Can I get coupons and tickets for my iOS Passbook only from App Store apps?
While more than two dozen iOS apps are now integrated with Apple's Passbook feature for iOS 6, you can get passes - electronic tickets, boarding passes, coupons, loyalty cards and the like - from other sources. Businesses that do not have their own stand-alone iOS apps can still create their own passes through third-party companies like Fosbury, PassTools and PassKit, or with other solutions like PassHound. Apple has its own guide for Passbook developers as well.
These independently created passes then can be distributed in different ways. For example, a company can attach a pass (a file with a .pkpass extension) for a digital coupon or ticket to an e-mail message. On an iPhone, the recipient just needs to tap the attachment to add the pass to Passbook. Passes can also be delivered through links on a Web page; tapping the link deposits the pass in Passbook.
The .pkpass format used by Passbook is not confined to iOS devices, either. Android apps like PassWallet (which recognizes .pkpass files attached to messages or posted on Web sites) are also available for those who like Apple's idea of a digital wallet but do not happen to own an iPhone or iPod Touch.
