How to create your own pass in Apple Wallet on iOS 27, from a photo or by handHow to create your own pass in Apple Wallet on iOS 27, from a photo or by hand

Apple Wallet in iOS 27 can create a pass from any card or ticket that carries a barcode or QR code, even when the issuer offers no Wallet pass of its own.

Apple's iPhone User Guide and a support document published on 15 September describe two ways to do it: from a photo, using Apple Intelligence, or by filling in a template by hand. Apple's examples are a library card and a gym membership. iDownloadBlog published a walkthrough on 1 October, and AppleInsider tested the feature during the beta in June.

How do you make a pass from a photo?

In Wallet, tap the add button, choose Create a Pass and pick a photo or take one with the camera. Apple also allows it from outside Wallet: open a photo or screenshot that shows the code in Photos, tap the Info button and choose Add Pass to Wallet, or point the Camera at a physical card. The details are filled in from the code and the image.

Apple calls this route Siri Mode, and its support document sets the requirements: an iPhone 15 Pro or later with Apple Intelligence and visual intelligence switched on, the latest iOS, and an Apple Intelligence language. Apple notes that some features are not available in the EU at first.

How do you make one by hand?

Tap the add button in Wallet, then Create a Pass, then Create Pass Manually, and choose a template. iDownloadBlog names them Custom, Membership and Event, while AppleInsider's beta testing called the first one Standard. Tap any field to edit it, give the pass a name, and use the settings control to add groups of fields such as contact details, membership numbers, coupons or insurance details. Both outlets count 12 colours, with a choice of background patterns. Tap Done to save.

Passes can be shared from the share button and edited or removed from the menu on the pass. They appear on a paired Apple Watch as well.

What are the limits?

The feature reads barcodes and QR codes. No source mentions NFC, so a card you tap at a reader cannot be copied this way, and that is likely by design. AppleInsider found in the beta that passes could not be imported from a PDF or a file and that custom photo backgrounds were not allowed. No source says whether the manual route works on iPhones without Apple Intelligence; it uses no Apple Intelligence feature, so it may.

Our take

This is one of the most useful small things in iOS 27, because it fixes a problem the issuers never did. Gyms, libraries and loyalty schemes have had a decade to offer Wallet passes, and most still hand out plastic. Letting the owner make the pass removes them from the decision.

APPDOOK's caution is that a self-made pass is only as good as the scanner at the door. A barcode on a phone screen is read differently from one on plastic, and some older laser scanners struggle with screens. Keep the physical card until the pass has worked once at the place that matters.