Case study · Apple Wallet

The Apple Wallet pass that updates itself

Published 2026-05-22

Holds an order number, points balance, subscription, or gift card. Updates on the customer's phone when something changes. No app to open. No page to refresh.

PREGAME · now

⚾ Alex M. — HOME RUN! (3 RBI)

Alex M.

TEAM

GreenSox

AGE

11U

NEXT GAME

vs Ashland Bluejays

AVG

.375

HITS

12 / 32

RBI

LAST AT-BAT

HOME RUN — 3rd inning

A pass running today at pregame.team, a youth sports platform. The batting average updates after every at-bat. Only the parents of the kid who batted get the notification.

How it works

Customer adds the pass with one tap. It lives in Apple Wallet. Something changes on the store's end — order ships, points balance moves, billing date shifts. The store tells Apple. Apple downloads the new pass. The customer's card refreshes. If the change matters, the phone pings.

No app store. No password. Every iPhone ships with Apple Wallet.

On a Shopify store

Order tracking

Pass added at checkout. Updates: Received → Shipped → Out for delivery → Delivered. Each change is a notification. Kills "where's my order?" emails.

📦 Order #1042 — Out for delivery

Loyalty / VIP

Points, tier, perks. Updates when points change. Notification on tier-up.

🥇 You hit Gold tier — 15% off everything

Subscription

Next billing date, plan, skip-month link. Updates on charge or date move. Fewer chargebacks, fewer tickets.

🔁 Next charge: May 28 · $42.00

Gift card

Balance, code, expiration. Updates after every purchase. No more digging through email for the code.

🎁 Gift card balance: $47.50 remaining

Pass types stack. One store can run order tracking, loyalty, and subscriptions on the same plumbing. The second and third cost less to add.

What gets built

A small service runs alongside the store. Signs the pass when a customer asks for it. Listens for the webhooks that matter (order updates, fulfillment, subscription charges). On a change, it tells Apple to refresh the pass on every device that has it.

Certificate chain, device registration, notification filtering, retry logic — already solved. Same system runs in production today.

The receipts

Same system runs at pregame.team, a youth sports platform. Different domain, different problem, same plumbing.

Pregame in production

8: wallet pass designs — players, coaches, umpires, field preppers, fundraisers, live-game tickets, season passes.
7: triggers that push updates: umpire assigned, game starts, player gets a hit, coach posts a message, and so on.
3: database tables tracking which device has which pass.
1: field on each pass triggers a notification. Everything else updates silently.
310: commits on the wallet system over six months.

What an engagement looks like

One pass: built and tested in two weeks. Installed on a real iPhone before handoff. Apple Developer setup takes a day. The APNs key lives with the store.

Additional pass types cost less. Order + loyalty + subscription on one store is three weeks total, not six.

Wallet pass for a Shopify store?

Email Tom with the store URL and which surface to start with.

Email Tom →