention is where a program earns its keep. Ten tactics that keep members active, and how a live pass helps.Sep 21, 2026
Identification9 min readNFC loyalty identification: how tap at the till worksThe same tap that pays can identify the member. How Apple VAS and Google Smart Tap work, what your terminals need, and how to know if you are ready.Sep 21, 2026
Platform6 min readWhat happens to a wallet pass after you issue itIssuing a pass is day one. The value is in every day after, and that difference is what separates a pass platform from a simple pass generator.Sep 21, 2026
Engagement4 min readPass updates are push notifications you already ownChange a field on a wallet pass and the customer's lock screen lights up. No app, no opt-in form, no send fee. How the channel actually works.Sep 21, 2026
Enrollment4 min readPost-purchase enrollment: the moment most programs missThe best time to invite a customer into your loyalty program is the second after they pay. Most programs ask at the worst possible moments instead.Sep 21, 2026
Identification5 min readQR, NFC, or both: choosing how customers identifyBoth get your customer recognized at the till. The right choice depends on your hardware and your flow, and it is rarely either-or in practice.Sep 21, 2026
Basics4 min readStamps, points and tiers: choosing a loyalty mechanicBefore the pass, the program. Stamps, points and tiers reward different behaviors and suit different businesses. Here is how to choose between them.Sep 21, 2026
Strategy4 min readSwitching to Adyen? What it means for your loyalty programMerchants evaluate a payment provider on rates, reliability and reach. Adyen terminals add one more: they can read a wallet pass in the payment tap.Sep 21, 2026
Strategy5 min readSwitching wallet pass providers: what to know firstPasses already in your customers' wallets can move with you, if the migration is planned around how wallets update. What transfers, and what to ask.Sep 21, 2026
Engagement4 min readTurning followers into members: wallet passes for creatorsCreators run real memberships now, with perks, drops and events. A wallet pass gives every fan a card-carrying place, without building an app.Sep 21, 2026
Identification5 min readVAS vs PAR: two ways to identify members at the terminalApple VAS reads the wallet pass; PAR recognizes the card. Both identify a member in the payment tap. How each works, where each breaks, and why both.Sep 21, 2026
Enrollment4 min readVipps Login: verified members in one tapStell's enrollment flow supports Vipps Login, so customers join with the identity they already trust and merchants start every membership with verified data.Sep 21, 2026
Strategy4 min readWallet passes and GDPR: what data lives in the walletThe pass in a customer's wallet holds less personal data than most assume, and where the real data lives shapes every GDPR question a merchant has.Sep 21, 2026
Basics5 min readWallet passes vs plastic loyalty cardsPlastic worked because it was simple. The wallet pass keeps the simplicity and fixes the rest: the forgetting, the reprinting, the silence between.Sep 21, 2026
Platform4 min readSemantic tags on wallet passes: what they do and why yours are missingSemantic tags tell the operating system what a pass field means, not just what it says. That layer turns a pass into something the phone can act on.Sep 21, 2026
Basics8 min readWhat is a wallet pass? A plain-language guideThe card-shaped object in Apple Wallet and Google Wallet is one of the most capable channels a brand can own. How passes work and what they can do.Sep 21, 2026
Platform5 min readWhat's new for Apple Wallet passes in iOS 27The poster layout comes to loyalty and membership passes, action tiles appear on the pass face, and Wallet reads the barcode formats retail uses.Sep 21, 2026
Platform4 min readWhat's new for Google Wallet passes in 2026Google Wallet's 2026 redesign changes how passes look, from a compact home grid to edge-to-edge pass pages. What changes, and what issuers should check.Sep 21, 2026
Strategy6 min readFive ways a wallet pass program fails, and how to avoid eachA bad pass looks fine on day one and is deleted by month three. The five decisions that decide which way it goes, and what to do differently on each.Sep 21, 2026
Strategy5 min readWhy wallet passes beat loyalty appsEvery app you ask a customer to download is a tax on joining. The wallet is already on their phone, it never needs an update, and it never churns.Sep 21, 2026
Strategy3 min readWinning back inactive members before they are goneChurn in loyalty is quiet: members do not leave, they drift. How to define inactivity, what to send, and why a pass on the lock screen makes it solvable.Sep 21, 2026Next step
See what this looks like on a pass.
The articles explain it. The next pages show it on the terminals merchants already run, and the merchants running it.