{"id":678000,"date":"2026-11-07T20:28:14","date_gmt":"2026-11-07T20:28:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/678000\/"},"modified":"2026-11-07T20:28:14","modified_gmt":"2026-11-07T20:28:14","slug":"how-to-add-any-card-with-a-barcode-or-qr-code-to-apple-wallet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/678000\/","title":{"rendered":"How to add any card with a barcode or QR code to Apple Wallet"},"content":{"rendered":"

Got a gym membership card riding around in your wallet? Or maybe it\u2019s a loyalty card from a store. Even a library card. You can now add these to the Wallet app on your iPhone and leave the plastic at home.<\/p>\n

The new feature in iOS 27 means you no longer need to rely on a business or institution to offer an \u201cAdd to Apple Wallet\u201d button. Instead, you can use your iPhone to scan an existing card or create a pass manually, then keep it alongside your other Wallet items.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how to turn almost any physical card or digital pass into a custom Apple Wallet pass.<\/p>\n

Replace your wallet with the convenient Apple Wallet app<\/p>\n

Apple never stops striving to turn the iPhone<\/a> into a digital replacement for the physical wallet. Apple Pay<\/a> largely eliminated the need to carry credit and debit cards, while businesses can offer digital loyalty cards, membership passes and tickets that live in Apple Wallet.<\/p>\n

But that still leaves plenty of cards from organizations that don\u2019t provide official digital versions. With iOS 27, Apple takes another step toward a wallet-free future by letting an iPhone create your own digital passes from barcodes and QR codes. It\u2019s a great way to bring even more of the cards you carry into one convenient place.<\/p>\n

Stay in the loop: Subscribe to Cult of Mac\u2019s free newsletter for Apple news, reviews, how-tos and deals.<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to take advantage of this new feature. Here\u2019s how.<\/p>\n

Table of contents: How to add cards to Apple Wallet<\/p>\n

What kinds of cards can you add to Apple Wallet?<\/p>\n

Before getting started, it\u2019s important to know what kind of cards you can and can\u2019t add to the Apple Wallet app. It works with cards and passes that have a scannable barcode or QR code. It won\u2019t work for cards that require a magnetic strip.<\/p>\n

The genesis of this how-to guide is my library card. I\u2019ve carried it for decades, and it looks like it\u2019s been through a war. I\u2019d like to stop carrying it \u2014 and eventually my whole wallet \u2014 and because all the physical card really does is provide a barcode the librarians can scan, it\u2019s perfect for this new iOS feature.<\/p>\n

How to scan a card and add it to Apple Wallet
\n\"How<\/a>Take a picture of a loyalty or membership card to add it to Apple Wallet.
Screenshots: Ed Hardy\/Cult of Mac<\/p>\n

The easiest way to create a custom pass is to let Apple\u2019s Visual Intelligence<\/a> feature scan an existing card. You\u2019ll need a compatible iPhone with Apple Intelligence<\/a> enabled to use this method, though, not just iOS 27<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Open the Wallet app on your iPhone.
\nTap the Add Card (+) button at the top of the screen.
\nSelect Create a Pass.
\nTap Continue.
\nUse the camera to photograph your physical card, making sure the barcode or QR code is clearly visible. (You can also select an existing photo or screenshot containing the code.)
\nLet your iPhone analyze the image and create a pass using the information it recognizes.
\nReview the proposed pass and correct any details that weren\u2019t recognized properly.
\nTap Add to save the pass to Apple Wallet.<\/p>\n

The new pass should now appear in your Wallet app alongside your other cards and tickets. You can open it whenever you need to present its barcode or QR code at a checkout counter, gym entrance or other location that accepts it.<\/p>\n

How to manually create a custom Wallet pass
\n\"How<\/a>You can enter your own details into a template, then add a barcode or QR code to it.
Screenshots: Ed Hardy\/Cult of Mac<\/p>\n

My library card didn\u2019t come through that scanning process very well \u2014 not because it\u2019s too complex, but because it\u2019s too simple. But Apple\u2019s developers thought of that, and Apple Wallet can create a pass from scratch, and then easily add the barcode to it.<\/p>\n

Open the Wallet app on your iPhone.
\nTap the Add Card (+) button and then choose Create a Pass.
\nSelect Create Pass Manually.
\nChoose a template from the options: Standard, Membership or Event.
\nEnter the relevant information, including the card\u2019s name, membership number, expiration date or other details.
\nAdd the barcode or QR code by using the camera to scan it when prompted.
\nCustomize the pass\u2019s appearance, including its background color and available fields.
\nTap Done to save your changes.<\/p>\n

This worked great for me when creating a digital library card. And I can see it being useful for store loyalty cards or museum memberships that don\u2019t have an official Wallet integration.<\/p>\n

Works on Apple Watch, too<\/p>\n

A bonus feature: The cards created in Apple Wallet on your iPhone also appear automatically in the Wallet app on your paired Apple Watch<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That makes them even more convenient to use, as you can pull up a loyalty card, membership pass or ticket right on your wrist without taking your iPhone out of your pocket. Just open the Wallet app on your Apple Watch, find the custom pass, and display its barcode or QR code for scanning.<\/p>\n

No more wallets!<\/p>\n

I am ready for the day I don\u2019t need to carry around a physical wallet. And that happy day just moved a bit closer, thanks to this feature. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Ed Hardy has been writing full-time about tech for 26 years, and using it for much longer than that. His intro to Apple was a Macintosh SE\/30 (which he still has), but now he uses a 13-inch iPad Pro as his primary computer.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because he\u2019s a \u201ctablet first\u201d type of guy. Rather than use a Macbook, he connects a keyboard case to the iPad. And instead of a desktop Mac, he connects his tablet to a 27-inch display and full-size keyboard. (So don\u2019t try to tell him that everyone has to use a Mac to be productive.)<\/p>\n

Before coming to Cult of Mac, Ed wrote for NotebookReview, TabletPCReview\u00a0and Brighthand, as well as other sites.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Got a gym membership card riding around in your wallet? Or maybe it\u2019s a loyalty card from a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":678001,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[20895,1313,61,4178,60,202,80],"class_list":["post-678000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mobile","tag-apple-wallet","tag-apple-watch","tag-ie","tag-iphone","tag-ireland","tag-mobile","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=678000"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678000\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/678001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=678000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=678000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=678000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}