Apple Wallet and Google Wallet give customers a familiar place to keep useful digital items on their phones. Beyond payment cards, they can hold loyalty cards, membership cards, coupons, gift cards, event tickets, boarding passes and digital credentials.
For businesses, wallet passes create a direct, useful way to stay connected with customers, without asking them to download another app.
Watch the introduction
What is a digital wallet pass?
A digital wallet pass is the mobile version of something a customer might otherwise carry as a plastic card, printed ticket or paper coupon.
Customers can save a pass directly to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet from a website, email, SMS message, QR code, app or another digital channel. Once saved, it is easy to find when they need it.
Unlike a static image or PDF, a pass can remain useful after it is issued. Information such as loyalty points, membership status, offers, event details or account information can be updated as the customer relationship changes.
What can businesses create?
Digital wallet passes work across a wide range of customer journeys:
Loyalty cards for points, status, rewards and personalised offers
Membership cards and digital credentials that can replace plastic cards
Coupons and offers that can change throughout a campaign
Gift cards that customers can keep readily available
Event tickets with the information attendees need at the right time
Boarding passes and travel passes
Employee, insurance and other digital cards
The right pass depends on the customer experience you want to create—but the underlying workflow is similar.
How do wallet passes work?
A typical wallet journey has five stages:
Create the pass
Choose the type of pass you want to offer and customise it with your branding, imagery, colours and customer-facing information.Connect your data
Add the information that makes each pass useful, such as a customer name, member number, points balance, ticket details or offer.Distribute the pass
Share it through the channels your customers already use: web pages, email, SMS, QR codes, apps or connected systems.Use it at the right moment
Customers can open the pass from Apple Wallet or Google Wallet when they visit, check in, redeem an offer or need account information.Keep it current
Update pass information as things change, helping the pass stay relevant rather than becoming another forgotten digital file.
Why use Apple Wallet and Google Wallet passes?
Wallet passes can make customer interactions simpler and more useful.
For customers, they provide convenient access to something they already need.
There is no extra app to install, and the pass lives alongside the other items they keep in their wallet.
For businesses, they can support better loyalty, membership, ticketing and promotional experiences. A pass can be branded, distributed digitally and kept current throughout the customer journey.
How PassKit helps
PassKit is the wallet engagement platform for creating, managing and growing Apple Wallet and Google Wallet experiences.
With PassKit, teams can:
Choose from pass templates for common use cases
Design branded Apple Wallet and Google Wallet passes
Create and manage passes through the PassKit Portal
Distribute passes through digital channels
Update pass and member information over time
Connect wallet experiences to existing systems with integrations and APIs
This means you can focus on the customer experience instead of building and maintaining the underlying wallet infrastructure yourself.
Get started
Ready to explore what you can create?
Sign in to the PassKit Portal to create a project, choose a pass type and begin designing your first wallet experience. For practical guidance, browse the PassKit Help Centre or contact the PassKit support team.