Creating Custom Apple Wallet Cards: A Developer's Guide

Introduction

Apple Wallet cards are everywhere now, every cafe has its own loyalty program and every cinema issues tickets digitally using them, but I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to set them up when I wanted to use them for a project I was working on.

The Journey

So in the spirit of spreading knowledge which is one of the tenants I strive to uphold, here is the guide I wish I had when I start on this journey. Creating an Apple wallet card is a small task but it requires a bit of overhead and getting things set up, so I've split this article into multiple blog posts, each as part of a larger whole that will enable you to issue your first apple wallet card.

Why Multiple Posts?

Eventually to the point of how to update cards remotely (this was a huge pain to understand and unravel) and sending push notifications, the complexity of the topic warranted breaking it down into digestible pieces.

Series Overview

Here are the articles in the order they are intended to be read:

1. Apple Wallet Pass Series (Part 1): Navigating Certificate Generation

   • Learn about the required certificates and setup
   • Step-by-step guide to generating credentials

2. Apple Wallet Pass Series (Part 2): Creating Your First Digital Card

   • Basic pass creation
   • Customizing your pass design

3. Apple Wallet Pass Series (Part 3): Setting up updates

   • Understanding the update mechanism
   • Implementing basic updates

4. Apple Wallet Pass Series (Part 4): Apple push notifications and remote updates

   • Deep dive into push notifications
   • Advanced update scenarios