iOS 13 Apple Pay Suica: Move along folks there’s nothing to see here…

As I wrote previously, “if you are using iOS 12.3, you are already using iOS 13 Apple Pay Wallet.” The major under the hood Wallet changes of iOS 12.3~4 were completed ahead of iOS 13 for the Apple Card rollout that is coming very soon. For Apple Pay Suica users, and Express Transit users everywhere, the solid Express Transit performance of iOS 12.3~ iOS 12.4 and the UI, are exactly what you get in iOS 13. There is nothing new, a good thing.

The only changes are Suica Notifications which have lost 3D Touch shortcuts for Recharge and Commute Plan Renewal. Since 3D Touch is on the chopping block in iOS 13, this is not unexpected, but it is unfortunate: the recharge shortcut was handy and finally useful with the robust iOS 12.3 Suica Recharge performance. Suica Notifications are still a work in progress however, witness the useless ‘In Transit’ Suica notification, hopefully shortcuts will reappear in some form before the final release.

The Apple Card rollout remains a real head scratcher. There are lots of things Apple Card will be able to do in iOS 12.4 Wallet that other cards, as yet, cannot do. And Apple has not offered anything in iOS 13 PassKit or Wallet for developers to do those dynamic card UI things that Apple Card does. I wonder how well that will go down with developers after Apple Card finally ships.