# How mobile wallet works

Learn how Airship gets wallet passes to your users.

A pass is the product of a link generated from a template contained within a mobile wallet project:

* A mobile wallet **project** determines the type of pass you can generate and the barcode the pass will use. Your project also contains your Apple Wallet and Google Pay certificates.
* **Templates** within the project determine the design of the pass and the fields exposed on the pass.
* A **pass link** or an [Adaptive Link](https://www.airship.com/docs/reference/glossary/#adaptive_link) is the URL the user clicks on to view and install the pass.
* The **pass** itself is installed on a user's mobile device. You can update the individual pass even after it has been installed.

In general, the process of getting a pass to your audience is as follows.

**You:**

1. Create your project.
1. Design the pass. This is the *template*.
1. Generate a URL that points to the pass. This is the *pass link*.
1. Distribute the pass link to recipients.

**The recipients:**

1. Open the pass link and view the pass.
1. Install the pass to their Apple Wallet or Google Wallet digital wallets.

### Create and Design

The first step of creating a pass is creating a project that will store the
templates for that pass type. Projects can contain both Apple Wallet and Google
Pay templates for a single pass type.

You must then design a template for your pass. The template holds the design,
field information, and default field values for your pass. If designing passes
to support both Apple Wallet and Google Wallet users, you will design two
templates, one for each platform.

You will then create a link to the pass that users can tap or click to install
the pass. [Adaptive links](https://www.airship.com/docs/guides/wallet/user-guide/create-links/adaptive-links/) are the preferred pass-creation method. An adaptive link detects the
recipient's platform and installs the appropriate pass. Instead of sending an
Apple Wallet pass URL to one recipient group and a Google Wallet pass URL to another
(or both URLs to all recipients), you can associate the two templates using an
Adaptive Link, then distribute that single Adaptive Link to all intended recipients.

You can also create platform-specific URLs.

### Distribute

While you can use a wallet project to *create* passes, you cannot distribute passes via a wallet project. Since the pass is essentially a URL, you can send the pass however you would send any URL, such email or SMS. See the various
[pass distribution methods](https://www.airship.com/docs/guides/wallet/user-guide/create-links/distribute/).

It's important to remember that you are sending a link to install a pass, not
attachment to a message body. You should send a pass over a medium that you
expect to reach your audience and persist, in case a user decides to dismiss a
notification alert and install the pass at a later time.

If you are also an Airship messaging
customer, you can include the pass URL with all our
message types.
Depending on the message type you choose, you can link to the pass:

* When the user taps or clicks the notification.
* When the user taps a button.
* From the body of the message.


### Install

A user receives the pass URL, opens the URL, and then has the option to install
the pass. The user only needs to install the pass once. They can then open the
pass from Apple Wallet, Google Wallet, or an app that relies on the respective
Apple and Google APIs.


### Update Content

After a user installs a pass, you can seamlessly update the pass as event information, gift card balance, loyalty points, and other information changes, so that your users are always up to date.

By updating an already-installed pass, you can ensure that your customers never miss their gates, and that they take advantage of
the loyalty programs that bring them back to your business.

You can optionally continue to update content and appearance of a pass that has
already been installed by a recipient. See:
[Publish Tutorial](https://www.airship.com/docs/guides/wallet/user-guide/updating-passes/publish/).


## Get Started

To get passes into the hands (devices!) of your users, you need:

* An Airship **account**.
* A **certificate** for Apple Wallet or Google Wallet.
* A **project** to contain your certificate, templates, pass URLs, and other settings and information.
* A **template** to generate your passes from.