NYS Wallet Reviews

I downloaded NYSWallet when I first got my vaccine and the whole thing hadn’t worked. I figured maybe it was because I just got my vaccine and not all records are as speedy as one may hope. So I requested a review, left my email and I deleted NYSWallet and decided to wait a while. I downloaded it again today (3+ months since I’ve gotten my vaccine) and tried again since I hadn’t heard anything through email or phone about the review. Of course, it didn’t work for me but it worked for my father who got the vaccine on the same day as me, at the same time, at the same place. So obviously it’s not the records considering my entire family has the pass on their phone now and we all got it done are ours the same time in the same county. I sent in another review request form and I can guarantee you I will not get a response from them regarding my information because I’ll bet there’s no one even working on review requests. Fix this problem because I know I’m not the only one that’s having it.

I downloaded Excelsior NY Pass w the understanding that this will be the standard vaccine pass for NY state. I downloaded both the regular blue pass and the white Pass Plus. After a few days, I needed the pass for entry to a museum, and upon opening NYSWallet , found my passes gone and the “no active passes” screen. In a panic, I reentered my information and received new passes. I now do this every day. Downloaded passes, despite expiration dates—and no expiration date for Pass Plus—last no more than 36 hours in NYSWallet . In order to ensure the pass is there when I need, I have to check NYSWallet repeatedly and enter the info again as soon as the passes are removed. Every day. Deleting and reinstalling NYSWallet does not fix this, and the problem carried over into a new iPhone.
Extremely annoying.

I downloaded my Excelsior Pass Plus only to find that my information was either incorrect or missing. The vaccination sites were incorrect & the lot numbers were missing. I later found out that my primary physician’s office accidentally overwrote the info in the state’ database that was originally input by the pharmacy that gave the vaccination. How is this possible?! You would think a competent app designer would implement protocols that would prevent this from happening. To make matters worse, calling the Excelsior Plus help line is an absolutely frustrating experience that offers little to no help. One could get better results speaking to a brick. NYSWallet is a true dumpster fire that is poorly designed and supported.

I have been unable to retrieve my vaccine pass, after multiple attempts and checking the information against my vaccine card, even though I received my last dose well over a month ago. Looking through the reviews here, this seems to be a very common problem, and likely related to problems in entering or maintaining the data in the state vaccine database. That’s to be expected with a vaccine system started up so quickly in an emergency. The problem is that support for correcting the data and retrieving a vaccine pass is slow or nonexistent. I am still waiting for a response beyond a form letter from the Excelsior pass support team, and it is notable that while the developer has responded to several reviews here, the developer has not responded to any complaints about unretrievable records. I don’t expect the state database to be perfect, but if it can’t be corrected to be accurate, the system is useless. It’s too bad, because this sort of app would be a great help for New Yorkers and businesses—if it worked.

1) NYSWallet only gives a valid range from the date of one’s final vaccination in their series to 3 months after. The CDC has removed this requirement from their guidance, so why does New York keep it in theirs? The period of validity should extend through 6 months foster one’s final vaccine in their series to align with data from phase III trials or remove it until a booster schedule is established. Otherwise, most of the essential and healthcare workers who were vaccinated as part of phase 1a will not be able to use the pass by the end of April 2021 rendering it useless to a large chunk of people.

2) Many people who were vaccinated in NJ, CT and PA work in NY. Why not link to their state’s DOH? Again, this limits the usefulness of NYSWallet .

3) The pass should be available in the Apple Wallet. No brainer!

I got my vaccination earlier in the year as a healthcare worker. My information was not in the system and it didn’t give me any options to troubleshoot. I’m weary that it will update my info that should have been in the system months ago when my partner who got their 2nd vaccination days ago was in the system, unless their working backwards? Highly unlikely. There were no other options or feedback for me to find any other methods to still prove my vaccination to get a pass. It basically said I’d have to use another al method (neg test, diff app, or paper form) so sounds like I just won’t be able to use the pass. Really frustrating because I don’t want to walk around with my paper vax card. Totally defeats purpose of app and this should be fixed.

Excelsior Pass Plus does not show your booster information. I understand it doesn’t automatically update so I’ve manually plugged in my information several times and retrieved and downloaded an “updated” Excelsior Pass Plus several times and still only get “2 doses” listed on my Excelsior Pass Plus. No resource to help you out and no tech department made available for questioning — all you get is a generic FAQ website that provides absolutely no help. Good thing they have about 7 other passes all similarly named and serving similar purposes to make this process so much more clear and efficient. NYS has fumbled and mishandled this pandemic situation from the very beginning. Whatever department is working on NYSWallet should be re-evaluated. Get it together.

This worked for a while but now it likes to delete my passes and go back to the initial screen where it asks if you’d like to add a pass because there are none on the phone. Inevitably this happens just as I’m needing to use the pass, causing me to fumble around at the entrance to a restaurant or venue, exactly what NYSWallet was supposed to help me avoid. Total garbage.

As many have said, it worked for me, but a family member who was vaccinated at the same time and who was originally able to use it now can’t get it to work. And as many have said, absolutely no response from the help line.

I wonder which crony of our corrupt mayor is responsible for creating this mess that the city is likely paying too much for?

Had to wait an extra day to get the Excelsior pass app to work the first time I used the application where it made it seem like I already entered my information in and got blocked out. With the updated Excelsior Pass Plus version, I was vaccinated at a local facility not a state one so it doesn’t seem to work as it said it doesn’t have contact info even though I already obtained a regular excelsior pass already and it has all the correct information. Poor implementation of application and it does not seem useful at all. I submitted a request to report information online and it says I need to contact initial vaccination provider but the information is correct as I got the regular Excelsior pass already so I would be forced to use the existing CDC card if the Excelsior pass is not used but Excelsior Pass Plus is.

My name is Lesley Andersen. I am usually called Les. Sometimes my first name is misspelled ‘Leslie’. Sometimes my last name is misspelled ‘Anderson’.

When I tried to claim my pass I entered my full legal name. NYSWallet couldn’t find me. So then I tried the 5 other ways in which the various spellings of my first and last names could be combined. NYSWallet couldn’t find me. So then I tried just ‘L’ together with each of the possible spellings of my last name. NYSWallet couldn’t find me.

So then I reached out to app’s help service. They advised be to try again, being careful to spell my name correctly. Are there people for whom this is actually useful advice?

So then I gave up.

Now fast forward a couple of months. Today I was scheduling an unrelated appointment on the website of Weill Cornell, from whom I had gotten my vaccine shots. While on this site I noticed that my first name was listed as ‘Lesley W’. W is my middle initial. Hmm.

So I tried NYSWallet again, entering my first name as ‘Lesley W’. It worked perfectly.

As a professional software developer, I am appalled by the lack of thought that apparently went into the design of NYSWallet. And as an ordinary citizen I am offended by a customer service response that says, in effect, ‘do it again and make sure you do it right”.

NYSWallet frequently just LOSES my passes. I’ll go back to NYSWallet to show one at a door and they’re all gone. I can re-add them but it takes a few minutes and involves putting in all of my vaccination dates, etc over again to confirm everything so it’s a huge pain.

Making this so frictiony is hugely negligent because it encourages people to use less secure/verifiable methods like screenshots, which undermines the whole point of having an app like this and reduces trustworthiness of vaccine proofs overall.

Today NYSWallet just gave me a notification to retrieve my 365 day pass and I clicked the notification. To my amazement NYSWallet actually loaded straight to it without trouble. I was ready to think maybe they’ve improved it, but of course clicking the “add to wallet” button just throws an error. Lol. Still just the same crap.

I just got my iPhone 13 and added NYSWallet to my phone, downloaded my vaccine card without any problems. I open NYSWallet three days later and instead of see my excelsior pass I was back at the initial screen asking for my vaccine information again. I inputted my vaccine information and NYSWallet retrieved my vaccine information, but now I have two cards. Three days later same thing, back at the initial input screen, so now three cards. I know how to delete the extra cards and never had this issue when I had NYSWallet on my old iPhone 6S. So if I have to input my vaccine data every three days to see my excelsior pass, then what’s the point of NYSWallet?

Entered my son’s info for Excelsior Pass Plus , however the verification number they have is our old home phone number. We didn’t have that number for 3 months prior to my son’s vaccine and never used that number when my son got the vaccine. I even went back to the facility and they showed me that the only number entered was my current cell number. Somehow NYSWallet is pulling information & demographics from other/old sources. We would never use an old phone number. That old number is the only verification listed, not even my email is there. So I cannot not get the Pass Plus for my son, only the regular one which expires.

About once a week or so, NYSWallet deletes my pass, so when I open it there is a message saying I have no passes. I go in and re-input my information. Then it shows four passes! (that is the number of times I have re-input my information). I have tried deleting NYSWallet and then reinstating it, but this has just happened again. Clearly the pass is there, but there is some glitch in NYSWallet that it suddenly stops registering that the pass is there. So now I guess it will show FIVE passes, with no way of deleting any of them either. They must know this is a problem, and have had a long time to fix it.

The Pass Plus is not showing my booster shot, which I got in October. I’ve tried on multiple phones. I’ve called the Help Number and was told that my record is complete and accurate - has all 3 of my shots. When I have tried to submit a form indicating I am having trouble with my pass, clearly explaining that my record is complete, I get a non-response saying I need to go back to the provider to make sure they submitted my info. Again, I have called, twice, and both times the Help Desk has verified that my record in the database is accurate. How do I get my booster info on my Pass? The whole point of having this Pass is so I don’t have to carry my CDC card. I’ve reloaded the Pass, so I am using the most updated version.

Every other time I open NYSWallet , I'm asked to add a pass because I have none. When I do so, it either tells me I already added it or it makes a duplicate of an existing pass. I cannot get past the page asking me to add a pass otherwise. In addition, NYSWallet has been unable to locate my booster. It is poorly worded: what is the date of three last vaccine? The second dose or the booster? If I enter the booster date, it is not finding me. If I enter the date of the second dose, it won't show the booster. Only good thing is adding the regular pass (not the plus one though) to wallet, but that will expire in a couple of months upon the 1-year anniversary of my second dose...

NYSWallet took me way too long to set up.

When using the scanner NYSWallet didn’t recognize my card at all, so I needed to manually enter my information. This would have be fine, except it asks for the date of your last vaccination dose… If you’ve had a booster dose (like I have) you might think this would be your last dose but you’d be wrong. NYSWallet won’t find your record if you input the date of your booster. It’s actually asking for the date of your 2nd dose. NYSWallet doesn’t make that clear and it took me multiple attempts over two days to figure that out.

The biggest problem I have with NYSWallet is that it doesn’t replace the need to show a physical ID. What’s the point of NYSWallet if you still need to pull out a drivers license? Now I’m juggling my wallet and my phone while trying to keep my mask from fogging up my glasses. It’s slapstick. Until I can keep my NY drivers license in my phone, I might as well carry my physical card.

I guess NYSWallet protects me against losing my paper card, but this is really a half baked solution at this point.

Only giving it 4 stars due to incorrect information that I had to enter at first. It gave me different counties where I did not get vaccinated at. I got mines in the Bronx and the only one in nyc that came up in was queens so I went with that one and got my pass. Also it seems to expire after a month. I know NYSWallet just came out so there’s gonna be some issues at first but hopefully this is one of them they can address moving forward. Other than that I haven’t had the time to use it yet but it looks easy to use. It’s super convenient as I don’t have to carry the physical card with me everywhere I go

I tried to get the pass 1 week after I was fully vaccinated & was informed that I was trying to put my info in to early to receive it. Fast forward 2 weeks later tried again and BINGO, worked like a charm. It expires in one year from the date I received my second vaccination, which is fine since no one really knows if these vaccinations will need boosters, or whatever, in the near future.

3 days later I did the same for my hubby so he could get his pass on his phone and had Zero problems with getting his pass either. Making life soooo much easier to wine & dine, or whatever. Stay safe all!!

I got my pass on the website and was able to add it, from there, into Apple wallet, to screenshot it, to print it, to save it as a file, and to download NYSWallet and add it to NYSWallet as well. Overkill, maybe, but I don’t know yet which will work best for my needs so I tried them all, and they all work. So you don’t actually need NYSWallet to have an Excelsior Pass, which a number of complaints don’t seem to understand. It’s just an added convenience.

My one problem had to do with the pass itself, not NYSWallet . I counted yesterday as 14 days from my second vaccine but couldn’t get a pass until today. I figure I miscounted because I got my shot early in the day?

NYSWallet is does not have the functionality that it should. It won’t let me upload a photo of my vaccine card, it makes me look it up through some portal through the state and cant seem to find my information. I’m not sure how this is helpful.

I’ve had my vaccination and my pass says it’s only good for 1 month, why is this? It should be good for at least a year if not longer

Just downloaded NYSWallet .
I had already gone to the website and verified my identity.
The data flowed to the wallet with no problem.
BUT the wallet shows my PASS expires in one month.
That makes it pretty much useless.

3 stars because my pass seems to
Expire in less than a month. No explanation for this either. I’m thinking it’s an error they will correct. Otherwise it was seemless and simple.

Why does a pass from receiving the vaccine have an expiration date in 1 week Vaccine generated passes should last minimally 6mos or longer.

Wish NYSWallet imported the pass into the Apple wallet. Also, not sure what’s up with the random expiration date on the pass.

I love NY, I’m not leaving !!! PS why does my vaccine expire in 2-3 weeks?

Very easy to install and upload proof of Covid vaccine.

Thank you, a wonderful app.

This is a wonderful service to not have to deal with the paper card! Bring on live music, travel and life again!

Looking forward to opportunities to use this at arts events or concerts!

Good way to confirm if a person has been vaccinated or confirm their COVID-19 test result. I hope every business starts using this ASAP.

Easy to sign up. Worked fine.

I just set up my digital pass and it is super easy. Using my covid-19 vaccination card, NYSWallet accessed and verified my information. Very well made app that is simple and straight forward to use.

One of the coolest things is it gives you a printable WALLET size card. Much need instead of that odd sized vaccination card.

I don’t know why both the card snd the digital copy expires in a month, nor if you have to re-enter everything at that time.

I hope other states use a similar, compatible, system

Please make it possible to add vaccination card into wallet app!!!!