What geofence radius should a barbershop use around its shop?

150 meters, the default, is right for most single-location shops

Most barbershops should leave the geofence radius at Waya's default of 150 meters, which is wide enough to catch someone parking nearby or walking past on the street without triggering constantly for people who live or work in the general area but aren't actually heading in. The allowed range runs from 50 to 500 meters, set per branch from the Branches screen — not from the card's address text, which is a common setup mistake that leaves geofence off entirely.

The one Waya-specific fact to know here: geofence is Apple Wallet only. It works for up to 10 branch locations on a single card, and it costs zero message quota because it isn't counted as a wallet-message send — a genuinely free channel, but only reaching the Apple Wallet half of a shop's client base.

When to go narrower: 50–100 meters

A barbershop in a dense mall or a busy commercial strip, where dozens of unrelated shops sit within a few hundred meters, should narrow the radius toward 50–100 meters. A wide radius in that setting fires for people who were never going to walk in — they're just passing the building next door — and a message that fires too often for the wrong audience gets ignored or, worse, feels like spam.

Narrower radii work best when foot traffic density is high and the shop wants the geofence message to feel genuinely relevant: "You're right outside — walk-ins welcome" only lands well if it's actually true when the message appears.

When to go wider: 250–500 meters

A shop on or near a major road, where most clients arrive by car rather than on foot, benefits from a wider radius — 250 to 500 meters — to reach someone while they're still driving and can actually choose to turn in, rather than after they've already passed the entrance. Waya's maximum is 500 meters; there's no way to go wider than that per branch.

A wider radius does mean the message fires for people further from an actual decision point, so keep the copy generic enough to still make sense at 400 meters away: "Near [Shop Name]? Your 6th cut is free today" works whether someone is 100 meters or 450 meters out.

• Default: 150 meters, right for most single-location shops
• Narrower (50–100 m): dense malls, busy commercial strips
• Wider (250–500 m): shops near major roads, car-based clientele
• Set per branch from the Branches screen, not from the card's address field

The limitation stated honestly

Radius only controls Apple Wallet clients; Google Wallet decides its own proximity trigger independently, and there's no setting on Waya's side that changes that behavior for Android clients. A shop with a heavily Android client base will see meaningfully less geofence reach regardless of how carefully the radius is tuned.

It's also worth remembering geofence isn't a delivery guarantee — it depends on the client's phone location services being on and the pass being added to Apple Wallet, so treat it as a bonus channel on top of the message-quota-based triggers, not a replacement for them.

Setting the radius in the dashboard

Setting geofence takes a few minutes per branch and applies immediately once saved.

1. Step 1: open the Branches screen

   Not the card's address field — geofence is configured per branch, separately.

2. Step 2: pick a starting radius

   150 m default unless the shop is in a dense mall (go narrower) or near a major road (go wider).

3. Step 3: write the message

   Keep it short and specific enough to make sense at both the near and far edge of the chosen radius.

4. Step 4: repeat per branch

   Up to 10 branch locations on one card, each with its own independently set radius.

Next step

Geofence radius is one small setting inside a bigger notification setup. The barbershop loyalty program guide covers the full picture — stamp thresholds, staff roles, and the win-back trigger geofence sits alongside.