Four years ago I asked whether "Google Pass" was a thing that I needed to give a shit about and consensus was, "no, nobody uses that."
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If those of you using Android could click on this link and tell me whether it does anything even remotely useful, and if so, some detail about how horrible/stupid the whole experience is, that would be helpful: https://www.jwz.org/images/2026/test.pkpass
And tell me what version you're using, obviously. Possibly this requires some "Play" [sic] stuff to work.
UPDATE: Thanks! You can stop now.
(Unless you have read the dozens of replies and have had a materially different experience than those.)
@jwz@mastodon.social GrapheneOS here. Opens a file download for
test.pkpass, which is a misnamed (and thus exactly nothing happens with it unless I rename it) zip file containing some png's and json's. shrug -
If those of you using Android could click on this link and tell me whether it does anything even remotely useful, and if so, some detail about how horrible/stupid the whole experience is, that would be helpful: https://www.jwz.org/images/2026/test.pkpass
And tell me what version you're using, obviously. Possibly this requires some "Play" [sic] stuff to work.
UPDATE: Thanks! You can stop now.
(Unless you have read the dozens of replies and have had a materially different experience than those.)
@jwz Using Firefox on Android 12, it asks for downloading the file. After doing so and clicking on the "Open" toast notification, I'm asked to choose between a bunch of apps. I've selected the "Google" app and got a pip-up asking me to install "Google Play Services for AR". I didn't go any further.
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@jwz I'm in GMT+1. this is a bit weird. a different app called catima shows this at 4:00 and Google wallet shows at 3:00. what the fuck?
@tibi2 Ha!
jq .relevantDate < pass.json => "2026-04-27T02:00Z"
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If those of you using Android could click on this link and tell me whether it does anything even remotely useful, and if so, some detail about how horrible/stupid the whole experience is, that would be helpful: https://www.jwz.org/images/2026/test.pkpass
And tell me what version you're using, obviously. Possibly this requires some "Play" [sic] stuff to work.
UPDATE: Thanks! You can stop now.
(Unless you have read the dozens of replies and have had a materially different experience than those.)
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@jwz@mastodon.social it has a "IHDR", Adobe ICC metadata and is about 67KB. all typical for PNG.
@Life_is Once again, I assure you it is not a PNG.
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If those of you using Android could click on this link and tell me whether it does anything even remotely useful, and if so, some detail about how horrible/stupid the whole experience is, that would be helpful: https://www.jwz.org/images/2026/test.pkpass
And tell me what version you're using, obviously. Possibly this requires some "Play" [sic] stuff to work.
UPDATE: Thanks! You can stop now.
(Unless you have read the dozens of replies and have had a materially different experience than those.)
@jwz
Since I disabled to directly opening apps from links it went: Firefox - download - open - open in wallet - shows up with information about event, price, and a QR code.All good.
This is how it always works for me.This is on Pixel 9a with Android 16 and everything updated.
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FYI, this is what it looks like on iOS. No intervening clicks needed besides "Add".
@jwz it showed it as a download then opened this flow, possibly a couple of other add/continue screens in between.
I didn't accept the long t&c page and it still seemed to work, though I may be blind now since it ramps the brightness to full on the ticket screen.
Will add version later if I remember but need to charge and walk the dog. Samsung Galaxy S8 though so prehistoric hardware.
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FYI, this is what it looks like on iOS. No intervening clicks needed besides "Add".
@jwz Downloaded as a standard file. Added to Google Wallet, don't typically use Wallet for passes so had a wallet of TOS including "can our AI look at this?" and after a few clicks through got this:
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FYI, this is what it looks like on iOS. No intervening clicks needed besides "Add".
@jwz Duck Duck Go on a Pixel suggested I download it, but I have my setup pretty well locked down.
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@tibi2 Ha!
jq .relevantDate < pass.json => "2026-04-27T02:00Z"
@jwz damn so Google is the only correct one. well good to know I can't rely on any of the foss apps!
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@talexb Did you try opening the file? Did that do anything?
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@jwz damn so Google is the only correct one. well good to know I can't rely on any of the foss apps!
@tibi2 I mean I guess it's NBD if a ticket displays the wrong time, right?
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@mu Cool story very helpful
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If those of you using Android could click on this link and tell me whether it does anything even remotely useful, and if so, some detail about how horrible/stupid the whole experience is, that would be helpful: https://www.jwz.org/images/2026/test.pkpass
And tell me what version you're using, obviously. Possibly this requires some "Play" [sic] stuff to work.
UPDATE: Thanks! You can stop now.
(Unless you have read the dozens of replies and have had a materially different experience than those.)
@jwz sort of does. It sends me to a scary page asking permission to apply AI to my pictures, and I'm conflicted whether to say yes so I can tell you what happens next or say no because I don't want Google to start applying AI to all my files (as if they didn't already, though, permission or not)
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@DamonHD Did you try opening the file? Did that do anything?
@jwz not visibly. Obvs you may now have all my secrets or something.
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@jwz not visibly. Obvs you may now have all my secrets or something.
@DamonHD You know what you did
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A story in 4 pics. This was as far as I was willing to go without knowing exactly what that file does. (And I only downloaded it because you have earned that trust.)
To clarify, I don't think the file does anything harmful, but I don't know if I want whatever it actually does.
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@jwz sort of does. It sends me to a scary page asking permission to apply AI to my pictures, and I'm conflicted whether to say yes so I can tell you what happens next or say no because I don't want Google to start applying AI to all my files (as if they didn't already, though, permission or not)
@jwz hah. So, after following the replies from others here I can also confirm: Hitting "not thanks" on the "please give AI permission for everything" screen lets the flow continue on to add the pass. Apparently now me and one other can go on April 26 at 3 am to your club and watch Powerman 5000!
This is all on a Pixel8, Android 16, Google Play System Update Nov 1, 2025, Android Security Update March 5, 2026
