The first commit in the ONEWallet repository is dated January 8, 2019. It was a small Android app for holding the plastic cards that wouldn't fit in a wallet. Just over two thousand commits later, it syncs to a watch, reads cards out of photographs, and opens Apple Wallet passes.
Here's the honest version of how it got from there to here — including the part where we deleted a feature we had just shipped.
2019: somewhere to put the cards
The first weeks were as unglamorous as you'd expect. A card detail screen. An image search, so every card didn't look identical in the list. Editing. Sorting. Screenshot detection. No AI, no watch, no cloud — just a list that loaded fast and a barcode that filled the screen.
That last part never changed, and it's still the reason most people open the app.
2024: off the phone
Version 2.2.9, in May 2024, put ONEWallet on Wear OS — the first time a card appeared on a screen other than the handset. That December, 2.4.0 added Samsung Galaxy Store support.
2025: the app learns to read
Version 2.8.0 in September 2025 added AI card recognition: point the camera at a card and let it pull out the number, the brand, and the code. It is the single biggest reduction in typing the app has ever shipped, and it kept getting sharper in 2.8.1 and again in 3.1.7.
Two months later, 3.0.0 turned the watch app from a demo into a real companion with proper sync from the phone.
The feature the platform took back
Five days after 3.0.0 shipped, version 3.0.1 removed automatic code detection. That one wasn't a product call, and it wasn't for lack of use.
Android's permission policy moved underneath it. The access the feature depended on was no longer something an app like this could ask for, so there was no version of it left to ship — not a smaller one, not a slower one. The release notes for 3.0.1 mention that the app got faster, and it did. That was a side effect, not the reason.
Some features don't lose an argument. The ground they were standing on moves.
It makes for the least satisfying release note there is. "The platform changed its mind" isn't something a user can act on, and there's nothing on our side that brings it back.
2026: friction, then a repaint
This year has mostly been about the small things that were quietly annoying:
- 3.1.7 (February) — swipe to delete and drag to reorder, so the card list finally behaved the way your thumb expected.
- 3.4.2 (May) — search a location by name instead of dropping a map pin, plus a proper card tile for round watch faces.
- 3.5.0 (July) — the full redesign: softer, more modern, and the first complete visual overhaul in years.
- 3.6.0 (July) — a scan recovery sheet, for reopening the card you just scanned.
- 3.6.18 (August) — .pkpass files open straight from file managers and share sheets.
What hasn't changed since 2019
- Your cards live on your device. Backup is something you switch on, not something that happens to you.
- ONEWallet shows codes; it doesn't pay. No payment rails and no charges — just a screen for the counter to scan.
- The code fills the screen at full brightness. Everything else is negotiable; that isn't.
