Quick Summary
Apple’s iOS 26 will soon offer enhanced digital boarding passes, with one major airline announcing its support.
United Airlines is the first major operator to support the new feature, and others are set to follow.
Back at the beginning of September, before the launch of Apple’s new iPhones and Apple Watch models, we reported on a couple of new features that were coming to the native Wallet app.
We said that, as part of iOS 26, Apple Wallet would be baking Live Activities into digital boarding passes to bring a more consistent experience no matter who you fly with. We also revealed that they’ll show more information than they did before. This includes airport maps, while the Live Activities from the digital boarding passes would be shareable.
Which is the first airline to support the new enhanced digital boarding passes?
Well now that’s here.
As reported by 9to5Google, United Airlines is the first major airline to support the new iOS 26 Wallet features. That may not come as a huge surprise as it was one of the first airlines to support Live Activities when they were announced back in 2022, too. But the new features should also give those flying with United a more streamlined experience on their iPhone.
The enhanced digital boarding pass will allow you to track your flight through the Live Activity, see a map of the airport, and track checked luggage through the Find My app.
Also, if you share the flight tracking element with friends and family, they will see everything you see, except for your seat number and boarding gate.
Something worth mentioning is the Live Activity element of the enhanced digital boarding passes isn’t on by default (according to 9to5Google’s source). You will need to open up Wallet & Apple Pay settings and toggle on Live Activities, although when I went to look this up, mine was already on. You might find yours is too depending on your previous settings.
In terms of other airlines set to offer support, Apple has said Air Canada, American Airlines, Delta, JetBlue, Jetstar, Lufthansa, Qantas, Southwest, and Virgin Australia are set to introduce the enhanced boarding passes feature soon, but there is currently no timeline on when.
