What it does
Hoq Loyalty runs a points program across every place your business sells. Customers earn a set number of points per dollar spent before tax, rounded down, plus visit bonuses, item and category points, and boosts by place, day and hour.
Rewards are money off, a share off up to a limit, or a free item. A reward's points are held while the till applies the discount, then spent or given back. An order earns once, however often it is sent, and a refund takes back only the points that money earned.
Customers join by scanning a QR code at the counter or typing their phone on a counter tablet. They get their own page with no account, and a text after each sale from your business's own Hoq Phone number. Before a reward is used, they prove the phone is theirs with a texted code.
If you run Square's loyalty program today, Start from Square brings its words, rate and rewards across in one step.
In numbers
3kinds of reward: money off, share off, free item
1time an order can earn points, however often it is sent
0accounts a member needs to see their points
Specifications
| Earning | Points per dollar before tax, visit bonuses, item and category points, boosts by place, day and hour. |
|---|---|
| Rewards | Money off, a share off up to a limit, or a free item. |
| Refunds | Take back the points refunded money earned, never more and never below zero. |
| Fraud checks | A texted code before a reward is used; members who earn more often than a person visits are flagged. |
| Texts | Sent from the business's own Hoq Phone number, email where there is none; one text per order. |
| Moving from Square | Square loyalty program words, rate and rewards brought across in one step. |
| Bookkeeping | Points owed shown in money; each day as a balanced journal, optionally posted to Hoq Books. |
| Where the data lives | One .loyalty file per business, shared by all its places. |
Features
30 features, all in beta. Listed from the product's feature ledger; each row shows the day it was last checked.
| Your own words | Calls the points whatever the business calls them, in every screen and receipt. | Checked 2026-10-24 |
| Points per dollar | Gives a set number of points for every dollar spent before tax, rounded down. | Checked 2026-10-24 |
| What a point is worth | Keeps a cost for each point so what is owed shows in money for the books. | Checked 2026-10-24 |
| Rewards | Offers money off, a share off up to a limit, or a free item, each for a number of points. | Checked 2026-10-24 |
| Ways to earn more | Adds visit bonuses, points for an item or category, and boosts that multiply points by place, day and hour. | Checked 2026-10-24 |
| Gift cards and points | Lets the business choose whether buying a gift card, or paying with one, earns points. | Checked 2026-10-24 |
| Start from Square | Brings a Square loyalty program's words, rate and rewards across in one step. | Checked 2026-10-24 |
| The card | Each member's points show as a card in the business's chosen colour, with a ring of punch marks filling toward the next reward, the same on their page, the counter display and the staff screen. | Checked 2026-10-25 |
| Their own page | Each member has a page, with no account, showing their points, how far to the next reward, what they can use and lately. | Checked 2026-10-24 |
| A text after each sale | Texts what they earned, what they have and how far to a reward, with their page; the same order never texts twice; they can stop it. | Checked 2026-10-24 |
| Ask for your link | A public page sends a member their link by text or email, and says the same thing to a stranger, so it never reveals who is a member. | Checked 2026-10-24 |
| Join by QR | A customer scans a code at the counter, gets a code by text, and joins, with welcome points if the business gives them. | Checked 2026-10-24 |
| Counter display | A tablet facing the customer: they type their phone to check in or join; staff see who is at the counter and serve them. | Checked 2026-10-24 |
| Phone checked before rewards | A member proves the phone is theirs with a texted code before a reward can be used, so nobody redeems on someone else's number. | Checked 2026-10-24 |
| Texts from your own number | Sends through the business's Hoq Phone number; emails instead where there is no phone. | Checked 2026-10-24 |
| Needs a look | Flags members who earn more times in one day than a real person visits, often a staff member's own number. | Checked 2026-10-24 |
| Find a member | Finds a customer by phone or email however it is typed, and adds them if they are new. | Checked 2026-10-24 |
| Record a sale | Gives a member the points an order earns, showing how many as the amount is typed; the same order never earns twice. | Checked 2026-10-25 |
| Use a reward | Holds the reward's points while the till applies the discount, then spends them or gives them back. | Checked 2026-10-24 |
| Refunds | Takes back the points refunded money earned, never more, and never below zero. | Checked 2026-10-24 |
| Goodwill points | Lets an owner give or correct points with a reason that stays on the record. | Checked 2026-10-24 |
| What is owed | Shows the points out and what they are worth. | Checked 2026-10-24 |
| A day for the bookkeeper | Shows one business day as a balanced journal, by place. | Checked 2026-10-24 |
| Ledger check | Walks every movement to prove it is chained, balanced and matches every balance. | Checked 2026-10-24 |
| JSON door and MCP | Offers every console action to other apps and agents, with owners alone changing the program. | Checked 2026-10-24 |
| Hoq Books, if you use it | Optional: sends each finished day to the business's Hoq Books as one balanced entry, by place, under its own key so a retry never posts twice. | Checked 2026-10-24 |
| Days in order | Sends days in order and never skips one; a day Books could not take holds the days after it until it goes through. | Checked 2026-10-24 |
| Accounts set up for you | Uses Books accounts already named for the job, makes the rest, and asks only about the accounts this business can post to. | Checked 2026-10-24 |
| Books agree check | Compares what is owed here with the Books accounts it posts to, and shows any difference, such as an entry made by hand. | Checked 2026-10-24 |
| Key kept apart | Keeps the Books key sealed on the server, never in the business's own file. | Checked 2026-10-24 |
Works with
Your data
| Where it is kept | One .loyalty file per business in the owner's Hoq drive. |
|---|---|
| Getting it out | Every console action through the JSON API and MCP. |
| If you leave | Not documented on a public page. |
APIs and standards
- JSON API: POST /api/loyalty/w/{key} with a Bearer key
- MCP tools for every console action; owners alone change the program
- Counter display page for a customer-facing tablet
- Standard: QR code
Compared
| Checked 2026-11-01 | Hoq Loyalty | Square Loyalty (in Square Plus) | Smile.io |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price per month | not published | Included in Square Plus, $49 per location1 | $0 Free, $15 Essential, $79 Standard, $199 Growth2 |
| Volume limits | not published | not published1 | 200 orders a month on Free, 500 on Essential2 |
| Ways to earn | Per dollar, per visit, per item or category, timed boosts | Per visit, amount spent, items or categories3 | not published2 |
| In-store | Counter tablet, QR join, any till through the API | Square Point of Sale3 | Shopify POS only2 |
| Text messages | From your own Hoq Phone number | First 500 texts free, then 3¢ each on Plus1 | not published2 |
| API | JSON API and MCP | not published1 | Smile Plus ($999, annual) and Enterprise only2 |
| Free trial | not published | 30 days3 | Free plan2 |