Passbook

How to share Wallet passes

You volunteered to book event tickets on behalf of a group, and just when your finger is hovering over the eTicket delivery method, you notice you don't have everyone's digits to send the tickets out to their iPhones. Or you do, but a group member has no local number since they're visiting from overseas?

Fret not, because neither of those two scenarios is going to keep you from handing out the passes to your friends' devices. All you need to know for it to come off is a little trick that helps share them conveniently from your own Wallet app.

Apple renames Passbook to Wallet

During its WWDC conference today, Apple announced that it has decided to change the name of its stock iOS app Passbook to Wallet. The move makes sense, considering that last fall it took over Apple Pay duties, and soon it will be getting store and reward cards.

Southwest Airlines app updated with Passbook support

The official Southwest Airlines app was updated today with Passbook support, allowing passenger to store their mobile boarding passes for quick and easy access when needed during security screening and boarding at the gate.

Those mobile boarding passes can be downloaded directly from the Southwest Airlines app, or any official email or text message containing boarding information sent by the airline.

Be choosy, Apple Pay is limited to 8 credit cards at any one time

I generally keep a lot of credit cards, because I like to play the loyalty frequent flier bonus miles game. I've been able to take some amazing trips for next to nothing over the years as a result.

But telling you about my global travels isn't the purpose of this post. The point of this post is to highlight a limit you'll encounter if you add enough cards to Apple Pay.

It appears that Apple Pay limits its users to only eight credit and/or debit cards per device. I ran into this limit as I was adding as many of my credit cards into Passbook as I could. It's nowhere near a deal breaker, but this is somewhat disappointing for me...

How to use Apple Pay

As expected, Apple rolled out Apple Pay to the masses today, courtesy of its iOS 8.1 update for eligible devices. Apple Pay, as you know, allows users to make in-app and online purchases using certain devices equipped with a Touch ID sensor, and in-store purchases using the NFC chips found in the recently released iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

In this guide, we'll walk you through the process of setting up Apple Pay, including adding eligible credit cards, along with making in-app, and in-store purchases.

More Apple Pay details leak after iOS 8.1 beta 2 release

Earlier today, Apple released iOS 8.1 beta 2. Like the previous beta release, it was quickly inspected by UK developer Hamza Sood, best known around these parts for his contributions to the jailbreak community.

With iOS 8.1 beta 1, Sood revealed details regarding Apple Pay's presence in the stock Settings app. This time around, we get our first glimpse of the Passbook setup screens, and credit card data entry screen.

Apple said to be working on rewards program for mobile payment service

Apple is working on a rewards program for its upcoming mobile payment service, according to a new report from Bank Innovation. Citing sources familiar with the matter, the site says the company has been talking with the InterContinental Hotels Group (Holiday Inn, Crown Plaza, etc.) about a possible loyalty partnership.

Additionally, the outlet points out that Apple has recently posted a job opening for a Senior World Wide Partner Marketing Manager. While the title seems ambiguous, the person in this position would be tasked with creating training materials for external partners with the purpose of aiding customer adoption of "new features."

Apple’s mobile payment service may launch this fall

Apple's long-rumored mobile payment service may be ready in time for iPhone 6, according to a new report from The Information. Talks between the iPad maker and payments companies are said to be heating up, and the service is nearing completion.

Citing 'people briefed on the talks,' the outlet says that Apple executives have discussed launching a mobile wallet as soon as this fall, which will allow people to use their iPhones to buy things. Such a service has been rumored for the company for years...

PayPal updated with loyalty card support, faster logins and more

PayPal pushed out an update to its iOS client last night, bringing the app to version 5.5. The update brings about the usual bug fixes and performance improvements, but it also adds a big new feature: support for loyalty cards.

This means PayPal users will be able to carry virtual versions of their favorite loyalty cards—such as Starbucks, CVS, and several other retailers—within the app, essentially making it a one-stop shop for payments and checkins...

Apple launches new ‘iTunes Pass’ service in Japan for refilling iTunes credit

Apple has launched a new service in Japan called iTunes Pass. The program is actually quite interesting, as it appears to allow customers to purchase iTunes Store credit from an Apple retail store, using Passbook instead of physical gift cards.

Users have long been able to store gift cards in Passbook, but we've never seen a direct-to-Passbook service like this, without the need to redeem a code. It almost looks like this could be a prequel to Apple's oft-rumored mobile payment system...

Analysts make case for why Apple will launch mobile payment system

The Morgan Stanley Research group in Europe believes Apple has all the ingredients to cook up a proprietary mobile payment system, and makes a case for why the Cupertino-based company may launch it soon.

Primarily, Apple in a way is already the "de facto, in the mobile payment space," given it has 400 million credit cards on file through its iTunes Store.

One Morgan Stanley executive makes a strong case, based on public information and not insider Apple information, on why it sounds likely:

Windows Phone 8.1 update introduces native Passbook support

Microsoft today released a developer preview of its forthcoming upcoming Windows Phone 8.1 software update and one outlet has spotted an interesting new feature allowing folks to import Passbook items into the Microsoft Wallet app.

Announced at WWDC last summer, Passbook lets you store coupons, boarding passes, event tickets, store cards and more into the stock iOS Passbook app and sync these items across other iOS and Mac devices through iCloud.

Apple has envisioned Passbook as an iOS feature, but several Android apps now support the feature, like PassWallet. And now people on Microsoft's mobile platform will soon be able to use Passbook on their Windows Phone devices as well...