iOS 17 is set to be unveiled a few days from now during the WWDC 2023 keynote. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, one of the new features expected is a new user interface with tweaks and enhancements on the Wallet app.
Although he only said the Wallet app would have “significant changes,” Google just published an article talking about five ways its wallet can improve people’s lives – and now I can’t wait for one of the features to land in iOS 17.
According to a blog post by Google Wallet executive Jenny Cheng, “While Google Wallet already supports a wide range of pass types, there are passes that haven’t always been easily saveable to your device. For example, I have a physical gym membership card that I use whenever I go to work out. It’s small and can easily be misplaced, but since it has a barcode on it, I’ll soon be able to simply take a photo of my card and create a secure, digital version of it in Wallet. Coming soon, this will work for any pass that contains a barcode or QR code and is also helpful for passes like transit QR tickets, parking passes, or e-commerce return QR codes.”
That said, imagine on iOS 17 Wallet if you can take a photo and create a secure, digital version of a QR Code for your gym, car parking, doctor’s appointment, or even at a workplace that requires this kind of pass.
Not only can this feature make your physical wallet lighter, but it’s useful so you don’t lose those little papers in your pocket.
In addition, Google is creating a “private pass” label in which you need to authenticate it’s you using it. While it’s already available for credit cards with the Apple/Google Wallet, iOS 17 could put some other cards behind this protection by only displaying sensitive info if authenticated again.
WWDC is just around the corner, and I hope Apple presents significant changes to the Wallet app in iOS 17, just as Google did.
