Welcome to this month’s edition of Mobile Wallet Monthly. Mobile wallets continue to evolve, with new partnerships and features that make digital passes and IDs more useful and secure. This month, we’ll take a look at some important developments, including airlines adopting mobile boarding passes and advancements in digital age verification.
Whether you’re managing customer experiences, planning travel solutions, or exploring new ways to use digital credentials, these updates offer insights into how mobile wallets are growing and adapting
Table of Contents
Samsung Wallet Updates
Samsung’s recent Galaxy Unpacked event, held on July 9, 2025, primarily showcased new devices and software innovations, with limited focus on Samsung Wallet.
However, the Wallet app has seen notable updates this month. These enhancements aim to improve user experience and expand functionality, including integration with the Now Bar for real-time updates and a new partnership with Coinbase for crypto transactions.
Now Bar Integration
Samsung released a major update for Samsung Wallet (version 6.0.85) in July 2025, introducing a fresh animation that appears when users swipe down on a card or document to view all their stored items. This update also brings integration with the Now Bar, a feature on Galaxy phones and tablets that provides quick access to real-time status updates directly from the lock screen.
Thanks to this update, users can quickly check the status of their flight boarding passes, train tickets, or bus schedules without unlocking their phones or opening the app. The Now Bar shows real-time updates, making it easier to stay informed on travel details at a glance.
This new functionality depends on partnerships between Samsung and service providers in various regions, so the feature’s availability may vary by location.
Live Notifications
Samsung Wallet has introduced a new Live Notifications feature designed to keep users informed with real-time updates directly on their device’s lock screen and status bar. This enhancement allows users to receive timely alerts about important changes related to their digital tickets and passes, such as flight delays, gate changes, or train schedule updates, without needing to unlock their phones or open the app.
By delivering critical information instantly and unobtrusively, Live Notifications improve the overall user experience. They ensure travelers and event-goers stay up to date with minimal effort. This feature is part of Samsung’s ongoing commitment to making mobile wallets more practical and user-friendly by seamlessly integrating real-world data into everyday digital interactions.
With Live Notifications, Samsung Wallet strengthens its role as a central hub for managing travel, transit, and event passes, offering users convenience and peace of mind through timely and relevant information.
Coinbase Integration
Samsung Wallet has expanded its functionality with a new partnership that allows users to fund and trade crypto directly within the Coinbase app using Samsung Pay. Rolling out now to select users in the U.S. and Canada, this integration provides a convenient way for Samsung Wallet users to access cryptocurrency services through a trusted platform.
This move reflects Samsung’s ongoing efforts to broaden Samsung Wallet’s capabilities beyond traditional payments, further establishing it as a versatile mobile wallet option.
Thai Airways adds boarding passes to Samsung Wallet
Thai Airways has partnered with Samsung Wallet to make boarding passes available on Galaxy phones and watches. Travelers can now keep their boarding pass on their device instead of carrying a paper copy.
This is the first time Thai Airways has supported a digital wallet for boarding passes. Samsung Wallet is strongest in South Korea, where 8 out of 10 smartphone owners use it, and Asia-Pacific accounts for 40% of its global users, making it the platform’s largest market.
This move also follows a growing trend of airlines shifting to digital boarding passes through mobile wallets for a more convenient travel experience.
Google Wallet Gets Material 3 Expressive Redesign
Google Wallet is rolling out a refreshed interface based on Google’s new Material 3 Expressive design language. The update brings a cleaner, card-based layout for passes, improved toggle controls, and a more prominent button for adding new items to Wallet.
The redesign is appearing with Google Wallet version 25.24.772650276 alongside the latest Google Play services update. It’s a gradual rollout, so users may see the new look over the coming weeks as the update reaches more devices.
Sparkasse and Google Partner on Wallet-Based Age Verification
Germany’s Sparkasse network is launching a new age verification service in partnership with Google, using credentials stored in Google Wallet. The system will allow Sparkasse’s 50 million customers to prove their age online without sharing personal data, using zero-knowledge cryptography for added privacy.
The initiative is one of the first national-scale projects for digital credentials in the EU and integrates directly with Android and Chrome for quick, one-click verification. It’s designed to give apps and websites a reliable way to check age while protecting children from accessing restricted content. The service is set to roll out in the coming months.
Mobile Wallet Trends to Watch
As mobile wallets continue to expand beyond simple payment tools, new patterns are emerging that show where the industry is heading.
The last two months trends highlight how Apple Wallet, Google Wallet, and Samsung Wallet are evolving into platforms for more than just transactions, with features designed to integrate deeper into everyday experiences.
Mobile Wallets Evolving Beyond Payments
Mobile wallets are no longer just containers for debit and credit cards. Consumers are increasingly using them to store digital IDs, boarding passes, loyalty cards, and event tickets.
Industry research shows that usage of non-payment items in wallets has grown by almost 90 percent since 2019, reflecting the shift towards making wallets a hub for identity, travel, and customer engagement rather than just checkout.
For businesses, this highlights the value of creating passes that go beyond payments. Digital IDs, membership passes, and travel cards are becoming key touchpoints for ongoing customer interaction.
Wallet Adoption Remains Strongest in Asia-Pacific
Asia-Pacific continues to lead the way in mobile wallet adoption. In 2024, the region accounted for over one-third of global digital wallet revenue, with usage expected to grow steadily into the 2030s.
This is particularly relevant with the rise of Samsung Wallet in South Korea and other APAC markets, where mobile boarding passes and digital IDs are rapidly replacing physical equivalents.
For brands, this trend signals the importance of supporting wallet-based experiences in markets where digital adoption is already high and consumer expectations are shifting faster than in other regions.
Real-time notifications driving engagement
A key shift in July has been the rise of real-time updates inside wallets. Google Wallet’s new field update alerts and Samsung Wallet’s Live Notifications are examples of this trend and the importance of it.
Instead of static passes, users are now seeing timely information delivered directly to their lock screens, whether it’s a flight delay, loyalty tier update, or ticket change.
This move towards dynamic, live content reinforces the role of wallets as active engagement tools rather than static storage. It also means businesses have an opportunity to keep customers informed in context without requiring additional apps or communication channels.
Digital IDs entering mainstream use cases
Digital IDs are becoming one of the most significant additions to mobile wallets. Both Apple and Google are expanding beyond government-issued IDs for air travel into new areas like age verification, retail eligibility, and transit passes. G
Google Wallet is piloting U.K. passport-based IDs for railcards and age-restricted purchases, while Apple’s U.S. rollout now allows TSA verification and secure identity checks for partner services.
As these features roll out, mobile wallets are increasingly positioned as the primary identity layer for digital and in-person services. For businesses, that means planning for wallet-based ID checks and exploring use cases where digital credentials can replace manual verification.
Frequently Asked Questions
Working with businesses across different industries gives us a front-row seat to the questions that come up as teams explore and expand their mobile wallet strategies. From design choices to real-time updates, some topics surface more than others.
Can PassKit Passes Include Dynamic Fields That Update Based On User Behavior?
Yes, PassKit passes can include dynamic fields that update based on user behavior. These fields allow information on the pass to change automatically for each user, such as updating loyalty point balances, showing personalized messages, or reflecting event time changes.
The updates can be triggered by actions a user takes, like making a purchase, redeeming a coupon, or reaching a new status level.
The dynamic content is updated through PassKit’s API or integrations with tools like Zapier, Make, or CRM systems, which send real-time updates to the pass. This ensures that each user’s pass stays accurate and relevant as they interact with your product or service.
How Can I Track Analytics And Usage For My Digital Passes?
PassKit provides multiple ways to track the performance and usage of your digital passes. You can use the PassKit Portal to view detailed pass lifecycle data, including when a pass is issued, installed into Apple Wallet or Google Wallet, uninstalled, or deleted. The dashboard also offers project-level analytics showing trends over time, device types, and wallet platform usage.
For campaign tracking, PassKit supports UTM parameters and Google Analytics integration, so you can see exactly which channels or campaigns are driving installs. Built-in QR code analytics let you measure scans, unique devices, locations, and conversion rates from scan to wallet add.
If you want deeper insights, PassKit’s Analytics API and webhooks allow you to pull data into your own systems or dashboards.
Can PassKit Passes Be Scheduled To Activate Or Expire On Specific Dates?
Yes, PassKit passes can be scheduled to activate or expire on specific dates. You can set an expiration date when creating the pass, either as a fixed calendar date or as a duration after the pass is issued. Once the expiration date is reached, the pass automatically becomes inactive or moves to the expired section of the wallet.
Activation and expiration can also be managed programmatically using PassKit’s API, which allows you to update expiration dates, void passes immediately, or reactivate them if needed. This makes it easy to handle use cases like event tickets valid only on certain days, memberships with renewal periods, or coupons that deactivate after a promotion ends.
Is There A Limit To The Number Of Passes A Business Can Distribute?
There is no fixed limit to the number of passes a business can distribute with PassKit. The platform is designed to scale, so you can issue anything from a small batch of passes to millions for large campaigns without impacting performance.
PassKit uses a usage-based pricing model, so the cost is tied to the number of passes you issue and manage rather than imposing a hard cap. This allows businesses of any size to distribute as many passes as needed while keeping the system reliable and scalable for high-volume campaigns.
