Where mobile wins
- Delivery speed: the ticket arrives seconds after purchase.
- Updates: a wallet pass updates itself when the gate number or time changes.
- Anti-resale: rotating codes and app-bound tickets are only possible on a phone.
- No lost paper: you cannot leave your phone in the printer tray.
- Environment: no thermal receipt, no courier.
Where paper still wins
- No battery dependency: a paper ticket at 23:45 after a five-hour event is more reliable than a phone at 4%.
- Accessibility: no phone, no app, no account. Works for visitors who do not or cannot carry a smartphone.
- Shareable: handing over a paper stub to a friend at the gate is trivial; handing over a phone is not.
- Legally required in some jurisdictions: rail operators in several countries are still required to issue a printable form.
- Collectible: souvenir value matters to some buyers.
Wallet pass vs. PDF
If you have the choice, a wallet pass is usually better than a PDF:
- It opens in one tap from the lock screen.
- It updates if the issuer changes the gate, seat, or time.
- It does not depend on your email client rendering correctly.
The PDF is a better fallback: it works offline, prints, and cannot be invalidated by the wallet app crashing. Save both.
Printing a mobile ticket
If you decide to print a ticket that was delivered digitally:
- Print the PDF, not a screenshot of the email — resolution matters.
- Use plain white paper, black ink, and the default "actual size" option.
- Keep at least a 5 mm margin around the barcode on all sides.
- Do not fold through the barcode. A crease through the finder pattern makes many scanners give up.
What to do if the issuer only offers one
Most issuers accept either — but some rotating-code tickets are app-only, and some transit operators only issue paper. When you have no choice, prepare for the format you are given: save the PDF locally for offline use, or keep the paper ticket dry and flat.