Apple Wallet (or simply Wallet) is a digital wallet developed by Apple Inc. and included with iOS and watchOS that allows users to store Wallet passes such as coupons, boarding passes, student ID cards, government ID cards, business credentials, resort passes, car keys, home keys, event tickets, public transportation passes, store cards, and – starting with iOS 8.1 – credit cards, debit cards, and prepaid cards for use via Apple Pay.
| Website | www.apple.com/wallet/ |
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History
Apple Passbook was announced at the 2012 Apple Worldwide Developers Conference on June 11, 2012, and released with iOS 6 on September 19, 2012. It was renamed “Apple Wallet” with the release of iOS 9 on September 16, 2015.
Features
Wallet displays Aztec, PDF417, and QR 2D barcodes and Code 128 1D barcodes beginning with iOS 9.[5] Each digital coupon or ticket is known as a “pass”.[6] When the user launches Wallet for the first time, a brief introduction screen appears with a button inviting users to browse apps on the App Store with Wallet integration. Passes can also be distributed online via Safari, sent to the user via email, or scanned using the built-in scanner in Wallet.
Passes are synced between iOS devices using iCloud, and OS X 10.8.2 and later also support opening passes to be sent to users’ iOS devices. Although the app is available in iOS 6 or later, it is only available on iPhone and iPod Touch, but not on iPad.
Wallet has the following features:
- Displays 2D barcodes of following types: Aztec, PDF417 and QR.
- Displays 1D barcodes of following types: Code 128 beginning with iOS 9.
- Triggered by location. Up to 10 locations can be added to each Pass. A location is programmed as GPS coordinates (longitude, latitude, and altitude) and/or iBeacon UUID. (The UUID is a Universally Unique Identifier which is a 32 ASCII character code or a code automatically generated from a name using the PassKit API.)
- Triggered by time of pass.
- Localization of the pass. Up to 35 languages can be stored for each pass in Wallet.
- Pass changes can be pushed via the Apple Push Notification Service by the pass provider, or manually updated by the user themselves.
- Mobile IDs that operate over ISO 18013-5 can be read & logged via third party apps in iOS 17.
- Recurring payments with Apple Cash in iOS 17.
Express Mode & Power reserve
The first form of Express Mode came under the name “Express Transit” in iOS 12.3. Since then, supported payment cards, as well as some stored-value transport cards (such as Octopus or Suica) could be used to pay for journeys on certain public transport networks without requiring the user to authenticate the payment with Touch ID or Face ID, or even needing to wake the device. Once a supported payment or transit card is selected as a user’s Express Transit card, one can simply hold their device near the card reader to authorize payment for the journey.
Since the initial functionality launched, Express Mode has expanded along with the number of card schemes Wallet supports. As of 2023, home keys, transit cards, access badges, campus IDs, hotel keys, and car keys are supported types of cards that can be used with Express Mode. However, Apple limits some passes if they are the same type or from the same issuer from being used with Express Mode. For example, a user can only have one campus ID and one car key each set to Express Mode. This can be mitigated in a sense by using an Apple Watch to split the Express Mode passes between multiple devices.
On iPhone XR, iPhone XS, or iPhone SE (2nd generation) and later, Express Mode cards can be used up to five hours via power reserve after the device has powered off due to a drained battery. A low-battery icon will display with “Express Cards Available” text appearing at the bottom of the display, letting users know that Express Mode-enabled cards are still available for usage. Payment cards are only available via power reserve when used for transit transactions. Power reserve functionality is not available for any Apple Watch model as of 2023
