Create custom ID card using PassKit
Apple Wallet and its counterpart Google Pay are a very handy, convenient, and intuitive tool.
In these crazy times of pandemic and social distancing, we also have an opportunity to capitalize on small and meaningful transitions in our life that had been promised years ago.
Seeing these times as an opportunity to push for total digitalization, I propose a simple and elegant way to manage office access in a wireless and digital way. No use of cards, thumbprints, register, etc. Just your smartphone.
Since I am mostly using the iOS ecosystem, my case would be based on the same. iOS platform has a very handy app or rather tool called Wallet based on apple’s PassKit framework. It allows you to store your flight tickets, movie tickets, event passes, etc. With the potential to also store your gym cards, loyalty cards, IDs, etc.
Using the same framework, we could make our virtual ID cards that can be used to access the office or any other premises either through QRCodes/Barcodes or NFC reader machines.
Technical details and walkthrough are mentioned here at Apple's developer forum:
https://developer.apple.com/wallet/
With a detailed tutorial present at:
But in brief, the structure is a follows:
There are predefined project files and templates available to download from the developer URL. Inside the files, you get the option to customize the card appearance by using icons files and thumbnails. A JSON file containing the details of the structure of the card is present, where you can modify the card layout and contents.
The JSON can also be generated in backend automatically and configured dynamically using this node project:
https://github.com/walletpass/pass-js
The important part comes about signing the pass. Apple allows various ways to sign the pass to make sure the pass is not tempered with. Depending on the implementation and security required this point should be taken care of accordingly.
Advantages:
- No paper involved
- Totally Wireless
- Available across all Apple devices (including Apple Watch) using iCloud Sync
- Location-based; cards can be configured to show up from wallet based on your geolocation
- Beacon based; cards can be configured to show up when you are near a beacon placed in a specific area
- Can be dynamically updated remotely
- Can be used to store cashpoint or loyalty wallet
- App independent standard
Requirements:
- Apple developer account
- Compatible iOS device
- VAS NFC reader (only for NFC implementations)
So to conclude I would recommend that the next product you make, try to look for a possibility to accommodate PassKit. It would make the user experience naturally intuitive and convenient.
On iPhone :
?Apple Watch (eg. Card visible based on location or nearby beacon):
