Passbook is a virtual Apple card holder that allows us not to have to carry all the physical cards, but rather we can carry them in digital format. We usually have loyalty cards from stores, clubs, cafes … And instead of carrying them all in our wallet we can do it in this iOS service that allows us to store not only the cards but tickets or plane and train tickets on the phone.
Although it is a native option on iOS, we can also use Passbook on Android and in the following paragraphs we will explain why it has so many advantages and why it is an essential option on any mobile phone.
What is Passbook and what is it for?
Passbook is a function available on Apple mobile phones that allows us to store cards or tickets on the mobile phone to be able to carry them without having to print them. It originally works in Passbook but is currently part of the Wallet app on iOS phones and tablets.
It is an application or function that allows you to store cards, bills, tickets… All this from the mobile phone as long as we have the PKPASS files available so that they are compatible with the application. It allows you to carry your membership card from a store but also your Renfe train tickets, a plane boarding pass or tickets for a concert or football match.
When we buy a ticket or ticket we can find the option to download it in this format. We will see a message that indicates “download in PKPASS” or we can see a button that says “Add to Apple Wallet” . Be that as it may, we find this function in all kinds of ticket sales services, online tickets, plane purchases, reservations…
How to use Passbook
Once we have the file on our mobile phone, it is very easy. We open Apple Wallet or the Passbook alternative on Android and it will show us all the cards we have as if it were a wallet. We can slide to go from one to another, whether they are tickets, transport tickets or membership or loyalty cards.
The content is much more basic than what we usually see in a PDF since only the name and thumbnail will appear, the update or expiration date and a QR code or barcode that can be scanned and that will be the one you have to show when you go to enter any place or check-in.
How to use on Android
As we have explained in the previous paragraphs, Passbook was an exclusive Apple tool and now it is Apple Wallet. If we have an Android mobile phone, we cannot open these .pkpass files by default, which are so convenient. But there are many compatible applications that allow us to carry boarding passes or tickets on the smartphone as if we had an iPhone.
The best known application is PassWallet and it is practically identical to the iOS version . A free app that we can download from the Google Play Store and that automatically allows us to search for all the compatible files in our phone’s memory to show us the results on the screen. Once inside the app we can slide up to show the different bills or cards.
Although it is the most popular, there are other similar applications that allow us to do the same thing: configure all our tickets or boarding passes and slide from one to another to show them when necessary, like a virtual card holder.
