MakePass vs Penedex
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
MakePass
Create and personalize digital passes for your Apple Wallet with AI-powered design and advanced editing tools. Import barcodes from various formats, set location and time awareness for automatic display, and integrate with iOS Shortcuts for automation.
- AI-powered design from photos
- Versatile pass creation from scratch or import
- Extensive customization options
- Support for multiple barcode formats
- Location and time-based pass display
- iOS Shortcuts integration
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MakePass is a powerful Apple Wallet pass creator and editor. Create a pass from scratch, import an existing one, or use AI to turn a photo, PDF, or description into an event ticket, boarding pass, membership card, coupon, and more. Core Features: • AI-Powered Design: Turn photos, PDFs, or descriptions into Apple Wallet passes. MakePass AI extracts the relevant information and creates the pass content, structure, and design. • Flexible Pass Creation: Start from scratch, open an existing pass, import one directly from Apple Wallet using the Share button, or choose an included example. • Extensive Customization: Add, remove, and reorder header, front, and back fields. Customize colors, dates, time zones, locations, grouping, identifiers, associated apps, and more. • Complete Image Control: Customize icon, header, strip, thumbnail, background, artwork, and footer images. Use your own image or choose a template and adjust its color and blur. • More Pass Styles: Choose from Event Tickets, Boarding Passes, Generic Passes, Poster Passes, Store Cards, Coupons, Semantic Event Tickets, and Semantic Boarding Passes. • Semantic Fields: Add structured metadata for events, venues, seating, flights, airports, passengers, dates, time zones, and locations. Apple Wallet uses this machine-readable metadata to decide which fields to show. Advanced Capabilities: • Barcode Flexibility: Scan, import, or create QR, Aztec, PDF417, Code 128, Code 39, Codabar, EAN-13, and Interleaved 2 of 5 barcodes. Convert unsupported formats to a Wallet-compatible barcode or embed them as pass images when available. • Featured Actions: Add up to two actions below a pass for calls, orders, shopping, bookings, schedules, rewards, and more. • Location and Time Awareness: Set relevant dates and locations so passes can appear on the Lock Screen at the right time or place. • Apple Wallet Editor Compatibility: Create “User Created” passes that remain editable in Wallet and never appear grouped. Add linked photos and custom backgrounds, or use styles that Wallet’s editor does not offer, including Coupons and Store Cards. • Shortcuts Integration: Use Shortcuts to automate pass creation and customization. • Command-Line Automation on Mac: Create and customize passes from Terminal, scripts, or AI agents with the included "makepass-cli" tool. MakePass Subscriptions: • MakePass Pro: Unlock barcodes and images, plus passes that appear based on time or location. • MakePass Ultra: Includes every MakePass Pro feature, plus MakePass AI, Shortcuts support, command-line automation on Mac, and Family Sharing. MakePass supports macOS, iOS and iPadOS. Notes: • On iPadOS, where Apple Wallet is unavailable, MakePass lets you preview passes and share or save them as files. • Some features, including Poster, Semantic Event Ticket, and Semantic Boarding Pass styles, header icons, featured actions, linked photos, and the “User Created” group, are unavailable on older system versions. • Barcode and image availability varies by system, device, pass style, and group. Privacy by Design: MakePass works entirely on-device and does not store or send any information outside its protected app sandbox, except when you explicitly use MakePass AI. This requires sending text extracted from images or the pass description you provide for processing. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Penedex
Easily manage your pen and ink collections, track inked pens, and identify those needing cleaning. Catalog details like material, nib size, and ink characteristics. Includes a wishlist and pen show calendar.
- Create pen, ink, and currently inked entries
- Track pen and ink combinations
- Catalog pen details (material, nib size, photos)
- Quantify ink characteristics (dry time, sheen)
- Identify pens needing cleaning
- Wishlist for grail pens and inks
- International pen show calendar
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Penedex is an app built to easily keep track of your pen and ink collections. It also provides a simple way to keep track of what pens you currently have inked up. Penedex is built for iOS and iPad OS and allows you to quickly and easily manage your currently inked pens, identify which pens are ready for cleaning, and keep track of what pen and ink combinations you have used in the past. Organizing and cataloging your pen and ink collections has never been more straight forward! - Create pen, ink, nib, and currently inked entries. - Keep track of your pen and ink combinations in the inked tab. - Catalog important pen-related info like material, nib size, photos, and purchase date. - Quantify your ink’s unique characteristics such as dry time, sheen, saturation, and flow metrics. - Penedex will automatically keep track of how many times you’ve used a specific ink or pen. - After you’ve cataloged an active pen and ink combination, you can easily mark is as “needs cleaning” or “cleaned” with a long press on the corresponding EDC entry. - All your previously inked pens are stored in the History section of the Stats tab, along with some basic metrics about your library. - Keep a wishlist of all your grail pens and inks. - Find nearby stationery stores to visit. - Up to date international pen show calendar. The free version of Penedex allows for unlimited pen and currently inked entries but limits you to 10 ink entries. Unlimited ink entries, along with other great features, can be unlocked with a Pro subscription in the Settings page. Inked The Inked tab is where you can easily catalog a pen and ink combination. All of your combinations are organized by date and when it’s time to mark a pen as “ready for cleaning”, you can quickly do so with a long-press on that item. You can also quickly filter your Ink'd list with one tap of the filter button. LIBRARY The pen and ink libraries allow you to quickly add, edit, and view key details about your collections and find the right pen or ink at a glance. It even keeps track of how many times you’ve inked up a particular pen or ink. For pens you can store information like the nib size, material, and purchase date. For your ink collection, you can catalog information such as dry time, level of sheen, saturation, and shading. You can even use the color picker to save the exact color of your ink from a picture or screenshot! WISHLIST Keep a running list of pens and inks that you are interested in trying out! Mark them with a star rating and a specific date to more easily keep track of your grail pens and inks. PEN SHOWS An international lis of pen shows with details for each show, by year. You can also keep track of a per-show todo list and budget tracker. And of course, you can see a running list of shows visited over the years from the Stats tab. STATS & HISTORY The Stats tab allows you to view basic metrics about your collection. It also contains a historical list of all the pen and ink combinations that you have inked up in the past. PRO FEATURES With a subscription purchase you can unlock the following pro features. - Unlimited ink library entries - Unlimited nib entries - Fun alternate icons - A notes field for your pen, ink, and Ink'd entries - A wishlist to keep track of items your interested in trying out Penedex Pro is an optional subscription that unlocks additional features. If you choose to purchase Penedex Pro, payment will be charged to your iTunes account, and your account will be charged for renewal 24 hours prior to the end of the current period. Auto-renewal may be turned off at any time by going to your settings in the App Store after purchase. Current price for Penedex Pro is $0.99 USD per month or $9.99 USD per year and my vary from country to country. Privacy Policy: https://penedex.com/privacypolicy/ Terms of Service: https://penedex.com/termsofservice/
Screenshots
Verdict
MakePass and Penedex both sit at 4.4 stars, but that hides the real split: 75% of Penedex's written reviews are positive against 46% of MakePass's. MakePass's advantage is ratings volume (288 vs 16). On price, rating, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. MakePass sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month and Penedex sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.4 for MakePass against 4.3 for Penedex. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: MakePass has 288 ratings behind it against 16, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 46% of MakePass's written reviews are positive against 75% of Penedex's.
MakePass ships an update monthly, Penedex every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 26, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | MakePass | Penedex |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (288 ratings) — better | 4.3 (16 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 45.9% of reviews | 75.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 288 — better | 16 |
| Update frequency | Monthly — better | Every 5 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 26 MB | 18 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Pedro Jose Pereira Vieito | Connor Rose |
Customer experience
MakePass
Penedex
Bugs and requests
MakePass
Reported bugs
13 issues- Shortcuts integration loses text in header, front, and back fields
- Pass creation fails silently without error messages
- Barcode import doesn't work for many card types
- QR codes render unreadably for large payloads
- Passes don't display correctly on Apple Watch (blank except title)
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- Front field text lines combine incorrectly
- Design doesn't match preview once sent to wallet
- Saving and loading passes causes intermittent errors
- Adding passes to wallet sometimes doesn't work
- Image import produces black lines on right side
- Generated QR codes don't match imported QR codes
- Inconsistent time format display across passes
- Editing existing passes sometimes creates new duplicates instead of updating
Requested features
24 requests- Free trial or preview mode before subscription
- Monthly subscription option (not just yearly)
- Ability to add custom images/logos to passes
- Support for more barcode formats (Code 11, 25, 39, 93, UPC-A)
- Resizable QR codes
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- Live preview while editing
- Edit raw pass.json files
- Multiple locations per pass
- Expiry date functionality
- More back field options
- Font customization options
- HSL color adjustments
- Clickable phone numbers and locations in fields
- Lock screen pass display based on location
- History of recently added passes
- Ability to overwrite existing passes instead of creating duplicates
- NFC card cloning support
- More pass group options (more than 9)
- Custom RGB color picker
- Recurring pass relevancy (e.g., weekday displays)
- Comprehensive tutorials and documentation
- In-app feedback/bug report button
- Support for COVID-19 and vaccination passports
- API access for developers
Penedex
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
MakePass
- MakePass Pro (Monthly)$3.991 Month
- MakePass Pro (Yearly)$9.991 Year
- MakePass Ultra (Yearly)$16.991 Year
Penedex
- Pro Access14 Days trial$0.991 Month
- Pro Access14 Days trial$9.991 Year
- Alternate Icon Unlock - King$3.00
- Ice Out Icon$3.00
- Alternate Icon MN$3.00









