How to move your loyalty cards to your phone
Loyalty cards pile up: in your wallet, on your keyring, in a drawer. Here is how to move them all onto your phone in a couple of minutes, and never dig for one at the till again.
1. Add your first card
Open ShowCards and tap the plus button. Point your camera at the barcode on the back of a card. ShowCards reads the barcode, recognizes the store, and adds its logo and colour for you. No barcode to hand? Type the number instead, or import it from a photo or screenshot.
2. Bring the whole stack over
Repeat for each card, or import several at once from screenshots of another app. Worn or damaged cards still work: enter the number by hand and the barcode is rebuilt clean.
3. Show it at the till
Tap a card and the screen brightens and fills with a crisp barcode, so the scanner reads it first time. It works fully offline, so a basement supermarket with no signal is no problem.
4. Keep the ones you use most within reach
Star your regulars so they float to the top, add a home-screen widget for a one-glance card, or put a card on your Apple Watch or Wear OS watch. You can also add a card to Apple Wallet on iPhone.
Is it private?
Yes. Your card numbers are encrypted on your device and sync through your own private cloud, not through servers of ours. There is no account to create.