Mobile Wallet Monthly – June 2025

Welcome to the first edition of Mobile Wallet Monthly, our new series keeping you up to date on what’s happening with Apple Wallet and Google Wallet.

Each month, I’ll break down the most important updates, from redesigned boarding passes and digital ID features to smarter notifications and new personalization tools. But more importantly, I’ll share what these changes actually mean for you and how you can use them to your advantage with Passkit.

Mobile wallets are moving fast and the businesses that adapt quickly are the ones that win. This roundup is here to help you make sense of what’s changing, why it matters, and how to turn those updates into real-world value with Passkit.

What’s New in Apple Wallet

Apple just rolled out a series of Wallet updates in iOS 26, aimed at making it more useful across travel, events, and identity.

Think less about flashy new features and more about thoughtful improvements, cleaner designs for boarding passes, smoother ID verification, and smarter ways to trigger passes based on where you are or what you’re doing. 

It’s Apple tightening the screws in all the right places, and it matters if you’re building experiences meant to live in someone’s pocket.

Redesigned Boarding Passes

Apple has introduced a redesigned boarding pass experience in iOS 26, with a focus on clarity, interactivity, and better integration across the travel journey. Here’s what’s new:

• Services & Upgrades Section
  A new section allows airlines to highlight services like seat upgrades, priority boarding, baggage add-ons, and lounge access. Each item can link directly to the airline’s app or website using Universal Links.
  
• Apple Maps Integration
  A shortcut to Apple Maps now appears on the pass, helping travelers navigate to the correct terminal or airport location.
  
• Find My Baggage Shortcut
  For users traveling with AirTagged luggage, the boarding pass now includes a direct link to the Find My app, making it easier to locate bags during travel.
  
• Live Activities on the Lock Screen
  Real-time flight information such as gate updates, delays, and boarding alerts, is now displayed via Live Activities on the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island, keeping travelers informed at a glance.
  
• Updated Visual Design
  The pass layout adopts the new iOS 26 visual style, featuring layered translucency and subtle motion for a more modern, cohesive look.

As part of the iOS 26 rollout, Apple is working with a select group of airlines to showcase these new features, including British Airways, Emirates, Lufthansa, Jetstar and Virgin Atlantic Australia.

Multi-Event Tickets

One of the quieter but genuinely useful additions in iOS 26 is support for multi-event tickets. It allows brands to issue a single pass that covers multiple dates, ideal for sports seasons, concert series, festivals, or membership-based events.

Instead of juggling separate passes, users now have everything in one place. For businesses, it’s a smarter way to stay present throughout a full calendar of engagements.

Each event inside the pass can include:

• Its own event guide
  
• Date, time, and venue details
  
• Assigned seating
  
• Custom artwork
  
• Direct links for more information or support

Event entries are dynamic, meaning they can be added, updated, or removed remotely. If a time or location changes, the pass updates automatically, no need for the user to re-download or replace it.

This new format gives users a cleaner, more organized experience in Apple Wallet, while making it easier for event organizers to manage schedules and keep passes up to date.

Auto Adding Passes

Apps can now add passes to Wallet automatically after the user gives permission. There’s no need to tap “Add to Wallet” each time.

After the one-time approval, new passes like boarding passes, tickets, or loyalty cards are added in the background. A lock screen notification lets the user know when something has been added.

This makes it easier for users to get passes when they need them, and helps businesses avoid drop-off from extra steps.

Verify with Wallet on the Web

Apple is making online identity checks much easier. Instead of uploading a photo ID or taking a selfie, users can now verify their identity using their government-issued ID stored in Apple Wallet. 

It’s fast, secure, and reduces drop-off during sensitive sign-up flows especially useful for age-restricted services.

What’s New in Google Wallet

At this year’s Google I/O, Google Wallet announced a slew of updates aimed at creating smarter, more interactive digital passes.

Nearby Passes Notifications

Google Wallet now shows a pass notification when someone is near a location linked to their pass like a store, venue, or airport gate. This means a loyalty card, ticket, or offer can show up on the user’s phone at exactly the right time.

For this to work, the pass needs to include location data. Once that’s set, Google handles the rest. Notifications are controlled by the user, and they can turn them off at any time either for Wallet or for a specific pass.

This is part of Google’s effort to make passes more useful in the real world, especially for businesses using location to drive in-person activity.

Field Update Notifications

Google Wallet will now show a notification when something important on a pass changes like when a user earns points, moves up a membership tier, or gets a balance update.

These notifications appear on the lock screen, so users don’t need to open the pass to know something’s changed. It’s a small update, but it makes passes feel more alive and useful especially for loyalty programs and anything time-sensitive.

Value Added Opportunities

Google Wallet now lets you show extra content inside a pass like offers, upgrades, or helpful links. These are called Value‑Added Opportunities, and they’re designed to give users more reasons to tap and interact with your pass.

You can show things like:

• A discount or upgrade
  
• A link to your store, app, or support
  
• Info about other products or upcoming events
  

These modules update in real time and live directly on the pass screen, meaning users don’t need to open another app or scan a QR code to take action.

Auto Linked Boarding Passes

Google Wallet can now automatically add a boarding pass when someone checks in for a flight as long as they’ve already saved a pass from that airline in their Wallet (like a frequent flyer card or membership pass).

Here’s how it works:

• A customer checks in through the airline’s app or website.
  
• If they’ve already saved a pass from that airline, Google Wallet recognises the connection.
  
• The boarding pass is then automatically added to their Wallet, without them needing to tap “Add.”
  

No more searching for emails or screenshots. It just shows up when it’s needed.

Digital IDs Come to Google Wallet

Google’s finally making digital IDs real. In select U.S. states and soon in the U.K, you can now store your government-issued ID right in Google Wallet. That means age checks, DMV visits, and even account recovery with partners like Amazon or CVS Health just got a whole lot simpler.

To support this, Google rolled out a new Digital Credentials API that lets apps and websites ask for verified proof of age or identity, no digging through your real wallet, no blurry photos of your driver’s license.

Secure Private Images

Secure Private Images is a new addition to Google Wallet that lets you attach user-specific images like profile photos or ID-style headshots to a pass. These images are encrypted and only visible to the person holding the pass, making them ideal for use cases that require visual identification without exposing personal data. 

Think digital business cards, member credentials, or event tickets where a face adds trust, but privacy still matters.

What You Might’ve Missed in PassKit

The launch of our all-new PassKit Designer two months ago was a huge step forward, and the momentum hasn’t stopped. We’re committed to continuous improvement, and this month we’ve rolled out powerful updates focused on platform security and workflow efficiency.

But it’s not just the Designer that’s been improved. We’ve also updated parts of the PassKit website to make things easier to navigate and more consistent across the platform. It’s all part of making sure everything feels connected, from creating a pass to managing your account.

Help Centre Updates

We’re continually releasing new features and enhancements across the PassKit platform. As updates roll out, we keep our Help Center articles up to date with the latest implementation guidance, use cases, and best practices. Be sure to check in regularly to stay current with what’s new.

One of the most significant recent updates is support for Semantic Boarding Passes in iOS 26 enabling a smarter, richer, and more interactive passenger experience. From dynamic layouts to integrated services and live activities, this is a major leap forward in digital wallet experiences.

Learn how to implement it in our detailed guide: Implementing Semantic Boarding Passes.

Batch Delete

We’ve added a Batch Delete function to the PassKit portal, making it much easier to manage large sets of passes.

You can now select and delete multiple records at once, whether it’s outdated membership cards, expired coupons, or old event tickets without having to remove them one by one. Just head to the list page for your pass type, apply filters if needed, select the records you want to remove, and delete them in a single action.

It works across all pass types and supports filtering, so you can quickly clean up only the passes you don’t need.

SOC2 Certification

We’re now officially SOC 2 certified. This means we meet a widely trusted standard for how we handle customer data, system availability, and internal processes.

In short, we’ve been independently audited and verified to follow strict security and privacy practices.

The certification covers how we manage access to systems, monitor for issues, protect customer data, and ensure our internal processes are running as they should. It’s something we’ve committed to not just for the audit, but as part of how we operate day to day.

What’s Coming Next For PassKit

We’re always working behind the scenes to make it easier for you to create, manage, and optimize wallet experiences. From new platform integrations to feature enhancements, our roadmap is focused on helping your passes do more with less effort.

Here’s a sneak peek at what’s on the way.

Team Members

Managing digital passes is often a team effort and now, Passkit is making that easier.

With the upcoming Team Members feature, you’ll be able to add multiple users to your Passkit account, so your entire team can access and manage passes in one shared workspace. Whether you’re working with marketers, developers, or operations staff, everyone can collaborate more efficiently, without sharing a single login.

You’ll also be able to assign role-based permissions, giving you full control over who can view, edit, or manage different parts of your wallet projects.

This feature is rolling out very soon, stay tuned for the official launch.

Frequently Asked Questions

We’re in constant conversation with businesses, some just getting started with Passkit, others looking to refine and scale what they’ve already built. Along the way, certain questions come up again and again. That’s why we’re introducing a monthly FAQ: a quick, focused look at the topics teams ask about most, from setup to use cases to making the most of the platform.

One theme that’s stood out recently is NFC. It’s not just a curiosity, it’s becoming part of how teams think about their mobile wallet strategy.