Apple is quietly killing off an entire category of third-party apps with a single feature buried in iOS 27.
Point your camera at any physical loyalty card or gym membership, and your iPhone will build a scannable digital pass on the spot.
Apple Expands Wallet Pass Creation
Many cards and tickets still exist outside Apple’s wallet ecosystem. Loyalty cards, membership passes, and event tickets often rely on printed barcodes or QR codes, but until now, there has been no simple way to add many of them to Apple Wallet.
iOS 27 removes that wall entirely. A new Create a Pass option lets you photograph a barcode or QR code on any physical pass and generate a clean, scannable digital version directly in Apple Wallet.
Visual Intelligence can identify information from the barcode or QR code and use it to help create a digital pass. Users can then review the details and customize the pass before saving it to Wallet.
Three Templates Cover Almost Everything
Apple built three pass types into the feature: Standard, Membership, and Event. Each one automatically pulls in relevant fields.
For example, an event pass would ask for location and admission type. A membership pass prompts for contact details and membership number.
You can strip out fields you do not need or add ones Apple did not include, with options for coupon codes, insurance details, VINs, and more.
Apple includes 12 background colors and seven preset designs covering categories such as theater, sports, music, and movies. The customization options help generated passes feel more polished and easier to distinguish inside Wallet.
Will Businesses Accept These Passes?
I know what you’re thinking. You’re probably worried that businesses will refuse to scan a pass they didn’t issue, but in practice, that almost never happens because a barcode is a barcode.
The scanner at a grocery store checkout or gym front desk reads the number encoded in the lines, not the app that generated them.
Apple users who have been doing this for years with third-party pass-creation apps report that staff rarely question it and scanners almost always accept it.
A small ecosystem of App Store apps has existed for years to fill this gap, helping users create Wallet-compatible passes from barcodes and QR codes.
With iOS 27, Apple is bringing that capability directly into Wallet, reducing the need for separate apps in many cases.
Bringing More Cards to Apple Wallet
Your physical wallet will soon get thinner. Loyalty cards, library cards, insurance cards, and local membership cards can all move to Apple Wallet without waiting for any business to update its technology.
One tap opens the pass. One scan at the register and you are done. The card never gets left at home because it lives where your phone lives.
Manual creation is also available if the camera scan does not capture everything cleanly. Either way, the barrier that kept dozens of everyday cards out of Apple Wallet is gone when iOS 27 ships this fall.
