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Guide

How to add a QR code to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet

A QR code is text in a square: a member number, a token, sometimes a web address. Put that text on a pass and both wallets draw the same square, which is what the scanner reads.

What a QR code on a card carries

Text, exactly. The camera decodes it and TapIn shows you what it found, so you can check it against the card. Case matters: Ab12 and AB12 are different codes, which is why the builder turns the keyboard's automatic capitals off while a QR, PDF417, Aztec or Data Matrix is selected, and keeps any spaces inside the text. A code that reads as a web address is still fine; the pass carries the address and the scanner reads it.

The steps

  1. Scan. Open the builder, pick the kind of place, tap Scan the card and hold the QR code in the frame. It reads live and fills in the text. A screenshot or photo works too, through Use a photo instead; nothing is uploaded.
  2. Check the preview. The square on the pass is the real code, drawn from the text, not a stand-in picture. If the text is wrong, tap the number on the pass and fix it.
  3. Add. Tap Add to Apple Wallet on an iPhone or Add to Google Wallet on Android.
  4. Test it once while you still have the card.

How a square code lays out the Apple pass

With a square code, Apple Wallet puts the pass's small fields on one row above the code: the place, the member number and the maker, side by side. With a barcode or a PDF417, which are wide, the same fields take two rows. The preview in the builder follows the same rule, so what you see is the layout Wallet will draw. The text under the code is the number itself when it is 32 characters or fewer; a long token or a web address gets no caption.

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Aztec, PDF417 and Data Matrix

Aztec is a square code like QR, and both wallets draw it. PDF417 is a wide stack of bars, and both draw it. Data Matrix, the small square on some tags, goes to Google Wallet only; Apple Wallet does not draw it.

A QR code that keeps changing

Some apps show a QR code that rotates every minute. That is not a card; it is a token the app mints, and a pass cannot follow it. A pass carries a fixed code: the one printed on the physical card or key tag. If your place only issues the rotating kind, the app is the way in.

Make a pass

Good to know

Will a QR code pass scan at the desk?
If the scanner reads phone screens, yes: the pass draws the same text the card carried. Test it once while you still have the card.
Can I add a QR code from a screenshot?
Yes. Choose Use a photo instead in the Type step and pick the screenshot. The code is decoded on your phone and the picture is never uploaded.
Why does my QR pass show no number under the code?
The caption is the text itself, and it is printed only when that text is 32 characters or fewer. A long token or a web address would not fit and nobody types one.