Now that tourists are back in Japan it’s time to take a look at the state of Apple Pay Suica English language guides. Since AtaDistance is mostly a collection of Mobile Suica related guides and posts, it’s helpful to examine other guides in case I’m missing something. My basic stance is one size does not fit all. The more good guides that are out there, the better. But with conditions: guides must be accurate, up to date, easy to understand, and focused.
You might not realize it but the Apple Pay Suica landscape has changed a lot since the 2016 launch on iPhone 7 and Apple Watch Series 2. At the time Suica was limited to Japanese models and plastic Suica card transfer to Wallet. Suica App was the only way to add a digital card. Here’s what has changed:
- 2017: Global NFC support in all iPhone 8 / Apple Watch Series 3. Any model sold in any country can add and use Suica.
- 2018: Express Transit Mode Cards with Power Reserve. iPhone XS/XR and later iPhone models all support Express Transit Mode Power Reserve, if the iPhone battery drains too far, Power Reserve mode kicks in and you have up to 5 hours of reserve battery to complete your transit. As regular non-Shinkansen Suica transit is limited to 2 hours from gate entry, 5 hours of Express Transit Power Reserve is more than enough to get you to the exit gate.
- 2019: iOS 13: direct Suica add card support in Wallet. No more Suica App nonsense.
- 2021: iOS 15: Wallet now has a region free add Transit Card category. No more device Region switching to Japan to add Suica nonsense.
- 2023: iOS 17 Multi-device provisioning makes transferring Suica between devices easier than ever.
User guides are like underwear and socks, they stink if not updated regularly. Many Apple Pay Suica online guides are rank; obsolete information road kill you must steer around. The biggest mistake, by far, is ‘use Suica App’, which is irrelevant because you add and use Suica directly in Wallet. People endlessly confuse and equate using Suica in Apple Wallet with using Suica App. They are 2 separate, unrelated things.
With that in mind, let’s take at look at some current guides and grade them using the trusty old US school report card format (A=excellent, B=good, C=fair, D=poor, F=fail).
- Apple Support Add a Suica, PASMO, or ICOCA card to Apple Wallet (2024 Grade: A), the gold standard go to guide for adding Suica, PASMO, and ICOCA. Not flashy or fancy but always up to date and concise.
Apple Support Use Suica, PASMO, or ICOCA cards on iPhone or Apple Watch in Japan (2024 Grade: B+), good but docked a notch for outdated Suica App information (Suica App Shinkansen eTickets were replaced with Eki-Net Shinkansen eTickets in 2020). Japan Living Turn Your iPhone or Android into a Mobile Suica/PASMO IC Card (Grade: B+), a decent iPhone guide, but as the majority of short term visitors don’t have an Osaifu-Keitai Android device, that part is less guide, more wishful thinking that gives Android users the wrong idea.(Another online guide bites the dust)- Better Call Seigo How to Make Suica App on iPhone in Japan (2024 Grade: F) Don’t call Seigo: his guide is a piece of crap written by someone (AI perhaps?) who never used Mobile Suica with no idea of what they’re trying to explain. Incompetent.
- GaijinPot How to Get a Mobile Suica or Pasmo in Japan (2024 Grade: B), Good thing GaijinPot finally updated their awful 2020 guide. The 2024 guide is much better but already needs updating to add the new Welcome Suica Mobile and delete the obsolete PASMO PASSPORT.
- Travel Codex How to Add Your Japanese Suica Card to iPhone 8 or iPhone X (2023 Grade: D), outdated plastic only Region changing nonsense, nothing about adding digital Suica.
- Tokyo Cheapo The Ultimate Guide to Suica Cards (2025 Grade: C+), the old cheapo worthless guide has fortunately been updated and is competent on the basics of plastic and mobile Suica but it’s also full of unnecessary background information and weak on more advanced use cases like linking Shinkansen eTickets to Suica.
- GaijinPot YouTube How To Use PASMO & SUICA with an iPhone For Commuting in Japan (Grade: D) decent guide for getting plastic Suica but mobile information is needlessly confusing, “some iPhones cannot be used” and so on. Why not just say iPhone 8 and later? Garbage content.
- Smart Japan YouTube How to add transit card in your iphone (Grade: D), plastic narrated non-guide for transferring a plastic Suica. Not helpful.
- Automation Fixation YouTube Using Suica with iPhone and Apple Watch without Apple Pay (Grade: C+) Helpful but short shelf-life video that covers all the basics with an unfortunate focus on transferring plastic Suica and cash recharge because the creator only has a VISA card. It’s important to remember that foreign issue VISA cards don’t for recharge because the VISA payment network, not JR East, is blocking them, but the situation is always changing, witness VISA working for Suica again with the iOS 17.2 update. That’s the problem with YouTube video guides: the only way to update the content is to delete it and make a new one. This never happens.
- Japan Horizon How to Use Mobile Suica (2023 Grade: C+) Covers Apple Pay Wallet setup. It’s helpful but the Android section is pointless, and because the author doesn’t live in Japan and use Suica all the time, the content is getting stale and needs updating.
- One Good Dream How To Get + Use JAPAN SUICA CARD on iPhone (Grade D-) Another guide that could have been great but botches basic information suggesting that inbound Android users can add Suica (not!), and getting the Suica ID number in Wallet (not!) or using a non existent ‘Suica Financial App’ (WTF is she talking about?). The content creator obviously doesn’t use Apple Pay Suica enough to comprehend the basics or care about correcting their mistakes as they delete comments pointing out those mistakes. Pretty looking pathetic junk for flogging other content.
Other blogs with outdated or confusing Suica guidance to avoid: Swiss Mac User, Shutterwhale, Tap Down Under, Kevin Chen, HIS Malaysia, Hiroshi Sensei, and How to ride trains/busses cashless in Kansai that references the long dead SuicaEng app, but since it also references AtaDistance I have your ass covered. And let’s not forget the breathtakingly incompetent UnSeen Japan post by Himari Semans that attempts to explain the transit IC card system…a piece of crap that not only neglects the ground breaking development of Mobile Suica but confuses a Japan Rail Pass with Transit IC cards.
You have been warned: most Apple Pay Suica English guides are content creator one offs, tossed out to flog other crappy service content, quickly forgotten about, vacuumed up by search engine bots, vomited up in Google search results. You can’t go wrong using the Apple Support pages, they are easy to understand, guaranteed up to date and localized in many languages. And if you want a deep dive into the Mobile Suica universe, there’s always my up to date user guides.
That said, there are some good Transit IC • Suica guides focused on plastic cards, the Japan Travel Tip Transit IC FAQ and the Transit IC Q&A thread on Reddit are solid resources covering Suica basics and always up to date with the latest information and developments for inbound visitors.
Another handy guide is How to charge Mobile Suica with coins. Personally I only use Apple Pay Recharge and JR East station recharge kiosks, convenience stores, recharge ATMS only take paper bills. You’ll have to search but most non-JR East stations seem to have a mobile friendly recharge kiosk that takes coins. Handy for keeping your real wallet nice and trim.
Good luck and happy transits.
Updated 2025-07-19