Following a preview at WWDC 2018, Apple today announced that students at three universities in the United States can now add their student ID cards to Apple Wallet to get around campus using just an iPhone or Apple Watch.
Namely, starting today, students at Duke University, the University of Alabama, and the University of Oklahoma can now add their ID card to the Wallet app on iOS 12 and watchOS 5 and use it to pay quickly and easily for laundry, coffee or lunch, and even get into their dorms, the gym, or the school library.
Apple says Johns Hopkins University, Santa Clara University, and Temple University will roll out the capability by the end of this school year.
Students simply hold their iPhone or Apple Watch near the reader anywhere physical student ID cards are accepted — on and off campus. An optional Express Mode bypasses the need to authenticate with Face ID, Touch ID, or a passcode, allowing for the quickest entry possible to buildings around campus.
Tuesday September 15, 2026 1:43 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple today announced a new subscription initiative that turns paid iCloud+ subscriptions into a broader services bundle in more than 100 countries.
In select countries, Apple says every paid iCloud+ plan, including the cheapest 50GB tier, now includes Apple TV and Apple Arcade "at no additional cost," while family sharing extends the storage, TV and Arcade access to up to five people....
Monday September 14, 2026 10:48 pm PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple released iOS 27 this week, and despite the company's focus this year on refining its flagship operating system and nixing bugs, there are still many additional features to explore, not least of which is Apple's new context-aware Siri, re-tooled for the generative AI era.
Which iPhones Support Every iOS 27 Feature?
This year's major iPhone software update isn't all about AI, though,...
Monday September 14, 2026 9:00 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Update — 10 a.m. Pacific Time: Apple has released iOS 27.
During its iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Duo event last week, Apple announced that iOS 27 will be released widely on Monday, September 14.
iOS 27 should be available around 10 a.m. Pacific Time / 1 p.m. Eastern Time today via the Settings app, under General → Software Update.
Below, we have highlighted eight new features and...
Fumbling with a $750-1500 device repeatedly to get into buildings or buy things is nowhere as convenient as slaping a plastic card against a reader. You use this a lot more than Apple pay (which also is annoying since they required that double press a button to activate).
You have to remember that in most cases the current student generation is on their phone at all times so it is already in their hand or readily available.
Fumbling with a $750-1500 device repeatedly to get into buildings or buy things is nowhere as convenient as slaping a plastic card against a reader. You use this a lot more than Apple pay (which also is annoying since they required that double press a button to activate).
Hmm, I think it's far more likely some would fumble around for a plastic card that has 1 purpose than a phone they probably already have in their hand or a watch that's on their wrist.
My university already has these readers installed on every door. My iPhone and Apple watch make it beep... so why exactly is this roll out so slow? I feel like this is nothing more than adding a student ID to ApplePay.
The article would be a lot more useful (for me) if it provided details on what a campus IT team needed to activate this. You know, so I could bug them about it.
Fumbling with a $750-1500 device repeatedly to get into buildings or buy things is nowhere as convenient as slaping a plastic card against a reader. You use this a lot more than Apple pay (which also is annoying since they required that double press a button to activate).
And don't forget it works with Apple Watch.. which presumably is on their wrist, whats more convenient than waving your hand over a reader? No slapping. No fumbling for a plastic card. Just wave your hand, which in most cases is right there. Seems convenient to me.
I find it incredibly amusing that Tim Cook is an Auburn alumn, but Alabama is one of the first schools to roll this out. You think he’d have pushed his alma mater to support it at launch.
