How do digital stamp cards work without an app?
Published · Updated
The card lives in the phone's own wallet: Apple Wallet on iPhone, Google Wallet on Android. Customers scan your counter QR with their phone camera, confirm their mobile and tap Add to Apple Wallet or Add to Google Wallet. Each visit they scan the same QR for a stamp, and the card updates itself. Nobody installs an app.
What's actually on the customer's phone
A digital stamp card with no app is a wallet pass: a card file that your loyalty platform makes and signs, and that the phone's own wallet keeps.
- On iPhone, it goes into Apple Wallet. Apple's support page says the Wallet app holds passes, tickets, coupons and rewards cards (Apple Support).
- On Android, it goes into Google Wallet. Google's help says loyalty cards can be added straight from a business's website or app (Google Wallet Help).
Neither needs your customer to download a loyalty app. On Rewardtree the pass shows your shop's name, the customer's progress (for example, 6 of 9 stamps) and the reward. It has no QR code: nobody scans the customer's phone.
Joining, step by step
On Rewardtree, joining looks like this:
- The customer points their phone camera at the QR on your counter.
- Your shop's page opens in their browser. They type their first name and mobile number, and choose whether your shop can text them offers. That box starts unticked.
- We text them a code to confirm the number, and they type it in.
- They tap Add to Apple Wallet or Add to Google Wallet. The card is in their wallet.
The shop page works in eight languages, including Arabic, Vietnamese and Simplified Chinese, and opens in the language their phone uses.
How a stamp gets onto a card with no app
- At the counter, the customer scans the same QR with their phone camera.
- Rewardtree adds today's stamp (one per visit) and checks it against where your shop is (a stamp collected late at night is flagged too).
- The card updates through Apple or Google, so it changes on the customer's phone. Your staff type nothing.
There is no app on anyone's side at any point. The wallet does the work, and there's no charge per update on Rewardtree.
The reward, with no app
The visit that fills the card is paid as normal, and the reward is saved for next time. On the next visit, the customer scans your QR and their phone asks "Use it now?". At the counter they tap once and show you a live screen: the reward, their first name and a moving clock, for about 2 minutes. You hand it over, and the card starts again.
What if a customer has no Apple Wallet or Google Wallet?
Rewardtree's shop page has a third button: No wallet? Open your card in the browser. The card opens as a web page with the same progress. If they lose the page, they scan your QR again with the same mobile, and the card comes back with everything they've collected.
Wallet card, loyalty app or paper?
| Wallet card | A loyalty app | Paper card | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What the customer installs | Nothing | The loyalty app | Nothing |
| Joining | Scan a QR and confirm their mobile | Download, create an account, then join | You hand them a card |
| Progress on their phone | Yes, updated every stamp | Yes, inside the app | No |
| If it's lost | Scan again with the same mobile | Sign back in to the app | Progress is gone |
| Faking a stamp | Much harder: one per visit, checked at your shop | Depends on the app | Easy, with a look-alike stamp |
| You see who your regulars are | Yes | Yes | No |
An app can do things a wallet card can't. Stamp Me, for example, lists Scratch & Win games inside its app (Stamp Me pricing, checked 29 September 2026), and its home page says customers first download the Stamp Me app to join. The trade-off is the extra step at the counter. Paper is still the simplest thing in the world; see paper punch cards vs a digital card.
What it costs
A wallet stamp card on Rewardtree is 60 days free with no credit card, then A$9.99 a month per shop, or A$99 a year per shop. That's our end-of-year special for businesses that sign up by 31 December 2026: you keep it for every shop, including shops you add later, for as long as you stay. From 1 January 2027, businesses that sign up pay A$19.99 a month or A$199 a year. Set up your card in a few minutes.
More questions, answered#
Do customers need to download anything?#
No. Apple Wallet comes with every iPhone, and Android customers use Google Wallet. The customer scans your QR with their phone camera, confirms their mobile with a code we text them, and taps Add to Apple Wallet or Add to Google Wallet.
Does a digital stamp card work on Android?#
Yes. On Rewardtree's shop page, iPhone customers tap the Apple button, and customers with a Samsung or any other Android phone tap the Google button. The card goes into Google Wallet and updates the same way.
What if my customer gets a new phone?#
They scan your QR again and enter the same mobile number. On Rewardtree their card comes back with everything they've collected, because the card belongs to their verified number, not to the phone.
Can a customer copy or screenshot the card to cheat?#
It doesn't help them. A stamp comes from scanning your QR, one per visit, checked against where your shop is. A reward is a live screen with a moving clock and the customer's first name, and once it's used it can't be used again. A screenshot doesn't move.
What do I, the business owner, need to install?#
Nothing. You run Rewardtree from a web page at rewardtree.com.au, and you can save it to your phone's home screen. At the counter you only need your printed QR.
