Hello,
We are the developers of a loyalty platform built on Apple Wallet for multiple independent merchants.
Currently, all merchants issue their Wallet passes using the same Pass Type Identifier under a single Apple Developer account. However, each pass has its own:
- Unique serial number
- Merchant name
- Logo
- Geographic locations
- relevantText for location notifications
We recently observed a behavior that we would like to better understand.
For example:
Pass A
- Merchant: La Minga Gourmet (coffee shop)
- relevantText: “Enjoy a delicious coffee ☕”
Pass B
- Merchant: Papelisto (stationery store)
- relevantText: “Notebooks, pens, and everything you need…”
A user had both passes installed on the same iPhone. The two businesses are located very close to each other.
When the user entered that area, Apple Wallet displayed what visually appeared to be a notification for La Minga Gourmet, but the visible message was:
“Notebooks, pens, and everything you need…”
which corresponds to the relevantText configured for Papelisto.
A short time later, the visible message changed again, alternating between messages belonging to other nearby merchants.
We thoroughly reviewed our backend and database and confirmed that:
- Each merchant stores its own relevantText.
- Each pass is generated with the correct merchant information.
- We found no evidence of data mixing or cross-contamination on our server.
Because of this, we would like to understand whether this behavior is expected from Apple Wallet itself.
Our questions are:
- Is this expected behavior when multiple Wallet passes share the same Pass Type Identifier?
- Does Apple Wallet group or rotate nearby location-relevant passes that share the same Pass Type Identifier?
- For a platform issuing Wallet passes on behalf of many independent merchants, is the recommended architecture to use a different Pass Type Identifier for each merchant?
- Is there any documented way to prevent this behavior while keeping location-based notifications enabled?
- Is there a recommended or practical limit to the number of Pass Type Identifiers that can be managed under a single Apple Developer account?
Our goal is to ensure that users never receive a location notification that could create confusion about which merchant it belongs to.
We would greatly appreciate any clarification, best practices, or official documentation regarding this behavior.
Thank you very much for your time and assistance.