In mid-September, iOS 27 arrives with a feature the tech press will sum up in one line: the iPhone can now turn any QR code into a wallet pass. It’s called Create a Pass, and it means anyone can scan a paper punch card, a ticket, or anything else with a QR code and save it into Apple Wallet.
If you run a loyalty programme, it’s fair to ask what this does to you. The answer has two parts and both are good news.
Your cards keep working. There’s nothing to do
Let’s start with what matters: iOS 27 hasn’t removed anything loyalty cards depend on. Stamps are added the same way, rewards work the same way, push notifications arrive the same way. The cards your customers already have won’t change with the update, and neither you nor your staff need to deal with anything.
The same goes for event tickets and coupons. No migration, no reissuing cards, no change at the till.
What customers can make themselves — and what it isn’t
Create a Pass works by pointing the camera at a QR code and letting the phone turn it into a wallet pass. Someone can save the paper card from their barber or a swimming pool season pass so they don’t have to carry them around.
It’s useful. It is not a loyalty programme, though, and that difference is worth spelling out, because it’s fundamental.
A pass made on a phone is a picture of a QR code. It looks like a card, but it does nothing:
| What you need | Pass made by the customer | Card issued by Walio |
|---|---|---|
| Collects stamps | no, it’s a static image | yes, on every scan |
| Updates itself | no, it stays the same forever | yes, changes appear immediately |
| You can send a message | no | yes, push to the lock screen |
| You know who holds it | no, it was created outside your reach | yes, the customer is in your database |
| You see visits and spend | no | yes, in your statistics |
| It looks like your business | no, it’s a default template | yes, your logo and colours |
It isn’t only about features. That pass is created on the customer’s side and you will never find out about it. You can’t hand it out, brand it, or learn how many people have one. Someone holding a self-made pass isn’t your customer in any database – they’re a person who made themselves a note.
A loyalty programme isn’t a card in a phone. It’s a loop: register the customer, add a stamp after their visit, get back in touch when they haven’t been around for a while, and see in your statistics how many came back. That loop can’t come out of a scanned QR code, because it has nowhere to start.
Why this is actually good news for you
Here’s the more interesting part. With this feature, Apple will do something small businesses have spent years doing themselves, expensively: teach people that a loyalty card belongs in the wallet on their phone.
Until now you had to explain at the counter that there’s nothing to download and that the card goes into the same app that holds their boarding passes. After iOS 27 they’ll know in advance, because the system itself walks them through it.
The habit you had to build is now being built by Apple. You benefit without lifting a finger – and the moment a customer wants a card like that, you’re the only one with the version that actually counts.
What else iOS 27 brings
Besides Create a Pass, Apple also added a card design with artwork covering the whole surface. The card then looks less like a form with a logo on top and more like a poster.
For a business with good interior photography or its own illustration, it can look excellent. For a business with nothing but a logo, it lands worse than today’s clean design – because full-bleed artwork either works or it’s obvious that something is missing.
We’re looking into it and we’ll decide based on what real cards look like. We don’t want to change everyone’s design just because it’s possible. When there’s something to show, we’ll say so.
The short version
- 14 September brings iOS 27; your customers’ cards keep working unchanged.
- Customers can now create their own pass from a QR code – it’s a static image, not a loyalty card.
- Stamps, push notifications, your customer database and statistics are unaffected.
- Meanwhile Apple teaches people at scale to keep cards in their wallet, which only helps yours.
For how the whole mechanism works, see the guide to loyalty cards in Apple and Google Wallet. For why a Wallet card beats building your own app, see a loyalty programme without a mobile app. What each plan includes is in the pricing – including the free plan, where you can try the programme without paying.