What's significant about this is I hate it. Every venue or flight that just texts/emails me a picture of a barcode has worked fine. Now they've invented a flakier solution to an already-solved problem, probably to further iPhone lock-in.
Southwest boarding passes for example, they used to give me a PNG. Now it's the wallet thing that displays... a PNG. Oh look at that, my wife's iPhone is too old to use it, that's Apple's way of saying she should go buy another.
I’ve been in queues behind people who can’t find their tickets in their email, or whenever they saved it, or can’t get an internet connection to open their email, cloud drive, or whatever. So it doesn’t seem like a solved problem for everyone.
The sms or email is either going to have an image or a wallet item. If they didn't go there beforehand to save it, it won't be in the wallet either. They also have to know how to find it in the wallet app.
I feel so sorry for the people at Whole Foods who have to people find their “prime code” in people’s apps because it’s impossible to find.
Or the workers at Amazon package drop off desks who can’t do their job because they have to help people find the return codes in the Amazon app or their emails.
You’re dead on. “Email works fine” is not the public’s experience.
I suspect this really is targeted at small organizations that want to make nice passes easily for clients. Small gyms or other places are unlikely to have staff with the knowledge to make passes and it would be a waste of their time anyway. This is far better.
The web was smart. URLs were smart. We've lost a lot moving to crappy user interfaces people have to dig through. I'm have hopes this will get better soon.
Edit: Isn't there trivial fix with scanning a QR in the store that either opens the site or deep-links into the app? This is like 15 minutes of store manager time + one Claude prompt away for the mobile app, I'd think.
Ha, been avoiding those like the plague. Thankfully still passkey-free, but I can see that the day is coming where someone's gonna force it. Hopefully Keepass has my back here.
> the people at Whole Foods who have to people find their “prime code” in people’s apps because it’s impossible to find.
This used to be easy and then they moved it somewhere counterintuitive in the app that my brain refuses to remember. I swear.
Now they’ve put a QR code on the checkout console, and scanning that opens the Amazon app to the right spot. Scan a code to scan a code… modern life.
(WHat’s really ridiculous is that I’m paying with my Amazon Prime VISA card—why doesn’t that automatically get me my prime discounts? It’s my default method of payment on the Amazon site, it’s not like they don’t know about it. No, I need to jump through some other hoops to “enroll” or “link” my card or something for that to work. eyeroll )
Prime Visa: that’s the one that gets me. Same for me. I have restaurants I go to that have loyalty programs that can figure me out by my card. But I got the card from you, and to go to the same store all the time, and you can’t figure it out? Come on.
But they could also make the app way easier. Last, I checked the stores didn’t move around randomly. They’re always in fixed locations. So why not ask for location permission and just automatically pop the code up or make it a simple option at the top of the screen whenever it detects you’re within 50 feet of a Whole Foods?
All I can think of is that they advertise the whole thing to get people in for “savings“ and then make it as hard to use as possible, so no one actually uses them.
I've been the person with all those problems.
I prefer my passes live in the Wallet app if at all possible. In addition to just being more reliable, passes can be geo-tagged, so they pop up on your lock screen when you get to your destination. So much more straightforward than hunting for emails / screenshots / etc.
pastel8739 · · focus · HN ↗
mahboi · · focus · HN ↗
Southwest boarding passes for example, they used to give me a PNG. Now it's the wallet thing that displays... a PNG. Oh look at that, my wife's iPhone is too old to use it, that's Apple's way of saying she should go buy another.
mr_toad · · focus · HN ↗
mahboi · · focus · HN ↗
MBCook · · focus · HN ↗
Or the workers at Amazon package drop off desks who can’t do their job because they have to help people find the return codes in the Amazon app or their emails.
You’re dead on. “Email works fine” is not the public’s experience.
I suspect this really is targeted at small organizations that want to make nice passes easily for clients. Small gyms or other places are unlikely to have staff with the knowledge to make passes and it would be a waste of their time anyway. This is far better.
JumpCrisscross · · focus · HN ↗
Just punch in your phone number.
rpdillon · · focus · HN ↗
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/wholefoodsapp/prime-code" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.com/wholefoodsapp/prime-code
The web was smart. URLs were smart. We've lost a lot moving to crappy user interfaces people have to dig through. I'm have hopes this will get better soon.
Edit: Isn't there trivial fix with scanning a QR in the store that either opens the site or deep-links into the app? This is like 15 minutes of store manager time + one Claude prompt away for the mobile app, I'd think.
mahboi · · focus · HN ↗
rpdillon · · focus · HN ↗
thinkling · · focus · HN ↗
This used to be easy and then they moved it somewhere counterintuitive in the app that my brain refuses to remember. I swear.
Now they’ve put a QR code on the checkout console, and scanning that opens the Amazon app to the right spot. Scan a code to scan a code… modern life.
(WHat’s really ridiculous is that I’m paying with my Amazon Prime VISA card—why doesn’t that automatically get me my prime discounts? It’s my default method of payment on the Amazon site, it’s not like they don’t know about it. No, I need to jump through some other hoops to “enroll” or “link” my card or something for that to work. eyeroll )
MBCook · · focus · HN ↗
But they could also make the app way easier. Last, I checked the stores didn’t move around randomly. They’re always in fixed locations. So why not ask for location permission and just automatically pop the code up or make it a simple option at the top of the screen whenever it detects you’re within 50 feet of a Whole Foods?
All I can think of is that they advertise the whole thing to get people in for “savings“ and then make it as hard to use as possible, so no one actually uses them.
jkubicek · · focus · HN ↗
I prefer my passes live in the Wallet app if at all possible. In addition to just being more reliable, passes can be geo-tagged, so they pop up on your lock screen when you get to your destination. So much more straightforward than hunting for emails / screenshots / etc.
prmoustache · · focus · HN ↗