I get asked some version of this most weeks: is there a loyalty card that doesn't need customers to download anything. The answer is yes, and it's been sitting on every smartphone in the country for years already. It's called Apple Wallet on an iPhone, Google Wallet on Android, and most people already use it to hold a boarding pass or a train ticket. A loyalty card can live in there too.
This is the actual mechanics of how that works, and what makes it different from a café building its own app.
What "No-App" Actually Means
A no-app loyalty card is a digital pass that sits inside the wallet app already built into the phone, rather than a separate piece of software the customer has to find, install and open every time. It looks similar to a boarding pass: a card with your logo, a barcode or QR code, and a stamp count that updates itself. The difference from a stamp app is that nothing new gets installed. The customer already has the container, PerQ just adds a card to it.
That distinction matters more than it sounds like it should. A café app is one more icon competing for space on a phone that's already full of them, and one more login a customer has to create and then forget. A wallet pass sits inside something they open constantly anyway, to pay for the coffee they're about to buy.
How to Use Apple Wallet for Coffee Shop Loyalty
For an iPhone customer, the flow at the counter looks like this. A staff member shows a QR code or sends a short link. The customer taps it, sees a preview of the café's branded card, and taps "Add to Apple Wallet". That's the entire process, and it takes about as long as tapping a card machine.
From that point, the pass sits in Wallet the same way a train ticket or a gift card would. Every time the café updates their stamp count, adds a reward, or sends an offer, the card on the customer's lock screen updates itself. Nothing needs to be reopened or refreshed.
How to Use Google Wallet for Coffee Shop Loyalty
Android works the same way through Google Wallet. The customer taps the same sign-up link, and PerQ automatically detects the phone and generates the Google Wallet version instead of the Apple one, so there's no separate process for staff to remember. The card behaves identically: it lives alongside boarding passes and travel tickets, and updates push through without the customer doing anything.
Why This Beats an App for an Independent Café
People are tired of apps. Every car park wants its own app now, every gym, every takeaway, every loyalty scheme. Somewhere along the way "download our app" stopped meaning anything special and started meaning one more login nobody asked for. Customers will make the exception for Greggs, Tesco, or KFC, because those apps come with real perks and half their friends already have them installed. An independent café asking for the same download doesn't get that same benefit of the doubt, and take-up on a standalone café app is usually low as a result. That's the actual problem PerQ was built to solve: no download at all, so there's nothing for a customer to weigh up before they say yes.
There's a second issue specific to apps like Squid or Remy Rewards, and it's one most café owners never think to check for. These aren't apps built just for you, they're shared platforms other independents use too, which means once your card is in there, your competitor down the road is sitting in the same app, one swipe away. You spent months earning that customer, and the app you signed up to just handed your competitor a direct line to them. A wallet pass doesn't have that problem, because there's no shared directory to browse. It's just your card, on its own, in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet.
A wallet pass also supports geo-targeting, so a card can trigger a lock-screen notification when the customer is physically near the café, without them opening anything at all. That only works if the pass is still on the phone, which is exactly the part a downloadable app struggles to guarantee once storage gets tight and something has to go.
What You Actually Get Beyond the Stamp
The stamp count is the part the customer sees. The part that matters for the business is what happens at sign-up: a name and a mobile number, captured the moment the card is added, before anyone's had to type anything into a form. That becomes a real customer list, the same list a paper stamp card was never able to give you, and the same list an app would need a download and an account just to build.
Setting It Up
PerQ builds the Apple Wallet and Google Wallet versions of a café's card automatically from one design, so there's no separate setup for each phone type. It's £12 a month, flat rate, with a 30-day free trial before any payment details are needed.
For a wider look at how PerQ compares to app-based loyalty tools, see our honest comparison of app-based versus wallet-based loyalty cards.
Start your free 30-day trial at retailgeek.co.uk →
Frequently Asked Questions
Is PerQ a loyalty app?
No. PerQ doesn't have a customer app at all. The loyalty card lives inside Apple Wallet or Google Wallet, apps every iPhone and Android phone already has installed, so there's nothing extra for a customer to download or keep.
Does a no-app loyalty card work on both iPhone and Android?
Yes. iPhone customers get the card in Apple Wallet, Android customers get it in Google Wallet. PerQ generates the correct version automatically based on the phone the customer signs up on, so staff don't need to ask which type of phone someone has.
Do customers need to create an account or remember a password?
No account and no password. A customer gives their name and mobile number once, taps to add the card to their wallet, and that's the entire sign-up. Returning is just opening Wallet like they would to pay for something.
How much does a no-app loyalty card cost for a UK café?
PerQ is £12 a month, flat rate, with no per-customer fee and no separate charge for Apple Wallet versus Google Wallet. A 30-day free trial is available before any card details are needed.
