MTA is asking Apple to fix Face ID. We all know that using Face ID with face masks sucks but the MTA situation is special. It’s a perfect storm of 2 separate issues, the Face ID with face mask problem and the OMNY rollout problem combined in a COVID crucible.
The MTA OMNY rollout started in May 2019 with Apple Pay EMV Express Transit support, aka Open Loop. This means regular credit and debit Apple Pay cards work for transit on new OMNY readers. It sounds great but there are downsides: open loop doesn’t support the full set of MTA transit fare options so many users have to stick with the good old MetroCard swipe until the native OMNY smartcard arrives.
Lately we don’t hear much about the OMNY card. It seems delayed along with the rest of the OMNY rollout. And because the rollout is delayed, open loop isn’t really useful because the entire system doesn’t support it. The old chicken or egg problem.
One outcome of this mixed mode is the long running complaint of unwanted Express Transit fare charges that has been constant with OMNY transit gates since the very beginning. Many users who still use MetroCard may not be aware that Express Transit is on when going through an OMNY gate. If iPhone gets close enough to the reader, bingo.
This should not be happening, so the stock advice is ‘turn off Express Transit’. The mixed mode MetroCard/OMNY open loop rollout seemed like a nice idea but implementing Express Transit before the system was completed turned out to be a bad call compounded by the COVID crisis, a victim of poor gate design, poor planning and execution.
The irony here is that iPhone users riding MTA end up turning off Express Transit, the very thing that helps keep face masks on. MTA is asking Apple to help but a ‘how to use Face ID with face masks’ ad campaign courtesy of Apple isn’t going to fix anything.
Until the OMNY rollout on MTA is completed and Apple comes up with something better than the iOS 13.5 Face ID tweak, New Yorkers will have to deal with it and use passcodes. After all, commuters with Face ID iPhones in Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and China have been wrangling with face masks for years and Apple never lifted a finger. Get used to it.
An OMNY problem on Android is Apple’s fault…what? 
You’re holding it wrong😁 
That’s normal close for NFC reads 
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