Report: iOS 27 To allow pass creation in wallet

Mark Gurman reported for Bloomberg earlier this week Apple is purportedly going to allow people to create their own passes within the Wallet app come iOS 27. The feature let users “take a QR code and generate a custom pass around it,” he wrote on Monday.

“The capability is designed for situations where, for example, a gym or concert app provides a QR code for entry but doesn’t support the Wallet app,” Gurman said of the feature. “With the new tool, users can import that code and create their own pass.”

He continued: “Users can create a pass from scratch or rely on the iPhone’s camera to take a QR code and turn it into a digital ticket. The feature includes customization tools for styles, images, colors and text fields, allowing users to tailor the information displayed on each pass. Apple is testing three template options: standard, membership and event. Standard, in orange, is a default option for any type of pass, while membership, in blue, is geared toward entering places like gyms. The event pass, in purple, is meant for tickets to games, movies and other occasions.”

I have quite a bit stored in Apple Wallet: my debit card, health insurance card, even my California ID and US passport, alongside a Starbucks card, a Clipper Card, and the digital key for my house—and yes, I still carry my physical wallet everywhere I go. What piqued my interest about Gurman’s story was, if at all possible, if I could use the “create a pass” thing to build one for my CalFresh card. As it currently stands, I must use my physical card in stores when I want to use my SNAP benefits to get groceries; I can use the card terminal, but it’s a pain in the ass because (a) most I’ve encountered don’t accept the chip on the card; and (b) swiping the magnetic strip sorely tests my hand-eye coordination. It’d be far better, and more accessible, if I could simply tap my iPhone or Apple Watch as I’m using the self-checkout. Not only would this method be convenient and expedient, it’d remove a barrier to independently paying for my food.

There exist apps on the App Store for managing one’s SNAP benefits—the most popular one, across several states, is ebtEDGE and it’s truly terrible—which is good for the maintenance aspect. I recently discovered Propel and like it much better for management, finding resources, etc. I need someone to make Flighty for food stamps. But managing one’s benefits is a wholly different task from actually using those benefits in everyday life. In practice, California (and others) should consider making the CalFresh card compatible with Apple Wallet—if not for accessibility’s sake, for modernity’s. As a person with disabilities, such a move would make buying groceries in-store more accessible. I don’t know how technically feasible it is, but theoretically anyway, it sounds great I could maybe use the aforementioned pass creation feature to circumvent the Luddite bureaucracy and manually add my SNAP card to my phone.

iOS 27, et al, is widely expected to be unveiled by Apple at WWDC next month.