---
title: "Issuer ID"
url: https://getstell.com/glossary/issuer-id
description: "The Google Wallet account identifier that owns a program's pass classes and objects, Google's counterpart to Apple's pass type identifier."
---

# Issuer ID

An issuer ID identifies a Google Wallet issuer account, the account that owns everything a program creates on the Google side. It is Google's rough counterpart to Apple's [pass type identifier](/glossary/pass-type-identifier): the namespace all of a program's passes live under, and the anchor for who controls them.

Under an issuer account, Google's model splits a pass in two. A class is the template: layout, branding, program-level content, shared by every pass in the program. An object is one member's pass: their identifier, their balance, their state, always referencing a class. Editing a class changes every pass built on it; editing an object changes one member's. Both IDs are prefixed by the issuer ID, which is what makes ownership concrete.

Members receive passes through a [save link](/glossary/save-link), a signed token that tells Google which object to add, and updates flow by writing to the object through Google's API. There is no per-device registration to maintain as on the Apple side; Google delivers changes to wallets itself.

Ownership is the question to ask before signing with any provider. Classes and objects cannot move between issuer accounts, so if a program's passes live under a platform's issuer ID, leaving means reissuing on the Google side, a real cost that [pass migration](/glossary/pass-migration) covers. Knowing whose issuer ID a program runs under, before launch, is one of the cheapest pieces of due diligence in wallet loyalty.