Apple Wallet Is WAY More Powerful Than You Realize | Here’s How!

0:00 [Music] So, I bet you weren't aware that you can get live gate changes directly from your boarding pass. Or that you can go through a subway turn style without touching a single button on your iPhone. Or how about the fact that you can share your hotel key card wirelessly with another friend or anybody else that has an iPhone? These are all things you can do directly and natively on the Apple Wallet app. And in my opinion, it's one of the most underrated and underappreciated apps in the Apple ecosystem. So, in this video, this is going to be your one-stop shop for the entire wallet application walkthrough. And we're going to break this down into three sections. The first piece is going to be all about the universal basics. So, if you have an iPhone, you have the Apple Wallet app, you'll be able to do everything that I mentioned in this section of the video. Second, we're going to talk about the iOS 26 enhancements because we're getting a bunch of awesome updates and even better usability on the Apple Wallet, which is

0:46 going to be huge for a lot of people. And then lastly, if you do have an Apple Card or looking to get one, it unlocks a completely separate section of the Apple Wallet app, which I do think people should know about, but it is US-based only. So, we'll leave that towards the end of the video. So, without further ado, this is your final destination for all things Apple Wallet related. Let's get into it. But now, before we continue, consider subscribing to the channel if you like up-to-date videos like this where we walk you through some of Apple's best applications. And now, quick word from our sponsor, Nomad ESIM. My biggest regrets with my first iPad was not getting it with cellular data. Not having to rely on Wi-Fi, especially as somebody who uses their iPad as their main computer, is a freedom that I didn't know I needed. And now that all modern iPads have an eim built into it, today's sponsor, Nomad ESIM, is the

1:32 easiest and best way to stay connected. It has support for over 200 countries with no roaming fees and instant setup right from the app or from a QR code. It's built for travel, remote work, or just for everyday flexibility and to make sure that you don't have to rely on Wi-Fi like I said earlier. And yes, even hotspotting works so you can share your iPad's connection with other devices. It's fast, it's flexible, and works exactly when you need it, whenever you need it. Well, right, everyone. Let's start off with just the basics like I mentioned in the beginning of the video. So, I am using my 16 Pro Max here, but I am running iOS 26, and we'll get to that piece in a little bit. But, let's just open up the wallet application and see what the anatomy of the wallet application kind of looks like. So, when you first launch it, you probably won't see any of this aside from maybe your Apple Cash, depending on if you set it up during the initial setup process of

2:18 opening up your new iPhone or whatever the case may be. But once you do a few card setup, this is what it's going to look like. You have two main sections. You have your credit cards on top. So, this is where all the credit cards or forms of payment are. Then if you scroll down, you get to see all the other different kinds of cards like your insurance cards, your lounge access cards, or whatever else is being able to be added to your Apple Wallet. And then I'll show you guys how to reorder that and everything. But to start off, let's show you how to actually add something and what that means. So, as you can see from a navigation standpoint, on the top right hand corner is where everything gets done. You press the plus sign, you're greeted with this new menu. Now, again, this looks a little bit different on iOS 18, but for the most part, it is the same. And you get to see that there's a few different sections. So, first off, cards found for you from another device. It sounds very self-explanatory. So, if you did have

3:04 maybe another debit card or credit card or some sort of key card that was on an older device, it'll show up here if it isn't on your this device already. Then, you have the ability to add a debit or credit card. Again, very simple. So, it's all you have to do is press continue here. You can either take an image of the card. You can now tap NFC for that card if that card does support it, which is very cool. If you guys do want to check that out, I highly recommend watching our latest Apple Card video or you can actually enter the details manually as well if that's something that you do want to do. So, that is an option. And then once that card is added, it will show up in the Apple Wallet like we said earlier and it'll show up right here. As you can see, I have an abundance of different credit cards and debit cards because again, this is another hobby that I have pretty much credit card miles and points, but that's a story for another video. But if we continue on here with

3:50 our options, we do have the ability to add a transit card. So, these are all the transit cards that are supported. You can see that they're broken down by country and region. So in the United States, we have these. So in my local area, none of these apply, but then you have Canada, you have China, mainland, and then you have a bunch of other ones down here that are supported like France, Hong Kong, and Japan, as well as South Korea. So as you start to kind of load on, more and more do get supported over time. But again, like I said, in my area, I'm in New York, so Metro and NJ Transit are not there. Then you have the driver's license and ID cards. This list was much smaller a year and a half ago when we made a video that was similar to this. There was only four, but now you can see we're kind of closer to, I think, 10. So, in the US, these are supported regions and states that allow for a digital ID. And they always say when you do sign up, so if I go on to

4:36 here, let's say you do want to sign up and add it to your Apple card or add it to your iPhone and Apple wallet, you can press this button right here. But again, they're always going to suggest you have the physical card on you just in case because depending on your situation, it might be a little bit different. But again, these are the different ones that are supported. So, you have Arizona, California, and the list goes on. And then you do have Japan that has your My Number card as another form of identification that could be added to your digital wallet. Very cool. I'm very excited for when New Jersey gets it, but from what I've heard, New Jersey is one of those states that is very, very stringent on what it means to have a digital ID card. And then you have your add account. Now, this is going to be different from your Apple Card or Apple Cash account. This is mostly for kind of gift card purchases. So, if you do get a gift card, you can input that number,

5:21 press continue, and then you can add and load up money onto this card that can then be used for different purchases, whether it is mostly on the app store as well as different products, games, music, and if you do want to walk into a store, you can use whatever balance you have on here towards a hardware product purchase. So, again, just another form of payment that can be added on here. And then this option down here is new with iOS 26, but if you do have your banking application already installed and signed in on your iOS device, you can tap on here and then it's going to sign into your account and then suggest which application or which debit or credit card that's associated with that banking account can be added instantaneously without having to manually add anything. So that is how you add different cards to your Apple Wallet. And then once they are added on here, then you can use them any single

6:08 time you do open up Apple Pay. And then very quickly just to show you guys what Apple Pay looks like. Of course it's going to depend on which kind of iPhone you have, whether it's a Touch ID or Face ID iPhone. But all you have to do is double tap on your lock button and then this will come up. Once that happens, then you scan your Face ID or pay with passcode. Then tap it to the payment terminal and then you're able to pay with your corresponding credit card or whatever the case may be. And as you saw, that is the default card that I have and we'll mess with that in the settings later on. But that gives you an idea of how to actually Apple Pay. And then another little trick that I like to add in terms of the anatomy of the Apple Wallet app is that you do have the ability to reorder these physically. So for some reason you want to have let's say I want to move my world of Hyatt. You just long press and I can move it all the way down here if I want to to make it that first card and it says

6:54 world of high is now your default card which I don't want to do. But if I grab this and put this over again now my Sapphire Reserve card will be my default card. So whatever card is at the bottom here. So, the one that's most visible will be the default card that comes up whenever you do change or use your Apple Pay. But if you do want to change it, so for instance, if I go back to the home screen, double tap to Apple Pay, you can actually see that down here, you have more options. So, I can tap on here and choose which card I want to use to use with Apple Pay in real time. So for some reason if you are like me and you have different credit cards for different purchase categories for instance my freedom unlimited card I use that for kind of my catch all card and I use that if I don't have a specific category I can just tap on there we can face ID and then you are able to use the payment terminal in order to get that done. So just some kind of tips and tricks in

7:40 order to show you guys what this is like. And then if you want to get some more information on each individual card it is very easy. So for instance I can tap on my Freedom Flex card and you can get the latest transaction information depending on the card. Some of them have a little bit better support than others, but as the the time has gone on and years have gone on, we've seen more and more synchronization between the Apple Wallet application and then thirdparty credit cards as well because before this, only the Apple card really showed you the best details possible. But you can see here that you get a bunch of options in terms of what the anatomy of each individual card is. So, at the very least, each card will have the latest transaction list. You can tap in here to get some more information. You see how much it was, when it was, where it was, if it was approved or denied. You also have the ability to contact your actual bank or report the incorrect merchant info if you want to as well. If I go back here, you also have some options on

8:26 the card itself. So, if I tap on the three dots up here, you have some more information like being able to set your notification stuff as well as being able to go into the card details and get more information here. So, so you do have the ability to get some card information, show updates, turn it on for express transit, which we'll touch on in a little bit in terms of what that means and the settings, change your billing address, and then do the terms and conditions, privacy policy, and then, of course, remove the card completely down here, which is very simple to remove if you want to. And if you do tap in here, you do have some more information. Now, this Apple Pay information, these four digits are going to be different than the ending four digits of this physical card. And that's just the way that it works with Apple Pay and the privacy reasons and all that transactional data. They pretty much take your credit card that's in Apple Pay, scramble up the actual card number, and then use kind of

9:12 a pseudo different card number when you are paying. But again, that's all backend information that's there for your privacy and your safety. But if you want to add the physical information of each card, you can tap in here and add that physical card information if you want to. So if you want to maybe look up your card information because you don't have the physical card on you, you need to pay something online, you can then do that right here. You can scan it or enter it manually because by default, it will not show you that even if you have added the card. Now, this is an iOS 26on setting. So, you do need to be on iOS 26 and newer. That is nice to note that now you can have all the different credit card information, physical card information all in one stop, which is going to be in the Apple Wallet application. So, that's pretty much what you need to know when it comes to the actual credit cards and debit cards that are on your Apple Wallet right here. But again, the Apple Wallet is not just for

9:58 payment transactions, and it's not just for your credit cards. You have an abundance of different other features. So, if you ever see a little logo that I'm going to pop up on the screen right here in any situation, that means that you can add, you know, your transit card or you can add some sort of certificate or add your insurance card or your charging card, whatever the case may be. If you see this little add wallet logo or button, that means you can add it to your Apple Wallet. And you can see that it is broken up. So, you do have a space here in your Apple Wallet to show off that this is going to be a separation from your payment cards to your other cards. But you can have a bunch of other stuff in here. For instance, you can have boarding passage. So, this, for instance, was a city cruise that we did a long time ago. This is an entry pass to be able to just scan in or even NFC in. So, if you've ever gone to Madison Square Garden or a basketball game, they

10:43 use NFC. So, you can put in whatever card you have on here and then manage it that way. You also have hotel keys if you want to. So, you can see up here actually that I have a visitor key, which is something that I use to just scan in via NFC whenever I'm in one of these buildings. And then you also have your loyalty and rewards card. So for instance, I have my crispy cream here, my Panera, you have your Maria up on VVoy card, all these different things that are on here that lets it gives you easy access to a digital version of your physical card. I also have my lounge access stuff. So I have my priority pass on here. I have something like my Sapphire priority pass. So all these things that I use maybe not on a daily basis, but it's something that I don't want to bring a physical card with me cuz if I brought all these cards with me, then I would have 20 cards in my wallet and it would just be annoying to carry around and we would be back on the old days where, you know, you carry on one of those really, really thick wallets. But again, this is everything

11:29 that you need to know for non-payment items in your Apple wallet. So again, some of these have been expired. So this one, for instance, is from a while ago, as you can see, March 22nd. If I tap on the three dots here, you can go to your past details to get more information if you want to. So again, you can get a suggested on the lock screen, which uses kind of geo fencing and geoloccation to find out where you are. And then if you are within a vicinity of, let's say, the city cruise, then it'll just pop up on your lock screen, which is awesome. You have all the information, but then you can also remove the pass if you want to. So I can press remove pass and remove it completely. And then also if you go back here, press on the three dots, you get your notifications as well or the ability to again remove that pass. And if I go back here and tap on the three dots, you can see all the expired passes that I've had. So I have hundreds of expired passes from Weiwork ones to boarding passes that I've been using

12:14 over the years. So again, these are all expired ones because they've been set to expire and they're just moved over to a deleted page. So now let's go into our Apple Wallet settings. So, if we go to our settings, go to your wallet, which is down here in the wallet and Apple Pay. I want to walk you guys through a few settings that I think are very beneficial to know. So, again, you have your your search, your Apple and Siri, your live activities. This live activities is going to be something that comes around with iOS 26, and then you have your Apple Pay default. So, if I tap in here, got to gray all this stuff out, but you can see that you have your default card, which you can choose from, your shipping address, your email, your phone number for when you do have to pay for things via Apple Pay online. You also have the ability to show card benefits and offers. You have your pay later, your rewards, and others. This section is iOS 26 related, so I guess we're kind of in the iOS 26 section now,

12:59 but that's something to take into consideration. You have your other pay later options, which again, when it comes to the buy now, pay later stuff, I'm not a big fan of, and that's why Apple didn't actually follow through with the one that they were going to create, but that's something that for maybe another one, I just think it's a little bit predatory. But if you do use things like a firm, there is now some integration directly into the Apple Wallet app. And then you can go down here and get a list of all of your different credit cards that are in here. And then you can tap into them to get some more information if you want to. You have your autofill cards. You have your other cards. You can see here these are my key cards where I use to, you know, lock in to something like a Hiate or go to the one of the buildings. Then you have your savings account, which we'll do in a little bit. But then you have your express transit card. I mentioned earlier in the video that you can now go through a turn style without actually pressing any buttons. So, if you set up an express transit card to make sure that's turned on, then

13:45 whenever you walk up to a payment terminal for something like a subway or, you know, a turn style, you no longer have to double tap on the side. You just hold your phone up to that payment terminal, it'll okay you, it'll have that transaction happen and then you just walk right through without having to think about it. But again, you have to turn it on and you have to select which card it is so it knows which one to go to every single time. I love this feature. It saves me a ton of time whenever I am going through the subway turn styles. So now let's really get into the iOS 26 version of all this stuff. And again, we're just getting big-time quality of life updates. So for instance, if you click on the three dots here, you might have seen that there's an orders button. Now, we've had an orders button before, but it's gotten a lot better with the iOS 26 version, whereas again, we've had the order button for I think 2 years now, and I haven't had a single order tracked in the history of me ordering stuff. And

14:31 again, I order a bunch of stuff, and I get a bunch of stuff shipped to me all the time. But it is using things like Apple Intelligence to go through your email to find out exactly what you have placed. So, you have an order here. You can hit the three dots to get a bunch of information here or mute the notifications. And again, if it is a physical product that's getting shipped to you, it'll let you know how much longer it's going to take until it gets there. And then you have some live activities like I mentioned earlier, which if you do go into one of those deleted ones, for instance, if I go to my expired passes, if I click on this, you can actually get more information. For example, you can get real-time flight updates. You can get the airport maps directly from the wallet application. You can even do luggage tracking with the Find My application when it is supported. And you can share live activity. So, if this was an upcoming flight, I would get a live activity of all the information I would need. And as I get closer, it would give me even more relevant information like the airport information that I need, the

15:16 terminal, where to go, how long it's going to take me to go from security to my gate. All things are just integrated on here, which again, it's going to cannibalize different applications like maybe flighty and things like that. But I just love that it is in here and it's very simple to use. So, definitely take that into consideration. Again, mostly quality of life updates, but very, very beneficial. You will also be able to add your passport or at least your US passport to this. Definitely check with your local airports to see if they accept it. I would always bring your physical passport, but you will be able to add it to at least show it to somebody if needed. And then like I said, Apple did away with their own version of buy now pay later, but you can actually integrate with things like a firm if you do want to do that as well as get some rewards in the stores. So iOS 26 brings some nice little quality of life updates. But let's go to the final section which is going to be all about this Apple Card app. So again, as

16:01 of right now, the Apple Card is only available for people in the United States, which is very unfortunate. It's been out for I think 5 years now at this point. But it looks like Chase will be buying it, which is a whole other video if you guys want to check that out. I'll link it down below. But what the Apple Card does give you is access to a few things. You know, you get your 3% cash back on all things Apple related, your 2% cash back on all things Apple Pay related, and then your 1% cash back when you use a physical card. But the one cool thing that the Apple Card gives you, aside from those perks that I mentioned earlier, is the ability to get this high yield savings account. So, if you're somebody that is just a set it and forget it kind of person that just wants the easiest way to have a savings account that's gathering a little bit of money, then this one might be the one for you because it's very simple. It relies on your daily cash back. You can actually, of course, deposit your own real money into it from your bank account and things like that. But the way that I have it set up is that whenever I do get my daily cash back,

16:48 that is just invested into the savings account. You It is at 3.65% APY. It was as high as 4.5 at one point, but again, across the board, they are going down. There are some other banks that give you a little bit better APY, anywhere from 3.7 to 3.8. I've seen up to 4% APY depending on how you're kind of running your things, but this one's going to be one of the easier ones and it's still relatively competitive. But you can see down here that you have all the latest transactions. So you have your interest paid, but then every single time I buy something from Apple and that includes all the services that I have locked in here, you know, I get that 3% daily cash back and that is deposited. As you can see, 22 cents, 64 cents, 48 cents, 28 cents. And whenever you buy something a little bit larger like a Apple hardware product, then of course that's also going to be deposited on there. And again, I don't use my Apple Card for anything outside of Apple purchases

17:34 anymore because I prefer to get the miles and points from something like Chase. But it's still very beneficial. And for somebody who's not used to maybe the credit card game, I think the Apple Card is really good at educating people what it means to pay your card on time, what it means to pay your card in full, to not acrue interest, and to not overpay or underpay that's going to end up having consequences in the future. So, if you do want to get some more information on your Apple Card, you can tap this button right here to get the physical card number. You click on the three dots here to see your monthly installments because again, the Apple Card allows you to do 0% financing on Apple hardware products. So, I have a bunch of monthly installments. Again, I only put Apple products on this card. You have your autopay feature, your rewards and offers, which you can click on here. So, this is what I've gotten for my lifetime daily cash back, and it's broken down into my percentages. So, again, you can see that most of my percentages is 3% because that's what I

18:20 use it for. And then your daily cash election, you can have it go to your Apple cash account or to your savings account. Now, the Apple cash account is essentially a debit card that Apple gives you, which you might have noticed if we go back to the wallet application. If you go down here, I have an Apple cash card that has $18 on it that you can use to pay people. It's almost like a combination of Venmo and Zel, but again, it's also a debit card that can be used with Apple Pay. So, this can be used at any payment terminal the same way any other credit card is used, but you can also use this as kind of your fund to send payments via iMessage or send payments in other ways, which again, a lot of people do like. And of course, you can also have this move over to your Apple savings account if you want to. So, I just have a little bit of money on here for whenever I need to, just in case I need to send somebody a dollar or two really quickly through my iMessage. But, that is all the perks you

19:06 get from the Apple Card, at least a few of them. If you want a more in-depth look at the Apple Card, I will also link down a more in-depth video that we have below. It's a great beginner card because it's zero fee, zero transaction fees, zero late fees, zero foreign fees, and it's just very easy to use and it integrates so well into iOS. And what's cool about it is that you see these colors up here, they change based on categories. So if you buy a lot of gas, it'll be turned a little bit more blue, groceries, a little bit more orange, and things like that. And then when you do pay it off in full, then it goes completely white, which is cool. So that's something to take note of. But that is pretty much everything you need to know about the wallet app in 2025 with iOS 26. It's very easy to use and there's so much more that you can do than just make payments at a payment terminal because again, as you can see, this will eventually replace our entire wallets in my opinion. It'll have your IDs on here. It'll have your boarding

19:52 passes, your credit cards, your debit cards, your banking info, and the fact that it's so reliable is something that goes very under the radar and something that I don't think is appreciated by a lot of people. So, this is, in my opinion, the best way and the most correct way to use your Apple Wallet. Just put as much stuff as you can in here just in case you need to use it. Then finally, a final word from our sponsor, Nomad ESI, which is perfect for this because again, they're all about travel, ease of use, and the fact you can keep everything digital instead of physical. So again, Nomad EIM bridges that gap between overpriced roaming fees you get from your domestic carrier, and the hassle of getting local SIM cards when you arrive at your destination. So you're hopping between countries or just want an ondemand data here in the US, Nomad's global and regional plans let you pick with what you need with no contracts and no surprises. You can install your eSIM in seconds, monitor the usage directly from the application,

20:39 and use it across iPads, iPhones, and everything in between. So, if you do have an iPad with cellular, this is the way to use it, right? Check out Nomad ESIM. Connect instantly and stay connected everywhere. There'll be the first link in the description below with some exclusive deals if you guys hit that link. But thanks again to Nomad Eim for partnering up with 9 to5 back. Let's finish up this video. So, that will just about do it for this video, everybody. As you saw, the Apple Wallet app is so much more than just your Apple Pay or being used for touchless payments. Of course, that is the bread and butter. And the fact that we can have so much confidence with such an important part of our lives, which is kind of having those transactions and those payments is something that again is super underappreciated in my opinion. The fact that we can leave our physical wallet at home, leave our credit cards at home, and just rely on the iPhone and Apple Pay to give us pretty much 100% kind of

21:24 efficiency is something that's relatively unmatched. So, definitely leave a comment down below of what your favorite feature is of the Apple Wallet. Is there something new that you learned? Is there something that I missed in this that maybe I should do in a follow-up video or talk about all things that I want to know in the comments down below. And also, I'll pin the best comment whether it's a funny joke or something related to this video. But that'll do it everybody. Thanks so much for watching. Leave a dolphin if you made it to the end. And if you want to watch more videos like this one, consider watching one of these right here cuz you won't be disappointed. Until next time, I'm Fernando. Peace everyone. Big shout out to Nomad Eim for partnering up with 9 to5 Mac on this video. And thanks for always supporting. Peace.