Apple Wallet Featured Actions for Businesses: What They Are and How to Plan Them

Featured Actions are a new iOS 27 feature that lets a business put up to two tappable buttons below an Apple Wallet pass, such as a link to your offers page or your membership details. Apple describes them in its WWDC26 session as a flexible API that works with all pass styles: you define them in a featuredActions array in the pass, and Wallet draws them below the pass with an icon and a localised call to action. This post sets out only what Apple has confirmed, how to decide which two actions to offer, and what to prepare. It also lists what we could not verify, so you can check it before you rely on it.

What Apple has confirmed

The primary source is Apple's WWDC26 session "What's new in Wallet" (Apple: What's new in Wallet). From it:

• Where they live. A top-level featuredActions key in pass.json, which takes an array of action objects.
• How many. "Each pass can contain up to two featured actions."
• Which passes. Apple says the new API allows actions for all pass styles, not only the new Poster Generic style.
• What an action contains. An identifier, a type and a value such as a URL. Apple's example uses the type membershipBenefits with a URL for offers. Its server example uses viewMembership.
• How they look. "Wallet draws this below the pass, with an appropriate colorful icon and a localized call-to-action." You choose the type and destination. The label and icon are Apple's.
• Priority. Apple recommends providing only the most meaningful and relevant actions, in priority order.
• Where the full list is. Apple says the full list of action types and their expected values is in its Wallet Passes documentation.

MacRumors independently reports that passes can include up to two actions in iOS 27 (MacRumors: iOS 27 Wallet guide). iOS 27 launched for iPhone on 14 September 2026 (MacDailyNews).

What we could not verify

We looked for the following and did not find it in Apple's session or in reputable coverage, so we have left it out. Check Apple's Wallet Passes documentation before you build on any of it.

• The complete list of action types and what destination each accepts.
• Whether actions appear on Apple Watch.
• What customers on iOS 26 and earlier see. Apple's session does not specify a fallback for actions, so treat the actions as an iOS 27 extra and keep the pass useful without them.
• Whether any action types are restricted by region.

Some pass vendors have published lists of action types and behaviours. Those are third-party readings; we have not repeated them.

Where Shakewell Wallet stands

We checked our code before writing this. Shakewell Wallet's pass builder does not currently set featuredActions, so passes issued today do not show Featured Actions. If you need them, they would be a change to the platform rather than something you configure. We will update this post if that changes. The rest of what a pass does today, such as updates after install and messages to the lock screen, is described in Apple Wallet setup and how pass updates and push notifications work.

How to choose your two actions

Because you have only two slots, each should do a job the pass itself cannot. Ask what a customer who has just opened the card wants to do next.

A rule of thumb: put the action customers need most often first, since Apple recommends priority order.

What to prepare before you add actions

1. A page that works on a phone. The action opens a destination, usually a URL. If that page is slow, hard to read on a small screen or asks the customer to log in again, the action will disappoint.
2. Stable URLs. Changing the destination later should not break old passes. Use a short address you control that can redirect, rather than a deep link to a page that may move.
3. Tracking you can read. Add a campaign parameter to the address so your analytics show visits from the pass.
4. Accessibility. Apple provides the label and icon, but the page behind them is yours. Check it works with larger text and a screen reader.
5. A pass that stands alone. Customers on older iOS versions will not see the actions, so the pass should still show the balance, stamp count and barcode without them.
6. Staff briefed. If a customer taps a booking action at the counter, staff should know where they will land.

Featured Actions and the other iOS 27 changes

Featured Actions arrive alongside the Poster Generic style, four more barcode formats and the customer-made passes in Create a Pass. They solve different problems: the style is about how a pass looks, the barcodes about what it scans as, and the actions about where it sends the customer. Our post on iOS 27 and Apple Wallet for Australian loyalty programs covers all four, and scanning a loyalty card into Apple Wallet covers the customer-made side.

For an Australian business, the same rules on spam and privacy apply to anything an action leads to, such as a signup form on the page behind a button.

Frequently asked questions

What are Apple Wallet Featured Actions? Up to two tappable buttons that Wallet draws below a pass in iOS 27. You pick the type and destination; Apple supplies the icon and a localised label.

Do Featured Actions work on every pass type? Apple says the API allows actions for all pass styles.

Can I write my own button label? Apple's session says Wallet draws the action with an appropriate icon and a localised call to action. We found nothing saying you can set your own text.

Do existing passes need to be reissued? Apple's session does not say. Actions are defined in the pass, so a pass would need to include them, which means an updated pass from whoever issues it.

Does Shakewell Wallet support Featured Actions? Not at the time of writing. See the section above.