Comparison

Passmaker vs CTRL Micro

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Passmaker

Digitize loyalty cards, event tickets, and other important documents into Apple Wallet passes. Easily create custom passes with barcodes, logos, and personalized designs. Your passes can even appear automatically on your lock screen when needed.

Highlights
  • Digitize loyalty cards and PDFs
  • Create custom passes with styles
  • Scan and import barcodes
  • Design passes with custom colors and images
  • Automatic lock screen display
  • Organize information with multiple fields
Features
Read full description

Requires iOS 27: Poster Generic passes, featured actions, SF Symbol logos, and the Code 39, Codabar, EAN-13, and ITF barcode formats. Everything else works on iOS 26 and later. Turn anything into an Apple Wallet pass. That loyalty card taking up space in your physical wallet? Digitize it. A membership that only exists as a paper card or PDF? Put it in Wallet. Event tickets, discount codes, personal IDs, travel documents, or anything else you want quick access to? Passmaker handles it all. Creating a pass takes just a few minutes. Pick a style that fits your needs, whether that's a generic pass for everyday cards, a store card for loyalty programs, a coupon for discounts, an event ticket, a boarding pass for travel, or a poster generic pass that puts your own artwork across the whole pass. Add your information, customize the colors and images to match your taste, and tap to add it directly to Apple Wallet. No account needed and no subscription required. Got a barcode you need to keep handy? Scan it with your camera or import it from a photo, and Passmaker builds a pass around it automatically. The app recognizes QR codes, Aztec codes, Code 128, and PDF417, plus Code 39, Codabar, EAN-13, and ITF on iOS 27, so most cards and tickets you encounter will work. Need something more custom? Create your own barcode from scratch by entering the data yourself. Design your passes to look exactly how you want. Choose your own colors for the background, text, and labels. Add a logo image, or pick an SF Symbol instead. Include a strip image that spans across the pass, a thumbnail that sits alongside your information, or artwork that fills a poster pass edge to edge. Every pass you create can have its own unique look. Give your pass something to do. Featured actions add up to two buttons underneath it in Wallet: directions to the venue, a call to the shop, a link to your membership benefits, or wherever else you need to go next. They sit right there whenever the pass is open. Your passes can even appear on your lock screen automatically when you need them. Heading to the gym? Set your gym's location, and your membership pass appears as you arrive. Got concert tickets? Add the date and time, and they show up right before the event starts. It works just like passes from major companies, because it uses the exact same technology. Organize your information across multiple fields. Put the essentials front and center, add supporting details below, and include extra information on the back of the pass for when you need it. Poster passes go further with a footer field and an additional info section that holds longer details just beneath the pass. You control what goes where and how it all looks. Passmaker gives you the power to create real Apple Wallet passes, the same format used by airlines, retailers, and event organizers, without any of the complexity. No developer account, no technical knowledge, no jumping through hoops. Just a simple app that does exactly what you need.

About

CTRL Micro

Transform your iPhone or iPad into a tactile control surface for your Mac and AI agents. Enjoy haptic feedback, launch apps, manage media, and interact with AI tools like Codex and Claude. Dictate text and view your Mac's screen remotely for a seamless workflow.

Highlights
  • Haptic feedback control deck
  • Launch Mac applications
  • Control Mac volume, brightness, media, windows
  • Monitor AI agent progress
  • Dictate into desktop apps
  • View Mac screen remotely
  • End-to-end encrypted connections
Features
Read full description

CTRL Micro turns your iPhone or iPad into a tactile control deck for your Mac and AI agents. HAPTIC CONTROL DECK • Feel responsive haptics, sounds, and visual feedback • Arrange controls where they feel right • Switch between Mac, Codex, Claude, and Cursor from one deck CONTROL YOUR MAC • Launch applications • Control volume, brightness, media, and windows • Move the pointer, scroll, click, run Shortcuts, and talk to Siri MONITOR AI AGENTS • See task progress and attention states at a glance • Open recent tasks and start new ones • Use client-specific controls for Codex, Claude, and Cursor SPEAK NATURALLY • Dictate into desktop apps from your deck • Transcription is processed locally by CTRL Micro Host on your Mac SEE YOUR MAC • Watch your Mac respond as you use the control deck, Trackpad, or Keyboard • Open Desktop View nearby or through Remote Anywhere • Keep the live screen above your controls or expand it full screen • Pinch, pan, and double-tap to inspect your Mac screen PRIVATE BY DESIGN • No CTRL Micro account required • Nearby connections stay directly between your devices • Remote Anywhere is end-to-end encrypted; the relay forwards opaque data and cannot read your screen or control content • Screen frames, keyboard input, commands, and dictation content are not recorded or stored CTRL Micro requires the separate CTRL Micro Host app for Mac, available from ctrlmicro.com. Pair your iPhone or iPad with one selected Mac and control it nearby or through Remote Anywhere.

Screenshots

Passmaker4 screens
CTRL Micro4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: CTRL Micro at Free against Passmaker's $4.99. CTRL Micro also leads on update cadence (every 2 days vs monthly) and iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). Passmaker's advantage is ratings volume (7 vs 1). On rating, review sentiment, ads and in-app purchases 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

CTRL Micro is free to download; Passmaker costs $4.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Passmaker against 5.0 for CTRL Micro. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Passmaker has 7 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Passmaker ships an update monthly, CTRL Micro every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on September 30, 2026 and October 1, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Passmaker versus CTRL Micro: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPassmakerCTRL Micro
Price$4.99Free — better
Rating5.0 (7 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings7 — better1
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree — better
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS26.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size12 MB15 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMohamed BoutalebMedHue Labs

Customer experience

Passmaker

All ratings7 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews7 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

CTRL Micro

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Passmaker

No in-app purchases

None

CTRL Micro

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Passmaker free?
Passmaker costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is CTRL Micro free?
CTRL Micro is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Passmaker or CTRL Micro?
Passmaker and CTRL Micro are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 7 and 1 ratings respectively.
Do Passmaker or CTRL Micro have ads?
Neither Passmaker nor CTRL Micro shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Passmaker or CTRL Micro?
Passmaker ships an update monthly, and CTRL Micro every 2 days. Most recently, Passmaker was updated on September 30, 2026 and CTRL Micro on October 1, 2026.

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