A boarding pass app for Android that keeps passes on your phone
A boarding pass carries your full name and your booking reference. FlightDex keeps it where it belongs: encrypted, on your phone, and nowhere else. It is there at the gate whether or not the airport’s wifi is working.
Adding a pass
Open the flight in FlightDex and use the Boarding pass section. There are three ways in:
- Scan the barcode on a paper pass or on another screen with your camera. The barcode is read on the phone itself; the camera image is not sent anywhere.
- From file: choose a screenshot or photo of a pass, a PDF e-ticket, or an Apple Wallet
.pkpassfile. - Share it in from another app, such as an email attachment, and choose FlightDex.
FlightDex reads the flight number, route, date and seat from the barcode. If the pass does not seem to match the flight you are adding it to, it tells you before you attach it, and shows both side by side. A different flight number is normal on a codeshare. A boarding pass carries no year, so only the day and month are compared.
Where it is kept
Each pass is saved as one encrypted file, with the key held in your phone’s Android Keystore. It is never uploaded: not to sync, not to back up, not for anything else. Passes are deliberately left out of Android’s cloud backup and out of device-to-device transfer, so they do not travel to a new phone or to a backup server. Signing out removes them from the phone, and deleting a pass deletes its file.
At the gate
Open the pass and FlightDex draws the barcode again, full screen, on the phone. It supports the codes airlines use (PDF417, Aztec and QR) and needs no connection, so it works in airplane mode and on airport wifi that will not load. Your flight list is available offline too.
What it costs
Nothing. Boarding passes are part of the free app, with no account needed. If you later want the app to watch the flight for you, that is what Pro’s alerts are for. Everything on the free plan, and the price of Pro, is on the FlightDex pricing page.
Why it works this way
A pass is one of the most sensitive things a travel app holds, and the safest copy is the one that never leaves your hands. The app has no location permission, no analytics library and no advertising library. The camera is used to scan a pass, and nothing else.
Questions
How do I put my boarding pass on my Android phone?
In FlightDex, open the flight and use the Boarding pass section. You can scan the barcode on a paper pass or another screen, choose a screenshot, photo, PDF e-ticket or Apple Wallet .pkpass file, or share the pass in from another app, such as your email. The pass is saved encrypted on your phone and is never uploaded. Your airline may also offer the pass in its own app.
Can you scan a boarding pass on your phone?
Yes. FlightDex reads the barcode with your phone’s camera, and the reading happens on the phone itself: the camera image is not sent anywhere. At the gate it works the other way round. FlightDex draws the barcode again, full screen, from the same text the airline’s scanner reads, with no connection needed.
Can I just show my boarding pass on my phone?
That is up to your airline, and sometimes the airport. Many accept a boarding pass shown on a phone, and some still ask for paper on certain routes or tickets, so check with your airline before you fly. When you do show it on your phone, FlightDex has it ready offline, even in airplane mode.