Guide

How to create an Apple Wallet pass without coding

You can make a pass for Apple Wallet, and for Google Wallet, without writing any code. This guide shows what building one yourself involves, so you know what a no-code builder is saving you, and then walks through creating, testing, sharing and updating a pass step by step.

Last updated September 29, 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

Use a no-code pass builder. You design the pass in a visual editor, click a button to publish it, and get a link and QR code that customers use to add it to Apple Wallet on iPhone or Google Wallet on Android. The builder does the technical parts: signing the pass, hosting it, producing the Google Wallet version, and pushing updates to phones that saved it.

Before the steps, it helps to know what those technical parts are, so you can judge whether building it yourself is worth it.

What building a pass yourself involves

Nothing here is impossible, but it is real engineering work, and it repeats on each platform.

Apple Wallet

• A paid developer account. Issuing passes requires an Apple Developer Program membership, which costs 99 USD per year.
• Credentials. You register a Pass Type ID, then create a Pass Type ID certificate for it. Wallet only recognizes passes that are signed with an Apple-issued certificate tied to your account.
• The pass itself. A pass is a package: a JSON description, images at the right sizes for each screen density, and a digital signature, zipped into a .pkpass file. A pass that has malformed JSON, a misspelled key, a mismatched identifier or a signature missing Apple’s intermediate certificate simply won’t load.
• Serving it. Your web server has to deliver the file with the correct content type so that Safari and Mail add it to Wallet.
• Updates. To change a saved pass, you run a web service that phones register with, send push notifications to them through Apple’s push service, and answer each phone’s request for the latest version.
• Keeping certificates alive. If your certificate expires, passes already on phones keep working, but you can no longer sign new passes or send updates.

Google Wallet

• An issuer account in the Google Pay & Wallet Console. New accounts start in demo mode, where passes can only be issued to admins, developers and listed test accounts, until you request publishing access.
• API access. You enable the Google Wallet API in Google Cloud, create a service account and generate a key for it.
• Classes and objects. You create a pass class (the template) and an object for each person’s pass, through the REST API.
• Add links. You sign a token with the service account key to build each “Add to Google Wallet” link.

Step by step: create a pass with no code

These steps use WalletPassBuilder. The names of buttons and sections are the ones you will see in the builder.

1. Create an account

Sign up and confirm your email address when asked. New accounts get 20 free pass credits, so you can publish your first passes before you pay for anything.

2. Choose a template

Open the builder with Create New Pass and pick a category: Event Ticket, Coupon & Offer, Membership Card or Loyalty Pass. Each category has templates to start from, with a layout already chosen. It is much faster to edit a template than to start blank.

3. Pick a layout

Three layouts cover most needs:

• Plain background, best for simple gift cards and coupons.
• Wide hero image, for event tickets and anything with real photography. On Apple Wallet the hero image is the strip under the header, and Apple puts the pass title in the row below it rather than over your photo.
• Small thumbnail image, for membership cards and ID-style passes.

4. Add your branding

Under Brand colors and Brand assets, set the background color and upload your logo, which is required. If your logo is a wide wordmark, use a rectangular logo; a badge or icon works best as a circle. Choose colors with strong contrast between the background and the text, since people read passes quickly, often in bright light.

With a hero-image layout you can set a separate hero image for Apple Wallet and for Google Wallet, because the two wallets crop the picture differently. Our best practices guide has the recommended sizes.

5. Fill in the front of the pass

Under Front of the pass, set the card title and the labeled fields that appear on the front, such as “Valid till” or “Points”. Keep labels and values short. The live preview updates as you type and lets you compare how the pass looks on Apple Wallet and on Google Wallet.

6. Add the back of the pass

Under Back of the pass, add sections for the longer information: terms, opening hours, a website and a phone number. Link and phone sections are tappable in the wallet.

7. Set the code

Choose a QR code or a barcode and the value it holds. Use a QR code if staff scan with a phone camera and a barcode if your reader only handles linear barcodes, and test it with the scanner you will actually use. For loyalty passes the code is set for you so the built-in scanner can recognize the pass.

8. Optional: personalize it

Under Dynamic data, add @variables such as @name or @balance to any field. Then upload a CSV, add rows one at a time, or connect a form or checkout, and each customer gets their own version from the one design.

9. Optional: notifications and advanced settings

Under Notifications you can turn on reminders such as a notice at the event start or before the pass expires. Under Advanced settings you can set a scheduled expiry, restrict the pass so it can be saved only once, or protect it with an access code.

10. Publish

Click Create Pass. WalletPassBuilder signs the Apple Wallet pass and creates the Google Wallet pass, then gives you a share link and a downloadable QR code. Designing, previewing and editing are free; publishing uses pass credits.

Test it on real phones

Always test before you hand a pass to customers. If you can, use one iPhone and one Android phone.

1. Open the share link on your phone. On an iPhone or an Android phone, the link takes you straight into the wallet’s add flow, unless the pass asks for an access code or, for a loyalty pass, a phone number first. Review the pass and tap Add.
2. Check every line. Look for text that is cut off, a logo that is hard to see against the background, and a hero image that crops the wrong part.
3. Scan the code. Do it with your real scanner or camera app, and try it with the screen brightness low.
4. Make a change and watch it update. Edit a field and confirm the saved pass changes on the phone.

If you open the link on a computer, the page shows the pass with both wallet buttons. Apple Wallet passes are added from an iPhone, so the Apple button shows a QR code to scan with the iPhone’s camera.

Share it with customers

Put the link or QR code wherever your customers already are: on a receipt, a website, an email, a text message or a poster at the counter. A few habits make a difference:

• Say what they get. “Scan to save your loyalty card” works better than a bare QR code.
• Use one link for everyone. The page picks the right wallet for the phone, so you don’t need separate iPhone and Android links.
• Make it easy at the moment they’re paying attention. The counter, the checkout confirmation and the booking confirmation are better places than a footer link.

Read how to add a pass to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet to see what your customers will go through and what to do when a pass won’t add.

Change it after it’s live

Edit the published pass, for example to change an offer, fix a typo or update a date, and the copies saved in customers’ wallets update. The link and QR code stay the same, so there is nothing to re-share. Editing and sending updates to saved passes are free.

Two cautions from Apple’s own guidance: updates aren’t guaranteed to arrive if a phone is offline or the person has turned updates off for the pass, and replacing an offer with a different one can confuse people because one coupon seems to vanish and another appears. If the offer changes completely, issue a new pass.

What it costs

• Designing, previewing, editing and updating a pass that is already saved are free.
• Credits are used when passes are created or saved to a wallet. Shared passes use one credit each, and a personalized pass made from a data row uses one credit per row. New accounts get 20 free credits.
• The plan is $49 a month or $490 a year with 1,000 pass credits included, and you can buy more credits. See pricing.

For comparison, doing it yourself on Apple alone costs 99 USD per year for the developer program, before any of the engineering time.

Mistakes to avoid

• Too much on the front. Put terms and long notes on the back.
• Low-contrast text on a bright or busy background.
• Publishing without testing on a real phone. Previews are close, but a wallet is the real test.
• Treating the pass as the source of truth. Keep balances and statuses in your own records.
• Sending notifications too often. Both wallets limit them, and people remove passes that nag.

What to do next

• Read the wallet pass best practices guide for image sizes, text limits and testing tips.
• Start from a template built for your business, such as restaurants, gyms, events or gift cards.
• Set up personalization and automations so passes are created when someone signs up or pays.

Frequently asked questions

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.

• Apple: Create Wallet identifiers and certificates
• Apple: Apple Developer Program membership details
• Apple: Wallet Developer Guide, Pass Design and Creation
• Apple: Wallet Developer Guide, Distributing Passes
• Apple: Wallet Developer Guide, Updating Passes
• Google: Setting up a Google Wallet API issuer account
• Google: Working with JSON Web Tokens (JWT)
• Google: Generating Google Wallet REST API authentication credentials
• WalletPassBuilder help: Create your first pass
• WalletPassBuilder help: Publish and share a pass
• WalletPassBuilder help: How pass credits work