General Motors is officially rolling out digital key support, letting drivers unlock and start their vehicles using just a smartphone or smartwatch. This update means you can leave the physical key fob at home and use Apple Wallet instead. The feature is launching in phases, starting with several Cadillac models and expanding to more Apple […]
Apple Wallet car keys are coming to three more vehicle brands, including Lincoln, Lucid Motors, and China's Freelander, according to code uncovered by MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris. However, the code does not provide a timeframe for availability.
The digital key feature allows you to lock, unlock, and start a compatible vehicle with an iPhone or Apple Watch. It is already offered by select automakers, including Audi, BMW, Hyundai, Kia, Genesis, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, and others.
Wallet on iPhone is a bulging catch-all. Apple stores all your payment card information there, and it’s an interface for adding and removing cards, as well as viewing associated details. It’s the place where you interact with your Apple Card (like scheduling payments or viewing transaction reports), the Apple Card savings account, and Apple Cash. But it also handles related but miscellaneous categories of other things: tickets for events, reward cards, membership cards, your library card… really, anything with a number, a scannable code, or a connection to payment winds up there.
Despite all that, Wallet has been deficient: you couldn’t easily add items to Wallet that the party issuing them hadn’t formatted and made available with an “Add to Apple Wallet” button, whether from a website or within its app. Starting in iOS 27—coming in September but available in a public beta now—you can use a new pass-creation tool to make your virtual billfold even larger. Third-party tools still fill the gap for iOS 26 and earlier users, or for those who want customization that Apple isn’t providing in Create a Pass.
Make your own Wallet entry
In iOS 27, open the Wallet app and tap the Add button in the upper-right corner. You’ll notice that among the options you’re familiar with, Create a Pass appears. Tap that.
If you have a device that supports Visual Intelligence and the pass has a barcode or QR code, tap Continue, and Wallet opens a camera sheet.1 When you tap the shutter button, Visual Intelligence analyzes the image and tries to extract elements, like your name, the organization name, or the code. If it can’t, it will offer a Try Again and Create Pass Manually dialog.
If it’s successful, Wallet next displays a preview screen. You can tap Add to accept the pass as it appears, or tap Edit Pass to modify the fields shown and the contents of those fields.
Scan a card, even a munged-up old one like the at left, and Wallet can extract important details. I added the expiration date.
There’s a quirk in editing fields that baffled me for a while, but I teased out the answer in testing. Apple pre-populates field areas, marked with white rounded rectangles with subtle glowing edges. If you tap the Edit button (in the lower-right corner) and choose Add/Remove Fields, you cannot add new field areas. (See the figure for how I’ve labeled this.) What you can do is tap on an existing field within a field area to change it, or you can tap within a glowing rectangle (the field area) to add another field. This is not a great interface, and I expect it will mature.
A field areas, as I call it, is a place you can add and remove fields from.
Tap the Palette icon to change the background color or choose a different background image from a small set in the Wallet library.
If Visual Intelligence isn’t available or you want to build the pass element-by-element:
Tap Create Pass Manually.
On the Choose Pass Template screen, pick the data format and default color scheme to use for your pass: Standard, Membership, or Event. This pre-populates different fields for you to fill out. (You can change the color later via the Palette icon.)
Next, tap fields to enter data. Each field has a label in smaller type and placeholder text in larger type.
Tap Add Code to scan a barcode or QR code.
When finished, tap the blue checkmark.
You can then tap the Palette icon to change its appearance, or tap Edit: Add/Remove Fields icon to further edit the pass.
If you create a pass manually, Apple adds a number of field areas and fields for you to modify (left). You have access to many different kinds of fields from an extensive list (right).
After the pass is added to Wallet, you can tap it, tap the More button, then tap Edit Pass. You can also tap Pass Details to see the raw information added. The View Original Photo button lets you bring up the picture you took if you used Visual Intelligence.
If you’re not yet using the iOS 27 beta or want options that Apple isn’t offering, you could try one of these free tools. Be aware, however, that Wallet passes have to be signed, so any data you provide to these companies is sent to them in the clear. Both have details in their privacy policies about how they protect your data.
Wallet Creator (iOS app) has over 80 prebuilt templates for existing businesses, or you can roll your own pass or card. Wallet Creator says the app collects no data. However, the App Store’s description for the app, under “Our Terms of Use & Privacy Policy,” provides more information about how data is sent to a server, processed, and deleted.
WalletWallet (web app) is a single-page form to create a pass. The page offers no privacy information, but it’s built using a business-oriented API the company makes, and that API has this explanation on the trip your data takes.
My book on Wallet, Take Control of Apple Wallet, will be updated later this year to incorporate all of this new information.
iPad and Mac have empty pockets
While Apple brought the Phone app to iPad and Mac in iPadOS 26 and Tahoe, the company still treats Wallet as a second-class citizen on those two platforms, even though both allow the use of Apple Pay. I’d love to have Wallet synced and fully available for managing all cards, not just payment-related ones, as a standalone app in the future.
[Got a question for the column? You can email glenn@sixcolors.com or use/glennin our subscriber-only Discord community.]
Visual Intelligence requires Apple Intelligence, which is available on an iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPhone Air, or any iPhone 16 or 17 model. ↩
The MacVoices Live! panel discuss privacy, AI, and digital trust, comparing Meta’s Instagram encryption rollback with Apple’s RCS encryption in Messages. Chuck Joiner, David Ginsburg, Eric Bolden, Brian Flanigan-Arthurs, Marty Jencius, and Jeff Gamet also examine an AI lawsuit involving a chatbot posing as a doctor, plus AI customer service, Apple Wallet, and user trust in technology.
Apple this week expanded support for its Apple Account Card in the Wallet app to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Malta. The Apple Account Card option for Wallet started rolling out in 2022, and Apple has been gradually expanding the feature to more countries since then.
What is the Apple Account Card?
So what is it, exactly? The card displays the balance associated with a user's Apple Account (formerly Apple ID), and it can be used to make purchases in any brick-and-mortar Apple Store and online at Apple.com. It can also be used to buy apps in the App Store, as well as subscriptions and other Apple services.
It's also where the credit goes if you use it to redeem an Apple Gift Card. An Apple Account Card can also be topped up using a linked debit or credit card (via the "Add Money" option in Wallet).
It's NOT an Apple Credit Card
Note that an Apple Account Card is different from Apple Card, the latter of which is a straightforward digital and physical credit card for making financial transactions at contactless payment terminals (via Apple Pay), as well as in stores, restaurants, and other locations where Apple Pay isn't yet accepted.
Comparatively, an Apple Account Card is a digital-only card for money available in your Apple Account balance. There's no credit line, no interest, and no rewards attached. Neither is there a physical version of the Apple Account Card. You can't send money to a friend with it, and the balance isn't something you can cash out.
Apple Account Card – Supported Regions
As well as the regions mentioned at the start of this article, Apple Account Cards are supported in the following countries:
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Canada
Czechia
Denmark
Finland
Hong Kong
Ireland
Italy
Japan
Luxembourg
Mexico
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
the UK
U.S.
United Arab Emirates
One thing to note: Paying in person at an Apple Store with an Apple Account Card (by double-clicking the side button and holding your iPhone to the reader) isn't available in every country or region, and neither are all of the card's other features. Apple hasn't yet said whether the four new regions that it most recently expanded to will get the full range of usage options.
Add an Apple Account Card to Wallet
To add an Apple Account Card to your iPhone's Wallet app, open Wallet, tap the plus (+) button, then tap Add Apple Account. Tap Continue, then give it a few moments while it's linked to your Apple Account. Once it's in your Wallet, your balance and any recent transactions will appear below the card.
In U.S. states such as California, driver’s licenses and state IDs can be added to Apple Wallet, enabling residents to seamlessly and securely add and present their IDs using iPhone or Apple Watch.
Utah residents may soon be able to store their driver’s licenses and IDs in Apple Wallet on iPhone and Apple Watch. MacRumors has uncovered references to a Utah ID in Apple’s backend systems, indicating the company is actively working on support. While the state already offers a mobile driver’s license through a standalone app, that solution currently lacks Apple Wallet integration.
Utah’s mobile driver’s license FAQ page still says that it is still in the initial planning process of adding Utah IDs to Apple Wallet, but it may not be up to date.
The site also says that when Apple Wallet integration launches, iPhone users who already use the mobile app for their Utah ID will be able to download it to Apple Wallet.
Apple announced plans to add Utah driver’s licenses and IDs to the Apple Wallet app way back in 2021, but no integration has materialized. Utah was one of the first states Apple mentioned when rolling out the feature.
Other states planning to add support for driver’s licenses in Apple Wallet include Connecticut, Kentucky, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Virginia.
MacDailyNews Note: Multiple states and Puerto Rico have already implemented support for users to store their driver’s licenses and IDs in Apple Wallet on iPhone and Apple Watch, including:
Arkansas*
Arizona
California
Colorado
Georgia
Hawaii
Illinois
Iowa
Maryland
Montana
New Mexico
North Dakota
Ohio
West Virginia
*some users in specific jurisdictions in Arkansas may still see staggered access depending on whether their state agency has finalized all local database integrations.
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Driver's licenses and IDs may soon be available in Apple Wallet for iPhone and Apple Watch users who live in Utah. MacRumors discovered signs of a Utah ID in Apple's backend, suggesting Apple is moving forward on implementing support.
Utah already offers a mobile driver's license option through a standalone app, but there is no Apple Wallet integration. Utah's mobile driver's license FAQ page still says that it is still in the initial planning process of adding Utah IDs to Apple Wallet, but it may not be up to date.
The site also says that when Apple Wallet integration launches, iPhone users who already use the mobile app for their Utah ID will be able to download it to Apple Wallet.
Apple announced plans to add Utah driver's licenses and IDs to the Apple Wallet app way back in 2021, but no integration has materialized. Utah was one of the first states Apple mentioned when rolling out the feature.
Other states planning to add support for driver's licenses in Apple Wallet include Connecticut, Kentucky, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Virginia.
Multiple states have already implemented support, as has Puerto Rico.
Arkansas
Arizona
California
Colorado
Georgia
Hawaii
Illinois
Iowa
Maryland
Montana
New Mexico
North Dakota
Ohio
West Virginia
Digital IDs and licenses are accepted at select TSA checkpoints across the United States. It can also be used at some business venues and in select apps that require ID verification for services or purchases.
In states that do not support licenses in the Wallet app, iPhone users can add their U.S. passport to the Apple Wallet app with the iOS 26 Digital ID feature.
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Apple Wallet car keys are coming to three more vehicle brands, including Lincoln, Lucid Motors, and China's Freelander, according to code uncovered by MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris. However, the code does not provide a timeframe for availability.
