Your Overview page shows a short checklist that tracks how far you are from being properly live. It has four steps, and it disappears once you've done all four.
Nothing here is manually ticked off. Each step watches your account and completes itself when the thing has actually happened - which means the checklist can't tell you a comfortable lie about how set up you are.
Step 1 - Create a pass template
What it is: design how your pass looks in Apple and Google Wallet.
Why it's first: a template is the blueprint for everything else. You can't issue a pass without one.
It ticks off when: you have at least one template.
Start from the preset gallery rather than a blank canvas - it's faster and the field layout will be sensible. See Pass templates: the basics.
Step 2 - Issue your first pass
What it is: create a pass from that template.
Why it matters: it's the first time your design meets real values, and it usually surfaces label wording you want to change.
It ticks off when: at least one pass exists on your account.
Issue it to yourself, not a customer. See Issuing a pass.
Step 3 - Add it to your wallet
What it is: open the install link on a phone and save the pass.
Why it matters: this is the step that proves the whole chain works - signing, branding, the wallet buttons, the lot. Everything before it is theory.
It ticks off when: a real device has registered a pass. Opening the install page isn't enough; the pass has to actually be added.
This is the step most likely to sit unticked, and almost always for the same reason: someone opened the install link on a laptop. Passes can only be added from a phone.
Step 4 - Send a notification
What it is: push a message and watch it land on the lock screen.
Why it matters: it's the capability people underuse most, and seeing it once tends to change how you think about the product.
It ticks off when: you've sent either a notification campaign or a single-pass test message from a pass's detail page.
Once the checklist is gone
The checklist hides itself at four of four. That means you're working, not that you're finished. The highest-value things to do next:
- Get your templates right. Read Fields and regions so your layout holds up on both Apple and Google, which display passes differently.
- Decide how passes get issued at volume. By hand is fine for tens. For hundreds, either publish an issuance form or drive it from the API.
- Invite your team and give each person the right role. See Team members and roles.
- Set up webhooks if you want your own systems to know when a pass is installed or removed. See Webhooks.
- Start tagging passes. Group tags are what make targeted notifications possible later, and they're much easier to add as you go than retrospectively. See Tags and bulk actions.
A sensible first week
- Day 1: template, first pass, add it to your phone, send yourself a notification.
- Day 2: refine the template with a real pass in hand. Adjust labels and colours.
- Day 3: decide your issuing route - by hand, form, or API - and set it up.
- End of week: invite your team, add webhooks if you need them, and issue your first real passes.
Don't rush past step 3. Reviewing the design on an actual phone, outdoors, catches more problems than any amount of looking at the preview.