Apple Wallet iOS 27 Design Guide

Apple Wallet has received one of its biggest pass updates in years.

With iOS 27, Apple has introduced the new Poster Generic pass style, Featured Actions beneath passes, four additional barcode formats, Pass Designer and Pass Builder.

For retailers, loyalty programs and membership organisations, the important change is that an Apple Wallet pass can now do considerably more than display a digital card or barcode.

A pass can combine customer identity, loyalty information, rich brand imagery, QR or traditional barcodes and direct actions such as shopping, viewing rewards or booking an appointment.

Apple describes Poster Generic as particularly well suited to membership cards, loyalty programs, store cards and experiences where bold artwork should take centre stage.

What changed in Apple Wallet with iOS 27?

The key changes are:

• Poster Generic, a new visually rich Wallet pass style
• Featured Actions available across pass styles
• Up to two Featured Actions per pass
• 14 predefined action types
• EAN-13, Code 39, Codabar and ITF barcode support
• Pass Designer for visually creating and previewing passes
• Pass Builder for personalising, signing and generating passes at scale

Apple recommends choosing only the most meaningful actions for customers and planning barcode fallbacks for customers on older versions of iOS.

[IMAGE: Enterprise retail Apple Wallet passes for electronics, beauty and fashion]

Suggested filename: apple-wallet-ios-27-retail-design-guide.webp

Alt text: Apple Wallet iOS 27 Poster Generic loyalty passes for electronics beauty and fashion retailers

What is Poster Generic in Apple Wallet?

Poster Generic is a new Apple Wallet pass style introduced with iOS 27.

Its front face can contain:

• Large background artwork
• Primary logo
• Header fields
• Primary fields
• One footer field
• Barcode

This is a major visual change from traditional Generic or Store Card passes.

For an electronics retailer, the artwork could feature current product creative. A beauty retailer could use campaign imagery. A fashion brand could feature its current collection while still displaying the customer’s membership tier, points and barcode underneath.

Poster Generic requires iOS 27 or later. Apple recommends also including a generic pass configuration so customers on iOS 26 and earlier can continue adding and using the pass.

What are the different Apple Wallet pass types?

Apple Wallet doesn’t have one universal “loyalty card” template. Different pass types are designed for different customer experiences.

Store Card vs Poster Generic #

Store Card remains useful where the primary job of the pass is straightforward loyalty identification, points or stored value.

Poster Generic is more compelling when a brand also wants the pass itself to become a richer customer engagement surface.

A retailer might therefore use:

Store Card: member number + points + barcode

or:

Poster Generic: campaign artwork + member status + points + barcode + Featured Actions

Poster Generic does not make Store Card, Generic or the other existing pass types obsolete.

Poster Generic JSON example

A simplified implementation could look like:

{

  “formatVersion”: 1,

  “passTypeIdentifier”: “pass.com.example.rewards”,

  “serialNumber”: “MEMBER-12345”,

  “posterGeneric”: {

    “headerFields”: [

      {

        “key”: “memberID”,

        “label”: “MEMBER”,

        “value”: “12345”

      }

    ],

    “primaryFields”: [

      {

        “key”: “points”,

        “label”: “POINTS”,

        “value”: 2450

      }

    ]

  },

  “generic”: {

    “primaryFields”: [

      {

        “key”: “points”,

        “label”: “POINTS”,

        “value”: 2450

      }

    ]

  }

}

Apple specifically recommends the Generic fallback for customers using iOS 26 and earlier.

What are Apple Wallet Featured Actions?

Featured Actions are tappable action tiles shown directly beneath an open Apple Wallet pass.

This is one of the most useful changes in iOS 27.

Previously, useful links could live within Pass Details, meaning the customer needed to deliberately open another screen to find them.

Featured Actions put the next step directly beneath the pass.

For example:

Retail loyalty

Shop Online
View Offers and Rewards

Beauty membership

Book an Appointment
View Membership Benefits

Hotel membership

Book a Stay
View Offers and Rewards

Featured Actions work across Apple Wallet pass styles, not only Poster Generic. Each pass can contain up to two actions, supplied in priority order.

All 14 Apple Wallet Featured Actions

Apple currently publishes 14 action types:

The action type controls Apple’s standard presentation, including the action label and icon.

Best Featured Actions for retail loyalty

For enterprise retail, five stand out.

Shop Online or In-App #

shop

Takes the customer directly back into ecommerce.

Instead of linking to a generic homepage, retailers can connect customers with a member storefront, new collection, personalised recommendations or campaign.

View Offers and Rewards #

viewOffersRewards

Useful where customers have available rewards, vouchers or offers that can otherwise be difficult to discover across email or account pages.

View Membership Benefits #

membershipBenefits

Can connect customers to current status, tier, points, entitlements or member benefits.

Book an Appointment #

bookAppointment

Useful for beauty consultations, optical appointments, personal shopping, fittings, repairs and other service-led retail.

Go to Location #

place

Can direct a customer toward a store, venue or other relevant physical location.

Featured Actions JSON example

A retail loyalty pass could contain:

{

  “featuredActions”: [

    {

      “identifier”: “shop-online”,

      “type”: “shop”,

      “url”: “https://www.example.com/shop”

    },

    {

      “identifier”: “member-rewards”,

      “type”: “viewOffersRewards”,

      “url”: “https://www.example.com/rewards”

    }

  ]

}

Each action requires a unique identifier, supported type and destination URL.

One action appears as a wide tile. Two can appear side by side, with the array order determining priority.

Can Featured Actions be added to existing Wallet passes?

Yes, provided the pass supports updates.

An issuer can send an updated signed pass through Apple’s normal Wallet update process. The customer keeps the pass already installed rather than having to add a new card.

This also means actions can evolve over the life of the pass.

A retailer could normally display:

Shop Online + View Offers and Rewards

and later change one destination during a major campaign or customer journey.

Apple Wallet QR codes and traditional barcodes

Apple Wallet supports both 2D and traditional linear barcode formats.

Supported formats now include:

• QR
• PDF417
• Aztec
• Code 128
• EAN-13
• Code 39
• Codabar
• Interleaved 2 of 5 / ITF

iOS 27 added EAN-13, Code 39, Codabar and ITF.

[IMAGE: QR code and traditional 1D barcode retail Wallet passes]

Suggested filename: apple-wallet-qr-code-vs-barcode-ios-27.webp

Alt text: Apple Wallet loyalty pass using QR code and traditional Code 128 barcode

QR code vs Code 128: which should retailers use?

There is no universal best barcode.

A retailer should use a format that works with its existing scanners, POS and customer identifier.

QR may make sense where stores already use modern optical scanners.

Code 128 can be preferable where an existing loyalty environment uses traditional linear barcodes.

The decision should consider:

• POS scanner hardware
• Existing loyalty identifier
• Barcode length
• Store operating process
• Older device compatibility
• Manual entry fallback

Apple recommends supplying multiple barcode formats where appropriate so devices can fall back to a supported format.

For example:

{

  “barcodes”: [

    {

      “format”: “PKBarcodeFormatCodabar”,

      “message”: “123456789”,

      “messageEncoding”: “iso-8859-1”

    },

    {

      “format”: “PKBarcodeFormatQR”,

      “message”: “123456789”,

      “messageEncoding”: “iso-8859-1”

    }

  ]

}

Apple also recommends keeping the underlying credential visible somewhere on the pass where staff may need to enter it manually.

What are Pass Designer and Pass Builder?

Apple has also introduced new tools for teams building Wallet experiences.

Pass Designer is a macOS WYSIWYG editor that provides a true-to-iOS rendering of the pass while it is being built.

Designers can configure pass style, imagery, fields, barcodes and supported semantics visually. Pass Designer saves the result as a .pkpasstemplate file.

Pass Builder can then personalise, validate and sign those templates programmatically for distribution at scale. It runs on Mac and Linux and can also be integrated into other programming environments.

At a simple level:

Pass Designer → template → Pass Builder → personalised pass → Apple Wallet

What does iOS 27 mean for enterprise loyalty and CRM?

The key change is not simply that Wallet passes look better.

A Wallet pass can now play a larger role across the customer lifecycle.

For example:

CRM/CDP

Customer profile and lifecycle logic

↓

Loyalty platform

Points, tier and rewards

↓

Litecard

Wallet creation, updates and engagement

↓

Apple Wallet / Google Wallet

Persistent mobile customer touchpoint

↓

POS / ecommerce

Identification, redemption and transaction

The CRM or loyalty platform can remain the source of truth while Wallet becomes another customer-facing channel.

A member’s points can change.

Their tier can change.

A reward can become available.

The pass can update.

A Featured Action can take the customer directly to their next relevant experience.

How Litecard supports Apple Wallet for enterprise brands

Litecard enables brands to create, distribute and manage Apple and Google Wallet passes while connecting Wallet with existing CRM, CDP, loyalty, ecommerce and POS infrastructure.

This allows Wallet to operate as an additional owned customer engagement channel rather than another standalone loyalty system.

With iOS 27, that channel can become significantly more visual and actionable through Poster Generic, Featured Actions and expanded barcode support.

Apple Wallet iOS 27 FAQs

What is Poster Generic? #

Poster Generic is a new Apple Wallet pass style introduced in iOS 27. It combines large artwork with structured fields and an optional barcode and is particularly suited to loyalty, membership and store-card experiences.

How many Featured Actions can an Apple Wallet pass have? #

Up to two, supplied in priority order.

How many Featured Action types are available? #

Apple currently publishes 14 predefined types.

Are Featured Actions only available on Poster Generic? #

No. Featured Actions are available across Apple Wallet pass styles in iOS 27.

Can an Apple Wallet pass use a QR code? #

Yes. QR is supported alongside PDF417, Aztec and several traditional linear barcode formats.

Can Apple Wallet use Code 128? #

Yes. Code 128 is supported alongside newer iOS 27 formats including EAN-13, Code 39, Codabar and ITF.

Does Poster Generic work on iOS 26? #

No. Apple recommends including a Generic pass configuration as a fallback for iOS 26 and earlier.

Can Featured Actions be added after a customer installs the pass? #

Yes, if the pass supports updates. Customers can keep the same installed pass while the issuer sends an updated version.

Do customers need a dedicated app to use an Apple Wallet loyalty card? #

No. Wallet passes can be distributed through web and other digital customer journeys without requiring a standalone loyalty app.