iOS 27 Wallet App Gets 'Create a Pass' Feature

The question is... will the event, store, etc. accept your newly created pass...? 🤔

Honestly, I doubt it.

Do you really think some cashier who is looking forward to their next break gives a crap what you scan?

I've used custom passes for years with other apps and sometimes just the photo of the card and not once did I get questioned. It's just a barcode.

Yeah, Pass4Wallet was pretty useful. I used the trick of including a barcode in an unsupported format as just an image, in order to put my library card in Apple Wallet (many libraries apparently use the Codabar format for barcodes).

But, unfortunately, I was clever enough to include the expiration date on the card, so I'd remember to renew it, and then Apple Wallet expired it when the time came, and Pass4Wallet has all the details of the card, but won't let me generate a new one, saying "We were unable to connect to the service at this time", and their website is gone.

Annoyingly, the app has been broken for a long time and yet shows updates as recently as two months ago on the App Store. Also, if it collects no data, and has all the card details sitting in memory, why does it need to contact a server in order to assemble the card? (I've never given the app any details more scandalous than my library card number - I'm not too worried about that, but this is no way to build/run an app.)

Passes have to be signed using a “Pass Type ID” associated with the developer’s Apple account. Unfortunately that means all pass generation apps must call out to some server to sign passes for the user - it can’t all be done on device.

What I really want to see in Apple Wallet...

First, support for additional barcode formats - for instance, a lot of libraries use Codabar format.

Second, support (presumably including an API) for codes that change with time - Target and Costco come to mind - they have codes that change every minute or so, specifically to keep people from screenshotting them and potentially giving the image to other people. But opening a specific app and navigating is much less convenient.

So give the companies an API where Apple can say, "hey app XYZ, the user is trying to display your XYZ card in Apple Wallet, please give the correct current payload and format to use for QR/barcode", and the app can answer as needed so Apple Wallet can display the right code for this minute, and then you can use Apple Wallet at whatever store, rather than digging out the right app, and potentially logging in, and navigating to the right page, and hitting the "show membership card" button.

The question is... will the event, store, etc. accept your newly created pass...? 🤔

I've got a handful of loyalty cards generated by a 3rd party app (that is, it's my membership number but an app prepared the artwork and turned the membership number into the proper barcode / QR code, and made a "card" Apple Wallet would accept), and they work just fine. You occasionally get a slightly astonished look when you hold up a phone to scan instead of a plastic card, but they scan it and it works.

The question is... will the event, store, etc. accept your newly created pass...? 🤔

Depends on the pass type and store.

For instance, Costco generates a new pass every N number of seconds for a given user. That won't work.

But my local rec center uses barcode reader, so it should work without issue.

I'd expect any unchanging barcode or QR code to work, assuming the scanner can see it.

Finally!! I use other apps to create discount cards and other information I need to keep in my digital wallet. Even if they can’t be scanned (and they should have that functionality- a bar code is a bar code!), this will help!