One of the most heavily touted new features in iOS 6 has been the Passbook app, which gives iPhone users a digital wallet for boarding passes, gift cards and coupons. The only problem? There aren’t many businesses using it yet.
That’s changing, though, as Starbucks recently became the first example of a large company using Passbook to save stored-value gift cards. MacWorld reported that Starbucks had updated its iOS app to allow users to move a Starbucks card into Passbook. The site pointed out that Starbucks already allowed users to track and use gift cards from inside its own app, so the change to functionality is minor. The most prominent update is that Passbook will display the gift card on a user’s lock screen when the user approaches a favorite location.
ZDNet noted that iPhone owners can use the Gyft app to move gift cards to Passbook, but that few other options currently exist for the app.
“To integrate into Passbook requires a certain amount of effort and testing,” analyst Ben Wood told the site. He remained optimistic about the future uses, though.
All iOS 6 users can take advantage of Passbook, so if you have a broken iPhone 4 or 4S, you can use iPhone repair from iResQ to get it working and grab a cup of joe at your local Starbucks.