Apple vs Google design differences

You design a pass once, but Apple Wallet and Google Wallet render it in their own way. Passmint smooths over most of the gap, and knowing the few places they diverge helps you design something that looks right on both.

Images are handled differently

The biggest difference is how each platform deals with images.

• Apple embeds your images inside the pass file. They travel with the pass and appear the moment it's installed.
• Google fetches your logo and hero image from a public URL when the pass is saved. Passmint hosts those images for you, so there's nothing to configure, but a freshly issued Google pass may show its image a beat after the rest of the card appears.

Where Apple uses a wide strip image behind the primary field, Google uses a hero image across the top of the card. Passmint maps between the two, but a graphic composed tightly for Apple's strip can sit differently in Google's hero band. Preview both before you commit.

Broken image URLs are unforgiving on Google

Because Google loads images by URL, it will reject a pass outright if it can't fetch a referenced image. Passmint guards against this by only including an image once the underlying file exists, but it's the reason a Google pass occasionally appears with no logo: the image wasn't ready when the pass was saved. Re-saving the pass once the image is processed resolves it.

Layout quirks

• Apple shows up to one primary, two secondary, and two auxiliary fields in a tight grid. Google's layout is more list-like and gives long values more room.
• Colors render slightly differently between platforms. A background that looks rich on Apple can read darker or lighter on Google.

For the underlying image sizes, see adding images to a pass.