Guide

Apple Pass Designer: what it can’t do

Apple now has two ways to make an Apple Wallet pass without writing pass.json by hand: Create a Pass for iPhone users, and Pass Designer for developers. Both are useful, and both stop at the moment a pass is saved. This guide explains what each one does, what it doesn’t, and what a business needs on top to update passes, run stamps and points, and send notifications.

Last updated October 12, 2026. Facts about Apple Wallet and Google Wallet were checked against Apple’s and Google’s own documentation, linked in the sources.

The short answer

Apple’s new tools make passes; they don’t run them. Create a Pass in iOS 27 lets a customer save a static copy of a card they already have. Pass Designer, a Mac app announced at WWDC26, lets a developer design a pass template, and its companion Pass Builder turns that template into signed passes.

What happens after the pass is in someone’s Wallet - changing it, adding a stamp, updating a points balance, sending an offer to the lock screen - needs a server that Apple doesn’t provide with either tool. You either build and host that yourself or use a platform that runs it for you.

Apple’s two new pass tools

They’re easy to confuse, but they’re aimed at different people and do different jobs:

	Create a Pass	Pass Designer + Pass Builder
Who it’s for	iPhone users	Developers
Where it runs	The Wallet app (iOS 27)	A Mac app, plus a server package for Mac and Linux
What it makes	A pass on the user’s own iPhone	A .pkpasstemplate design, then signed .pkpass files
Who issues the pass	The customer	Your business, signed with your certificate
Can the business update it?	No	Only with your own update web service

Create a Pass: a customer’s static copy

Create a Pass is a consumer feature. A customer points their iPhone at a barcode or QR code - on a plastic card, a photo or a screenshot - and Wallet turns it into a pass. On iPhones that support Apple Intelligence it can read the details from the image; anyone can also build a pass by hand from Apple’s standard, membership or event templates.

It’s a genuinely handy way for someone to stop carrying a card. But the pass belongs to the customer, not to you:

It never changes. If a membership renews, a balance moves or a barcode is reissued, the customer’s copy stays exactly as they made it.
You can’t reach it. There’s no connection back to your business, so you can’t send an update or a notification to it.
It only works for static codes. Apple notes that codes which rotate or expire, such as some concert tickets, stop working once they expire.

Pass Designer and Pass Builder: design and signing for developers

Pass Designer is Apple’s answer to one of the fiddly parts of making passes: getting the layout right. It’s a what-you-see-is-what-you-get editor with a true-to-iOS preview, and it covers the pass style, images, barcodes and fields, plus the new Poster Generic style and featured actions coming with iOS 27. It saves your design as a .pkpasstemplate file.

Pass Builder is the second half. It’s a Swift on Server package, with a buildpass command-line tool, that takes a template and per-customer values (a name, a member number, a barcode) and produces a personalized .pkpass signed with your pass certificate.

Together they replace hand-editing pass.json and writing your own signing code. That’s a real improvement for developers. But look at what Apple describes them doing: designing, personalizing and signing. Updating, distributing and notifying aren’t part of either tool.

What neither tool does

Once you’ve designed a template and can produce signed passes, you still need to build and run:

An Apple Developer account and certificates - a Pass Type ID, its signing certificate, and renewing it before it expires.
Hosting and distribution - somewhere to serve each pass, and the links, buttons or QR codes customers use to add it.
The update web service - the endpoints Apple Wallet calls to register a device and fetch the latest version of a pass.
Push notifications - telling every phone that saved a pass to check for a new version, through Apple Push Notification service.
Your program logic - stamps, points, rewards, tiers and expiry, and the scanning that triggers them at the counter.
Google Wallet - Pass Designer templates are Apple-only, so Android customers need a separate integration with Google’s Wallet API.
Analytics - how many people saved, removed and used each pass.

Why updates need a server

A pass in Apple Wallet doesn’t update itself. Apple designed updates as a conversation between the phone and the issuer’s server:

When a customer adds your pass, their iPhone registers with your web service.
When something changes, your server sends a push notification to that device.
The phone asks your server which passes changed, and downloads the new version.
If the changed field has a change message, Wallet shows it on the lock screen - for example, “You’ve earned a free coffee.”

Every step happens on a server you run. A .pkpass file made by Pass Builder can take part in that conversation, but only if you’ve built the other side of it. Without one, every pass you hand out is frozen the moment it’s saved - just like a Create a Pass copy. Our guide to the .pkpass file format goes deeper into how updates work.

Stamps, points and notifications

Loyalty and membership programs are where the gap shows most, because they only work if the pass keeps changing:

Stamp cards and points

Every visit or purchase has to be recorded, the count or balance stored, the pass regenerated with the new number, and the customer’s phone told to fetch it. When the card fills up, the reward has to be issued and the card started again. None of that is a design problem, so none of it is in Pass Designer.

Notifications

The lock-screen messages that make wallet passes worth having - “one more stamp to a free coffee,” “doors open at 7” - are pass updates with a change message. No update service, no notifications. Our guide on wallet pass notifications explains how they work and the limits each wallet sets.

Changes after launch

New opening hours, a moved event, a renewed membership, a fixed typo: with an update service you change the pass once and every saved copy follows. Without one, you’re asking customers to delete the old pass and add a new one.

Which tool to use

You’re a customer with a card that has no official pass: Create a Pass is perfect.
You’re a developer with your own backend: Pass Designer and Pass Builder are a great way to design templates and sign passes. Plan for the update web service, push notifications, hosting and Google Wallet on top.
You’re a business that wants passes customers can rely on: use a platform that runs the whole lifecycle - signing, sharing, updates, stamps or points, and notifications - for both Apple Wallet and Google Wallet. A developer can still use Pass Designer to prototype a look, then build the live pass on the platform.

If you’re weighing up platforms, our comparison of wallet pass builder tools covers the main options.

Frequently asked questions

What is Apple Pass Designer?+

Pass Designer is a Mac app Apple introduced at WWDC26 for designing Apple Wallet passes. It shows a true-to-iOS preview as you build a pass and saves the design as a .pkpasstemplate file. A companion package, Pass Builder, turns that template into personalized, signed .pkpass files.

Can Apple Pass Designer update a pass after it’s added to Wallet?+

No. Pass Designer designs the template and Pass Builder signs individual passes, but neither runs the web service Apple Wallet calls to fetch an updated pass, and neither sends the push notification that tells a phone to check for one. To update passes you build and host that service yourself, or use a platform that runs it for you.

Can Pass Designer send notifications to customers?+

No. Wallet notifications appear when an issuer updates a pass that contains a change message. That needs the update web service and Apple Push Notification service, which Pass Designer and Pass Builder don’t provide.

Do I need an Apple Developer account to use Pass Designer?+

Designing a pass doesn’t make it usable. To sign and distribute passes you need a Pass Type ID certificate from Apple, which comes with the Apple Developer Program. Pass Builder signs each pass with that certificate.

Does Pass Designer make Google Wallet passes?+

No. Pass Designer and the .pkpasstemplate format are Apple-only. Google Wallet passes are created separately through Google’s own Wallet API.

What is Create a Pass in iOS 27?+

Create a Pass lets an iPhone user add their own pass to Apple Wallet from a photo or screenshot of a barcode, or by filling in a template by hand. The pass belongs to the customer, not the business, so the business can’t update it, add stamps to it or send notifications through it.

Can I import a Pass Designer template into WalletPassBuilder?+

Not directly. WalletPassBuilder has its own visual builder for Apple Wallet and Google Wallet, so you recreate the design there, usually in a few minutes, and it then handles signing, sharing, updates and notifications for you.

Sources

Apple’s newer developer pages load dynamically, so where a number comes from Apple it is taken from its Wallet Developer Guide and support pages. If Apple’s or Google’s current documentation differs, follow theirs.