loyalty cards in wallet

[badgolferman]

I have three loyalty cards in my Apple Wallet which were originally created
in Google Wallet when that was a thing. Google Wallet would allow you to
enter the number manually and it would create a generic card with a UPC
code. Those three cards have transferred over to the various devices I’ve
had over years.

I’d like to get rid of the generic Google Wallet loyalty cards and create
new ones in Apple Wallet but I can’t make it work. When entering the
account number manually I get a message that this card is not eligible for
Apple Pay with no option to move forward.

How can I create a new loyalty card by entering the number? I don’t have
the original cards in order to scan them.

[Chris]

Do the cards support Apple Pay? If it's not supported then complain to the
company.

[badgolferman]

Why must it support Apple Pay? All I want the loyalty cards for is to have
them scanned at the cash register for discounts. Apple Pay is not being
used.

[sms]

Just create an image with the bar code generated from the account number.

I've done this in the past, but you need an image of the original code
in order to choose the right bar code since there are a lot of different
bar code formats in use.

I did that for my different library cards (in my area we have the County
library but some cities opted out of the County system and have their
own city libraries), my Costco card (prior to Costco offering digital
cards) etc. See <https://barcode.tec-it.com/en/Code128> for a bar code
generator.

[badgolferman]

How would I get this into the Apple Wallet? That's the whole reason
I'm trying to replace the old Google Wallet loyalty cards which are
already in my Apple Wallet.

[Chris]

Well you did mention Apple Pay. However, I still think loyalty cards
need to support the Wallet. None of my loyalty cards can be added to the
Wallet, for example.

Have you checked these instructions?
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT204003

If you just need somewhere to store the number then perhaps use the
Notes app instead.

[Ant]

Chris <ithi...@gmail.com> wrote:
...

> Well you did mention Apple Pay. However, I still think loyalty cards
> need to support the Wallet. None of my loyalty cards can be added to the
> Wallet, for example.

> Have you checked these instructions?
> https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT204003

> If you just need somewhere to store the number then perhaps use the
> Notes app instead.

More companies need to support Wallet!
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[badgolferman]

How can I get them to scan the Notes app at the register?

[Connor Shannon]

I read the instructions on the Apple site and went to Edit Passes > Scan Code in Apple wallet but when it opens the camera app nothing happens. It just waits for me to take a photo. I've scanned QR codes on my iPhone before but it won't scan barcodes.

[Chris]

Ant <a...@zimage.comANT> wrote:
> Chris <ithi...@gmail.com> wrote:
> ...
>> Well you did mention Apple Pay. However, I still think loyalty cards
>> need to support the Wallet. None of my loyalty cards can be added to the
>> Wallet, for example.
>
>> Have you checked these instructions?
>> https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT204003
>
>> If you just need somewhere to store the number then perhaps use the
>> Notes app instead.
>
> More companies need to support Wallet!

Companies prefer to use their own apps as that gives them more opportunity
to sell you stuff. That's a company decision, obviously.

[Chris]

How are they supposed to scan a number?

[sms]

You can use an app like Stocard:

<https://apps.apple.com/au/app/stocard-loyalty-cards-wallet/id444578884>
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.stocard.stocard>

I suspect that if a company wanted to enable the storage of their
loyalty cards in Apple Wallet that there is some kind of cost to set it
up. It's not like a credit card where Apple gets a cut of the
transaction fee. Perhaps that's why the State of California supports the
digital Covid cards on Android but not on iOS. Or it could be a
completely different reason.

[nospam]

In article <sfj7dt$cuf$1...@dont-email.me>, sms

<scharf...@geemail.com> wrote:

> I suspect that if a company wanted to enable the storage of their
> loyalty cards in Apple Wallet that there is some kind of cost to set it
> up.

as usual, you suspect wrong. there is *no* cost to add a card to wallet.

> It's not like a credit card where Apple gets a cut of the
> transaction fee.

irrelevant.

> Perhaps that's why the State of California supports the
> digital Covid cards on Android but not on iOS. Or it could be a
> completely different reason.

they've supported it on ios long before they did on android.

[sms]

On 8/17/2021 11:46 PM, Chris wrote:

I'm not sure that opening an app or wallet and scanning, or using NFC,
for a card is any faster than just entering a phone number. At
Safeway/Vons they prompt you for a phone number. At REI they can use
your phone number (or since I've been a member for so long I remember my
REI number). Ditto for most of the stores that have any kind of loyalty
or discount program. I like how the Costco gas station now uses NFC for
the Costco Citibank card which also verifies your Costco membership.

You shouldn't have to open any app for cards to work. You should unlock
your phone, and NFC should be built into whatever device you're using,
whether it's a library checkout kiosk, a mass transit fare terminal, a
store's payment terminal, etc..

[nospam]

In article <sfj9uq$v96$1...@dont-email.me>, sms

<scharf...@geemail.com> wrote:

> You shouldn't have to open any app for cards to work. You should unlock
> your phone, and NFC should be built into whatever device you're using,
> whether it's a library checkout kiosk, a mass transit fare terminal, a
> store's payment terminal, etc..

clear proof that you've never actually used apple wallet.

once again, you're asking for features that *already* *exist*.

not only is there no need to use an app, but there's no need to unlock
the phone, and wallet cards can *automatically* appear when
appropriate.

[badgolferman]

I must not be explaining this very well...

Three of the loyalty cards (Food Lion, Hair Cuttery, Big Lots) in my
Apple Wallet were created by Google Wallet many years ago. The cards
have three things on them -- name of merchant, account number, UPC
code. I do not have the original loyalty cards and thus cannot scan
them into Apple Wallet, which it requires.

Even though the cards I have now are functional and scan at the
register, I was hoping to replace them with the Apple Wallet version.
It appears Apple Wallet will not accept the account number and create a
UPC code like Google Wallet did at one time. Considering this task
seems impossible I will just consider myself lucky to have these
electronic loyalty cards at all. Frankly it makes no sense to me why
Apple Wallet will not perform the same function Google Wallet managed a
long time ago.

[nospam]

In article <sfjg5i$ca7$1...@dont-email.me>, badgolferman

<REMOVETHISb...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Three of the loyalty cards (Food Lion, Hair Cuttery, Big Lots) in my
> Apple Wallet were created by Google Wallet many years ago. The cards
> have three things on them -- name of merchant, account number, UPC
> code. I do not have the original loyalty cards and thus cannot scan
> them into Apple Wallet, which it requires.

you should be able to add them via their respective apps or their
website, after logging into your account.

> Even though the cards I have now are functional and scan at the
> register, I was hoping to replace them with the Apple Wallet version.
> It appears Apple Wallet will not accept the account number and create a
> UPC code like Google Wallet did at one time. Considering this task
> seems impossible I will just consider myself lucky to have these
> electronic loyalty cards at all. Frankly it makes no sense to me why
> Apple Wallet will not perform the same function Google Wallet managed a
> long time ago.

it does.

what it doesn't support is transferring a card from google wallet to
apple wallet, because it's presumed that people still have the actual
card or access to the app or website.

[badgolferman]

nospam wrote:

>In article <sfjg5i$ca7$1...@dont-email.me>, badgolferman
><REMOVETHISb...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Three of the loyalty cards (Food Lion, Hair Cuttery, Big Lots) in
>>my Apple Wallet were created by Google Wallet many years ago. The
>>cards have three things on them -- name of merchant, account
>>number, UPC code. I do not have the original loyalty cards and
>>thus cannot scan them into Apple Wallet, which it requires.
>
>you should be able to add them via their respective apps or their
>website, after logging into your account.

I've tried that with Food Lion and they don't allow transfer of MVP
Card to Apple Wallet. I don't have the login for the other two anymore.

>> Even though the cards I have now are functional and scan at the
>> register, I was hoping to replace them with the Apple Wallet
>>version. It appears Apple Wallet will not accept the account
>>number and create a UPC code like Google Wallet did at one time.
>>Considering this task seems impossible I will just consider myself
>>lucky to have these electronic loyalty cards at all. Frankly it
>>makes no sense to me why Apple Wallet will not perform the same
>>function Google Wallet managed a long time ago.
>
>it does.
>
>what it doesn't support is transferring a card from google wallet to
>apple wallet, because it's presumed that people still have the actual
>card or access to the app or website.

You are wrong. I currently have three Google Wallet generated loyalty
cards in my Apple Wallet and I can bring them up from the Apple Wallet.
One says Google Wallet across the top, Food Lion next, a UPC code, MVP
Card and the account number. The next one is the Hair Cuttery with
similar markings, and the third says Big Lots with similar markings.
All three of these are in my Apple Wallet and I created them in the old
Google Wallet app many years ago by entering the name and account
number.

Here's the proof:
https://ibb.co/KDQTRJB

[sms]

On 8/18/2021 10:31 AM, badgolferman wrote:

<snip>

> I must not be explaining this very well...
>
> Three of the loyalty cards (Food Lion, Hair Cuttery, Big Lots) in my
> Apple Wallet were created by Google Wallet many years ago. The cards
> have three things on them -- name of merchant, account number, UPC
> code. I do not have the original loyalty cards and thus cannot scan
> them into Apple Wallet, which it requires.
>
> Even though the cards I have now are functional and scan at the
> register, I was hoping to replace them with the Apple Wallet version.
> It appears Apple Wallet will not accept the account number and create a
> UPC code like Google Wallet did at one time. Considering this task
> seems impossible I will just consider myself lucky to have these
> electronic loyalty cards at all. Frankly it makes no sense to me why
> Apple Wallet will not perform the same function Google Wallet managed a
> long time ago.

The Stocard app does this. You can scan the card (or the barcode from
your phone) or you can manually enter the loyalty card number and it
will create the appropriate bar code (if that merchant or institution is
in its database). It even includes a few public libraries. Yes, it would
be nice to be able to use Apple Wallet for this, but until that
capability is added using a separate app is okay.

The problem with creating a bar code or QR code from just an account
number is that there are so many different bar code formats so the app
needs to know what format each merchant uses. In the past, I've created
bar codes for some cards I have and I've had to try many different code
formats until I found the one that matched the one on my card.

One potential issue for membership stores is a member sharing their bar
code with a non-member. It's pretty easy to get into a Costco or Sam's
Club without a membership card, then you could use self-checkout with
just a bar code. At human cashiers they would often check that the photo
matched but at the self-checkout lanes they don't (but you can't buy
alcohol in California at self-checkout). Costco isn't on the the long
list of cards in Stocard but you can scan your existing card and it
creates a virtual card with the proper bar code. Nothing would stop a
member from allowing a non-member to create a virtual Costco card in the
app, and in fact it would mean that the member would get the 2% rewards
for those purchases. You can actually kind of do that anyway now by
purchasing a Costco Cash Card which enables the recipient to get into
the store and shop, and pay with either the Cash Card, cash, or a Visa card.

BTW, Food Lion, Hair Cuttery, Big Lots are all in Stocard.

[badgolferman]

That is not an option I want. Why install a new app to create a loyalty
card which I already have in Apple Wallet? As I said before, I am grateful
what I have now works and wish I hadn’t brought this up at all.

[sms]

On 8/18/2021 11:25 AM, badgolferman wrote:

<snip>

> That is not an option I want. Why install a new app to create a loyalty
> card which I already have in Apple Wallet? As I said before, I am grateful
> what I have now works and wish I hadn’t brought this up at all.

In the words of my daughter's pre-school teacher, Mrs. Collins, at snack
time: "you get what you get or you get nothing."

Seriously, I think most users would love to be able to add their
plethora of various cards into Apple Wallet, but it's not happening at
this time, so an app that can keep them all in one place is the next
best thing.

It's also annoying that there's no support for Apple Pay, Google Pay, or
Samsung Pay at Home Depot, Lowe's, or Walmart, but it's something we
have to deal with.

[Chris]

If they're already in your apple wallet why do you need to scan them in???

> The cards
> have three things on them -- name of merchant, account number, UPC
> code. I do not have the original loyalty cards and thus cannot scan
> them into Apple Wallet, which it requires.

Can you not get replacement ones from the companies? I've lost or damaged
cards and had them replaced.

[sms]

On 8/18/2021 1:09 PM, Chris wrote:

<snip>

> If they're already in your apple wallet why do you need to scan them in???

I think that he meant "Three of the loyalty cards (Food Lion, Hair
Cuttery, Big Lots) in my _Google_ Wallet were created by Google Wallet
many years ago.

One problem with Apple Wallet is that only certain types of bar codes
are supported. There are some apps that let you create all kinds of
cards, and some allow storing them in Apple Wallet, but only if the bar
code type is supported.

[nospam]

In article <sfjvfb$nmq$1...@dont-email.me>, sms

<scharf...@geemail.com> wrote:

> One problem with Apple Wallet is that only certain types of bar codes
> are supported. There are some apps that let you create all kinds of
> cards, and some allow storing them in Apple Wallet, but only if the bar
> code type is supported.

nope.

it depends whether third parties choose to support apple wallet. it's
very easy, whether its in an app, website or even an email.

[Chris]

On 18/08/2021 22:52, sms wrote:
> On 8/18/2021 1:09 PM, Chris wrote:
>
> <snip>
>
>> If they're already in your apple wallet why do you need to scan them
>> in???
>
> I think that he meant "Three of the loyalty cards (Food Lion, Hair
> Cuttery, Big Lots) in my _Google_ Wallet were created by Google Wallet
> many years ago.

Nope. This is what he wrote in another reply to you:

> I'm trying to replace the old Google Wallet loyalty cards which are
already in my Apple Wallet.

Unless he's made the same typo multiple times his cards are already in
the Apple Wallet. So his request makes no sense. To me, at least.

> One problem with Apple Wallet is that only certain types of bar codes
> are supported. There are some apps that let you create all kinds of
> cards, and some allow storing them in Apple Wallet, but only if the bar
> code type is supported.

That's not an Apple Wallet problem. It's up to the card providers to
support Wallet or not. None of my loyalty cards do, which is a pain, but
I'm not blaming Apple. I blame the companies for forcing me to have a
separate app for each of the cards.

[sms]

On 8/20/2021 2:21 AM, Chris wrote:
> On 18/08/2021 22:52, sms wrote:
>> On 8/18/2021 1:09 PM, Chris wrote:
>>
>> <snip>
>>
>>> If they're already in your apple wallet why do you need to scan them
>>> in???
>>
>> I think that he meant "Three of the loyalty cards (Food Lion, Hair
>> Cuttery, Big Lots) in my _Google_ Wallet were created by Google Wallet
>> many years ago.
>
> Nope. This is what he wrote in another reply to you:
> > I'm trying to replace the old Google Wallet loyalty cards which are
> already in my Apple Wallet.
>
> Unless he's made the same typo multiple times his cards are already in
> the Apple Wallet. So his request makes no sense. To me, at least.

Well that's why I thought he meant something else, what he wrote makes
no sense, or is at least unclear enough that we don't understand what
he's trying to say.

>> One problem with Apple Wallet is that only certain types of bar codes
>> are supported. There are some apps that let you create all kinds of
>> cards, and some allow storing them in Apple Wallet, but only if the
>> bar code type is supported.
>
> That's not an Apple Wallet problem. It's up to the card providers to
> support Wallet or not. None of my loyalty cards do, which is a pain, but
> I'm not blaming Apple. I blame the companies for forcing me to have a
> separate app for each of the cards.

Unless these loyalty card providers change their entire system to use
the bar codes that Apple Wallet supports, the cards can't be added. It
would be a lot easier if Apple would add support for the missing bar codes.

There's an app (non-free) where you can add loyalty cards to the app and
then transfer them to the Apple Wallet, but it only works if the bar
code used on the card is supported by Apple Wallet. There's no support
for just transferring an image of the bar code, the actual bar code
needs to be supported.

[nospam]

In article <sfo3bd$8u5$1...@dont-email.me>, sms

<scharf...@geemail.com> wrote:

> >> One problem with Apple Wallet is that only certain types of bar codes
> >> are supported. There are some apps that let you create all kinds of
> >> cards, and some allow storing them in Apple Wallet, but only if the
> >> bar code type is supported.
> >
> > That's not an Apple Wallet problem. It's up to the card providers to
> > support Wallet or not. None of my loyalty cards do, which is a pain, but
> > I'm not blaming Apple. I blame the companies for forcing me to have a
> > separate app for each of the cards.
>
> Unless these loyalty card providers change their entire system to use
> the bar codes that Apple Wallet supports, the cards can't be added. It
> would be a lot easier if Apple would add support for the missing bar codes.

false.

once again, you're wrong.

they don't need to change anything. all they need to do is support
apple wallet. they don't even need to write an app.

> There's an app (non-free) where you can add loyalty cards to the app and
> then transfer them to the Apple Wallet, but it only works if the bar
> code used on the card is supported by Apple Wallet. There's no support
> for just transferring an image of the bar code, the actual bar code
> needs to be supported.

that's a problem with the app, not apple wallet.

[Chris]

On 20/08/2021 12:23, sms wrote:
> On 8/20/2021 2:21 AM, Chris wrote:
>> On 18/08/2021 22:52, sms wrote:
>>> On 8/18/2021 1:09 PM, Chris wrote:
>>>
>>> <snip>
>>>
>>>> If they're already in your apple wallet why do you need to scan them
>>>> in???
>>>
>>> I think that he meant "Three of the loyalty cards (Food Lion, Hair
>>> Cuttery, Big Lots) in my _Google_ Wallet were created by Google
>>> Wallet many years ago.
>>
>> Nope. This is what he wrote in another reply to you:
>>  > I'm trying to replace the old Google Wallet loyalty cards which are
>> already in my Apple Wallet.
>>
>> Unless he's made the same typo multiple times his cards are already in
>> the Apple Wallet. So his request makes no sense. To me, at least.
>
> Well that's why I thought he meant something else, what he wrote makes
> no sense, or is at least unclear enough that we don't understand what
> he's trying to say.

Exactly my question above.

>>> One problem with Apple Wallet is that only certain types of bar codes
>>> are supported. There are some apps that let you create all kinds of
>>> cards, and some allow storing them in Apple Wallet, but only if the
>>> bar code type is supported.
>>
>> That's not an Apple Wallet problem. It's up to the card providers to
>> support Wallet or not. None of my loyalty cards do, which is a pain,
>> but I'm not blaming Apple. I blame the companies for forcing me to
>> have a separate app for each of the cards.
>
> Unless these loyalty card providers change their entire system to use
> the bar codes that Apple Wallet supports, the cards can't be added. It
> would be a lot easier if Apple would add support for the missing bar codes.

Must be a US-only thing. No loyalty cards here have barcodes. They're
mostly mag swipe or more recently QR codes.

> There's an app (non-free) where you can add loyalty cards to the app and
> then transfer them to the Apple Wallet, but it only works if the bar
> code used on the card is supported by Apple Wallet. There's no support
> for just transferring an image of the bar code, the actual bar code
> needs to be supported.

Take a photo?

[nospam]

In article <sfo9l3$ipa$1...@dont-email.me>, Chris <ithi...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> On 20/08/2021 12:23, sms wrote:
> > Unless these loyalty card providers change their entire system to use
> > the bar codes that Apple Wallet supports, the cards can't be added. It
> > would be a lot easier if Apple would add support for the missing bar codes.
>
> Must be a US-only thing. No loyalty cards here have barcodes. They're
> mostly mag swipe or more recently QR codes.

barcodes are supported. this is yet another one of his ignorant
criticisms that is very clearly false.

[sms]

Sure, you can take a photo, or create an image of the bar code using a
bar code creation program and then store an image of the bar code on
your phone, but what a lot of people want to do is to just store
everything in the Apple Wallet.

It's not just loyalty cards with bar codes (or other optical codes),
it's library cards, Costco cards, gym membership cards, even your
vaccination record cards.

[nospam]

In article <sfoshr$mkt$1...@dont-email.me>, sms

<scharf...@geemail.com> wrote:

> > Take a photo?
>
> Sure, you can take a photo, or create an image of the bar code using a
> bar code creation program and then store an image of the bar code on
> your phone, but what a lot of people want to do is to just store
> everything in the Apple Wallet.
>
> It's not just loyalty cards with bar codes (or other optical codes),
> it's library cards, Costco cards, gym membership cards, even your
> vaccination record cards.

it's entirely up to the various loyalty card providers to support apple
wallet or any other wallet.