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Hey Indie Hackers πŸ‘‹

UpCard replaces the cardboard stamp card in local shops. It's live in France.

I built it after my baker handed me my third replacement paper card in a month.

Paper cards fail in boring ways. The customer leaves it at home, so the visit doesn't count. They lose it, and the balance goes with it. The owner has no idea how often anyone comes back, and has to reprint the whole run to change a reward.

Every alternative asked the customer to install an app. At 8am with ten people in line, nobody downloads an app for a croissant.

So UpCard uses Apple Wallet and Google Wallet. Scan a QR at the counter, leave a first name and a phone number, and the card lands next to your bank cards. No app, no account. Two things I underestimated: the pass updates itself, so changing a reward updates every card already out there, and a Wallet pass can put "your 10th coffee is waiting" on someone's lock screen.

Happy to answer anything, especially about the Wallet pass side. That took by far the longest.

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UpCard
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    The no-app constraint feels like the strongest part of the thesis. Once you have enough live merchants, I’d be curious whether Wallet actually changes repeat-visit or redemption behavior versus paper, rather than just making the loyalty card easier to keep.