Apple Pay Recharge Guide
These are 2 basic ways to add money (recharge) to Apple Pay Suica:
1) Apple Pay recharge in Wallet app
2) Cash recharge with JPY bills
Suica and all compatible Transit IC cards (PASMO, ICOCA, etc.) can hold up to ¥20,000
Apple Wallet recharge
The easiest way to add money to Suica is Apple Wallet. It’s the single most powerful, convenient and unique feature of Apple Pay in 4 simple steps:
- Open Wallet
- Select Suica
- Tap “Add Money” and choose amount
- Pay with Apple Pay: select an In-App eligible payment card to pay.
Save money using a “No Foreign Transaction Fee” card. Finding the optimum card that earns bonus points without foreign exchange transaction fees for adding money to Suica will save you money.
Cash recharge
Suica can be recharged without a network connection using ¥1,000, ¥5,000, ¥10,000 bills. Cash recharge is available at any time regardless of nightly Mobile Suica system maintenance downtime.
- Station smart-charge machines: available in Tokyo and Osaka area train and metro stations shown in the pictures and video below. Place iPhone or Apple Watch (take off the wrist) in the reader bin or on the flat reader area depending on the kiosk type, select ¥1,000, ¥5,000 or ¥10,000 bills you want to add on the touch screen and feed bills to start the process. The blue bin/reader flashes red while the kiosk recharges the card, then turns blue again when done. You also get a notification on your device. Some smart-recharge machines in non-JR East stations also have a coin slot for adding a pre-selected coin amount, convenient for using up coins and lightening your wallet.
- Any Seven Bank or LAWSON Bank (new model) ATM: not as fast as station smart-charge machines but Seven Bank•LAWSON BANK ATMs are plentiful, nationwide and open 24/7. They are even placed in station areas.
- Any convenience store checkout: Go to the checkout at any convenience or station store like NewDays, tell the store clerk Suica “charge” (or just “charge” while showing Suica on your device) and follow the checkout screen instructions as shown in video below.
- Local Bus: local buses that accept Transit IC cards (Suica, PASMO, etc.) can recharge your Suica with ¥1,000 notes, tell the drive ‘Suica charge’, put your iPhone or Apple Watch on the reader and feed a ¥1,000 note into the fare box, see this video for reference.
If you have multiple Suica • PASMO • ICOCA cards in Wallet, the Express Mode set card is the recharge default when iPhone is placed in a bin or on a reader. To recharge a Suica not set for Express Mode, put the card in Service Mode before starting the recharge process.
Troubleshooting
Here are the main recharge troubleshooting topics for most users:
- Apple Pay Recharge requires a good network connection, if free WiFi and auto connect carrier WiFi connections are unreliable (often the case), use 4G/5G instead.
- Failed recharge attemps: the Apple Pay ‘ding’ and ‘Done’ checkmark notification does not mean recharge is completed. Confirm card status: when the ‘Updating Card’ alert disappears and the Balance updates, Suica is ready to go. If the recharge process seems stuck because of a poor network connection, cancel the recharge by clicking the sleep button and try again when you have a reliable connection.
Do not panic if you see multiple temporary charges after several failed recharge attempts. Failed recharge attempts are not processed and are automatically removed by the Mobile Suica system within 24 hours during the nightly system maintenance period. Depending on your bank, there might be a slight delay before the temporary charges on your card are erased.
More Recharge hang troubleshooting here. - Cards that do not support In-App payments cannot be used for recharge. Use another card: check the Apple Pay Choose Card screen and confirm that your bank payment card supports In-app payments. If not, choose another Apple Pay card in the Choose Card screen.
- Enhanced Fraud Prevention and Location Services. If your card is declined either at the payment terminal or In-App Suica recharge: make sure your device has Location Services turned on and the Apple Pay card billing address in card details exactly matches the address of your issued card in the bank app. If the problem persists check with your card issuer bank as they may be blocking Apple Pay payment attempts when traveling outside of your home country. Apple Pay Enhanced Fraud Prevention card issuers may block certain transactions if Location Services are turned off or your device location is not the same country of the online transaction merchant (such as recharge attempts outside of Japan).
- Mobile Suica/Mobile PASMO/Mobile ICOCA nightly system maintenance from 2:00 (am) to 4:00 (am) JST. Many functions are not available: adding cards, Apple Pay Recharge, using Suica app, suspending or removing cards from Find My iPhone and iCloud.com. Cash Recharge can be done at any time and is not affected by system maintenance.
Non-JP issue VISA card payment block
Some payment card networks, especially VISA, block Suica recharge in Wallet app when the iPhone is located outside of Japan. Location blocked payment cards show a ‘Payment Not Completed’ error when attempting to add money in Wallet. Location Services must be turned on to use Apple Pay payment cards to add money to Suica but for some cards you may have to wait until you are in Japan to add money to Suica with a location blocked card. Check with your card issuer and make sure to use iPhone XR/XR and later with iOS 17.2 and later with Wallet app Location Services turned on when using non-JP issue payment cards. Non-JP VISA cards do not work for recharging Suica directly in Apple Watch Wallet. Work around this limitation by recharging the Suica on Apple Watch with the iPhone Watch app.
Apple Pay Suica support and general troubleshooting topics here
Updated 2025-04-02
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