Boarding passes, movie tickets, retail coupons, loyalty cards, all in one place

Nov 24, 2012 21:31 GMT  ·  By

Months into the release of iOS 6, many users still don’t know what Passbook is, or what it does. The new app puts your boarding passes, movie tickets, retail coupons, loyalty cards, and more, all in one place. Here’s everything you need to know about the service.

Using Passbook Apple customers can scan their iDevice to check in for a flight, get into a movie, redeem a coupon etc. The requirements are an iPhone or iPod touch running iOS 6.

You can add passes via Passbook-enabled apps; pass links or attachments sent through Mail,  Messages, or attachments on webpages; or via the .pkpass extension.

To see settings and additional information on the pass, tap the info icon. Here you can remove the pass by tapping the trash icon, "Pull to refresh" to update the pass, or configure settings (Automatic Updates and Show on Lock Screen).

The information screen also shows stuff like contact information for the pass provider (in case there is an issue).

If a pass isn't updating as expected, you can tap the info icon on the pass to see the last time it was updated (after you make sure that your their Internet connection is working, of course), "pull to refresh" to update the pass, turn on Automatic Updates in the iOS Settings menu, or even quit and re-open Passbook.

Apple says that if  the pass is still incorrect, you might want to check with the company that provided it.

iCloud keeps your passes up to date on multiple devices. The feature is on by default, but if passes aren't showing up on your other devices, you need to ensure that Passbook is on under the iCloud section in iOS Settings. You can also troubleshoot issues by toggling it on and off.

Finally, iOS will let you know when you are close to a location where you can use a pass via Notification Center. If you believe something is wrong (i.e. a pass isn’t generating notifications when it should), tap the info icon on the pass and ensure that "Show on Lock Screen" is on.

You should also make sure that Passbook is listed in Notification Center. Also check to see if the Alerts or Banner notification style is selected.

At the other end of the spectrum, if a pass is nagging you with too many notifications you can turn off the alerts for a specific pass. Just tap the info icon on the pass and turn off "Show on Lock Screen."

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Apple Passbook screenshot
Apple Passbook screenshot
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