PIING
Reading Wallet passes and cardsWallet messages and optional web push
Wallet passes and cards
- Apple Wallet passes
- Google Wallet passes
- Physical NFC cards
- Issue and manage passes
- Where to place Piing blocks in Shopify
- Wallet messages and optional web push
- Send a test push
- Claim links and QR codes
In this guide
- Three distinct channels
- The daily limit
- What happens when the limit is reached
- Priority order
- What can trigger automatically today
- Nearby Wallet suggestions
- Triggers
- Checking it works
- Next steps
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Wallet passes and cards 6 / 8
Wallet messages and optional web push
Wallet messages, quiet pass updates and nearby suggestions, with separate controls for merchants and customers.
Piing can keep the card current without interrupting the customer, or surface a useful message when the moment deserves attention. Those are different operations. This article separates them and explains the controls that apply to each.
Three distinct channels
- Silent pass refresh. Piing updates visible fields such as supported points, store credit, tier, total visits or last check-in. If there is no customer-facing message, this does not use a Wallet message slot.
- Wallet message. Apple uses a pass field change message and Google uses a
TEXT_AND_NOTIFY message. This is the customer-visible update that can appear on the phone and uses the daily allowance below.
- Optional web or app push. A merchant can connect OneSignal to send through its own web or mobile-app push subscription. This is independent of Apple Wallet and Google Wallet. It is not a kiosk notification and does not require the customer to hold a Piing pass, but the customer must be subscribed to the merchant's OneSignal audience.
The Piing notification hub reports the channel used for every delivery. OneSignal is an optional integration and is not the same product as Piing: Alerts browser push.
The daily limit
Google permits at most three notification-triggering messages per pass in a rolling 24-hour period. It can throttle delivery, and customers must enable notifications. Google controls the lock-screen notification. An accepted API request does not prove that a customer saw it. Apple pass-change notifications also depend on device settings and delivery. Google’s current notification rules.
Unlimited passes means no Piing pass-count limit, not unlimited push notifications. Piing provides these controls:
- Maximum messages per customer per day, anywhere from one to five. Three is the default. Apple’s Piing daily setting allows up to five; Google sends are capped at three.
- Minimum minutes between messages, which prevents notification fatigue.
The count is per pass, because that is how the platforms enforce it. A customer who holds both platforms has two pass objects and two allowances. The default is three messages and 60 minutes between sends. The allowed range is one to five messages and five to 1,440 minutes between sends. Piing’s daily budget resets at midnight in the store's configured time zone. Google’s separate rolling 24-hour quota does not reset at that boundary. If Google declines a send for quota reasons, the hub reports it as held; it does not claim delivery.
What happens when the limit is reached
A message over the limit is held, not sent. It is not queued for the next day either: a check-in confirmation or a price drop that arrives a day late is worse than one that never arrives, and yesterday's leftovers would eat tomorrow's allowance before tomorrow's real news arrived.
Holding is not the same as going dark. The pass itself still updates, so points, tier and balance stay correct on the card; only the lock-screen message is withheld. Updates that change nothing a customer can see never count against the limit in the first place.
The notification hub shows how much of the busiest pass's allowance has been used, the number sent and held today, passes at their limit, and recent hold reasons.
Priority order
When several sends compete for the remaining allowance, priority is evaluated across wishlist price drop, wishlist back in stock, post-check-in, loyalty milestone and promotional messages. You can reorder those bands. Nearby Wallet suggestions are separate: they are controlled by the customer's device, not this queue. A reserved event does not become live merely because it has a priority band.
What can trigger automatically today
The current Piing app produces events for:
- Pass issued: the membership is created and made available to add to Wallet. This does not confirm installation. A Wallet message needs an installed pass and the appropriate device settings.
- First recorded visit across the brand’s Shopify shop, and every accepted check-in.
- Visit milestone.
- Wishlist item seen in store, back in stock, or on sale.
- A repeat check-in ignored inside the duplicate window.
Tier change, points threshold, reward unlocked, inactivity, birthday, customer enrolment, member sync, and generic pass-refresh events are present in the catalogue but remain reserved until a producer is connected. The trigger editor labels them accordingly. Do not switch one on and assume an upstream app is already emitting it.
Nearby Wallet suggestions
A nearby suggestion helps a customer find their pass at a store. It is not a campaign, a recorded visit or proof that the customer entered the shop. Piing supplies store coordinates; Apple and Google decide whether and when to show the suggestion. Piing does not receive the customer's continuous location.
Choose the stores
In Notifications → Settings → Nearby Wallet suggestions, enable the option and select up to ten stores. It is off by default. Set each store's name and street address in Shopify → Settings → Locations; a valid address is needed before a store can be selected. Leave warehouses and private addresses unselected.
For Apple Wallet, write a short, useful nearby message and choose a maximum distance. The starting point is 150 metres, but Apple may use a smaller distance. This setting does not change Google's distance or create a daily limit or automatic dismissal timer. Apple's location relevance behaviour.
Select Save and update passes. Keep the page open until update requests have been submitted. Google pass updates then continue in the background; check Wallet Studio for progress or retries. Apple devices fetch the change when they are online and automatic updates are allowed.
If a submission batch fails, use Retry pass update. If you leave before submission finishes, return and select Update installed passes using saved settings. Newly issued passes use the saved settings straight away; older passes can retain their previous locations until the update reaches them. Acceptance by Apple or Google does not confirm that a customer’s phone has received the change.
Turn suggestions off
Switch off Allow nearby Wallet suggestions, then select Save and update passes. This removes nearby locations from the updated passes without sending a campaign or removing the membership. Apple devices need to receive the update, be online and allow automatic pass updates. Wallet controls when an existing lock-screen suggestion disappears, so removal is not guaranteed to be immediate.
Customer controls
In Apple Wallet, open the pass and look for Suggest on Lock Screen in its details or notification settings. Turn that off to stop relevance suggestions while keeping the pass in Wallet. Options and their location vary by device and OS version. This is separate from the automatic-updates setting that keeps points and tier current. Apple's pass settings.
In Google Wallet, nearby reminders require notifications and precise, always-on location access. Customers can dismiss a reminder with a swipe and change Wallet notification or location permissions. Google controls the wording, distance and time spent nearby; the reminder normally disappears after the customer leaves. Piing cannot add its own close button to that system notification. Google's nearby notification behaviour.
Triggers
Use a produced event, an enabled trigger, a customer-facing template, and a Wallet or OneSignal channel. Templates can use event details to make the message specific. A data refresh can still keep the pass current even when the visible message is held by the budget.
Note
These limits are about getting the right message through, not sending more. Customers reward restraint, and so do Apple and Google.
Checking it works
Before relying on a trigger, send yourself or a chosen customer a test, see Send a test push.
Next steps
Related guides
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Send a test push
How to choose a real customer, send an instant Wallet test or run a real visit trigger, and read the per-channel result.
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