Ticketing & Events

September 11, 2026

Recipe: Activate Digital Passes: eTickets for Apple and Google Wallets

# Ticketing operations

Makes: Branded digital tickets that audiences can download straight to their smartphones

Digital passes are a fast and easy way for customers to present their tickets for a smooth welcome experience when they arrive at your venue. By adopting digital passes you can reduce lost ticket enquiries at the box office resulting in shorter queues, a less frustrating experience for the customer and a more environmentally friendly option over printed tickets.

What you need:

The General Administrator user role

A Spektrix Link account - complete the registration form if you haven't already

Your organisation's brand colours

A logo that meets the file requirements of: 380 x 150 pixels and an image to be used as the pass icon 59 x 59 pixel. Both images are required to be a maximum of 1MB, and in either PNG or JPEG format.

Time required:

45 - 60 minutes

What will this help me achieve?

Improve the audience experience by delivering tickets directly to Apple and Google wallets.

Provide a branded, seamless journey that matches your organisation's identity.

Reduce enquiries by giving customers tickets they can't lose and are easy to find.

Concepts we’ll be using

Spektrix Link: Where you’ll design and manage your Apple and Google pass templates.

System emails (e-ticket delivery email) : How you’ll deliver the tickets with download buttons for Apple and Google wallets.

Attributes: Custom data fields used to pull specific Event, Instance, or Seat information (like entry doors or access warnings) dynamically onto the digital pass.

Prep

Gather your organisation's brand colours - you’ll need the hex codes to apply them to your Pass.

Prepare two images: a logo, recommended size 380 x 150 pixels and a pass icon 59 x 59 pixels.Both images should be a maximum of 1MB, and in either PNG or JPEG format.

To be able to preview your pass, you’ll need a ticket barcode from one of your events. This will allow you to see a real example of how the data is displayed to customers. To get a barcode, go to any recent order and find the barcode listed below ticket type:

Activate

To add the Google and Apple wallet buttons to your e-ticket email:

Go to the Admin Interface > Document Designs > E-ticket.

Scroll down to E-Ticket Delivery email

Edit and insert {DigitalPassButtons} directly into the body of your E-ticket email HTML. This field will automatically generate the Apple and Google Wallet links.

Design your Pass

Log into Spektrix Link and select the Passes menu to begin building your digital pass design.

Step 1: Configure Front and Back Details

Front of Pass: Select Labels and corresponding Values, such as Event Name or Date. You must complete Rows 1 and 2 for the pass to save successfully. Ensure Seat Info and Free Text are placed in Row 3 or below for Google Passes to avoid validation errors.

Back of Pass: Add supplementary details, allowing up to seven fields for Apple wallets and eight for Google wallets. Do not duplicate information from the front onto the back of Apple Passes, as the duplicated text will not display.

Step 2: Customise Colours and Imagery

Colours: Use your organisation’s brand colours to set your Background, Label, and Text colours. Ensure that your chosen colour scheme meets accessibility standards for contrast. You can use a contrast checker to check whether your colours are accessible.

Images: Upload a Logo (recommended 380 x 150px) to display in the top left corner of the pass and an Icon (recommended 59 x 59px) to appear in customer notification banners. Both files must be either PNG or JPEG format and under 1.0MB in size.

Step 3: Finalise Configuration Settings

Formatting: Choose your preferred Date, Time, and Currency formats from the available dropdown options.

Issuer name: Enter your venue or organisation name which appears in device notification banners (defaults to your Spektrix client name).

Pass sharing: Keep sharing enabled by default, or choose to disable it to hide the share button. Disabling sharing on Google heavily restricts the pass, locking it to the first claiming account and blocking device screenshots.

Step 4: Preview

Check the preview: Click Preview passes to view how your design looks across both Apple and Google formats. Click Get Sample Data and enter a valid ticket barcode to see how real ticket information will display.

[Detail for a Callout box with a simple action header]

Long event names? In some cases event names may appear truncated on smaller screens. To fix this, create an event attribute (e.g., "Event Name (Short)") and use it on the pass in place of the standard Event Name value.

Step 5: Apply Template IDs

Link your template: Find your Template ID in Spektrix Link and paste it into the Digital Pass Template ID field in the basic details of your Instances. You can do this individually or use the Bulk Instance Update Tool to update all your events at once.

Customer Access: If an Instance lacks an ID, the "Add to Wallet" buttons will not appear. If you add an ID after tickets are sold, customers can access the buttons in their online accounts, or you can regenerate their E-ticket emails.

More to explore

Once you've activated digital passes for your events, you'll be able to deliver a smoother arrival experience for your audiences and reduce pressure on your box office team.

Activation Workshop: Digital Passes. A hands-on session where we'll build your passes together in your live system. Check the Community for upcoming dates.