Mike Peterson
New York's new Excelsior Pass, which documents vaccination status and will soon be required to enter many businesses in New York City, has dropped support for Apple Wallet.
The state-issued Excelsior passport allows users to prove that they have received a COVID-19 vaccination. The original Excelsior Pass, however, expired six months after a user's vaccination date. Because of that, New Yorkers will need to update to the Excelsior Pass Plus.
As noticed by AppleInsider staffers, the new Excelsior Pass Plus is not compatible with Apple Wallet. Unlike the original Excelsior Pass which had explicit Apple Wallet support, users will need to head to the NYS Wallet app every time they want to prove vaccination status.
In a user's guide to the vaccine passports, New York State said that Excelsior Pass Plus Passes are not supported by Apple Wallet at this time. The guide also states that notification support is also not available.
It isn't clear why the new pass doesn't work with the Wallet app, but it does appear to be a conscious choice by the state to omit support. AppleInsider has reached out to New York Department of Health.
Compared to Apple Wallet support, heading into the NYS Wallet app isn't as convenient or fast. Instead of being able to bring up passes through a double-click on an iPhone or Apple Watch, users will need to open the NYS Wallet app.
Many businesses are requiring proof of vaccination for entry in New York City already, but the city government will soon mandate proof of vaccination.
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61 Comments
Lots of money to be made on providing fake vaccine proofs. Considering it’s the government how hard could it be to fake a vaccine card. And there’s the credibility of the databases. I recently got a letter from my county’s health department stating they had no record of my second Pfizer shot. I got my second shot at the same county vaccination site I got the first shot and I have my paper vaccination card filled out by the person who gave the me the second shot. But the county says they know nothing about the second shot. So...
Glad mine was updated to the 1-year expiration and in my Wallet before this change. Maybe Wallet compatibility will be made available again before I need to update.Does the wallet store images, etc, in the Secure Enclave? I’m sure the NYC app isn’t going to have access to this level of security. Have any security professionals (including Apple) validated the security profile of this app?
How are people just blindly accepting these vaccine passports? How is it that so few even question something that is so obviously absurd? The fact that they don't accommodate for natural immunity, which is *superior* to the vaccine 'immunity,' should be a clear indication that we're being manipulated. Not to mention the fact that they make no sense, since people 'vaccinated' with these gene modifying agents can still catch and spread covid. It's shocking how many people are accepting these 'passports' as somehow justifiable.