Tight pants and other Face ID Express Transit fuckups

Express Transit is the best and most natural way of using Apple Pay. It first came to iPhone with Mobile Suica in 2016, expanding incrementally until finally going wide with iOS 15 Wallet. Suica has been around so long in Tokyo that younger generations don’t know anything else, it’s ubiquitous. Used global NFC iPhones and Osaifu Keitai are ubiquitous too so there are a lot more people using Mobile Suica, and complaining about it.

Mobile Suica complaints aren’t a bad thing. All those bad Suica App reviews on the App store and complaints on Twitter mean that people use Mobile Suica enough to download Suica App, register an account, use it, then go online and complain. It’s a gold mine of information, invaluable feedback telling us what trips users up at transit gates, a user base with 15 years of mobile transit experience. Any transit operator looking to implement good mobile transit service would greatly benefit from studying strengths and weaknesses of Mobile Suica, the worlds largest, oldest and most widely used mobile transit card service. Unfortunately nobody bothers to do so.

Tight pants + face masks = Face ID fuckups
As always, most Apple Pay Suica problems boil down to Face ID issues that disable Express Transit. Mobile Suica support even has a dedicated help post it puts out regularly. Face/Touch ID and Express Transit are joined at the hip. When Face/Touch ID is disabled, Express Transit is also disabled, a passcode is required to turn them on again. From the iOS 15 user guide: you must always enter your passcode to unlock your iPhone under the following conditions:

  1. You turn on or restart your iPhone.
  2. You haven’t unlocked your iPhone for more than 48 hours.
  3. You haven’t unlocked your iPhone with the passcode in the last 6.5 days, and you haven’t unlocked it with Face ID or Touch ID in the last 4 hours.
  4. Your iPhone receives a remote lock command.
  5. There are five unsuccessful attempts to unlock your iPhone with Face ID or Touch ID.
  6. An attempt to use Emergency SOS is initiated.
  7. An attempt to view your Medical ID is initiated.

You might think a passcode unlock is always the same, however there are surprisingly different Express Transit results at the gate show in the following video clips.

  • The first video shows Express Transit in normal action when Face ID (or Touch ID) and Express Transit mode are on. This is exactly what Suica users expect at transit gates and store readers. When it doesn’t work like this every single time, they complain.
    The second video shows a passcode request after restarting iPhone (#1), not something that would happen in real world use but I wanted to show the different kinds of passcode requests.
  • The third video is the most common one: the Apple Pay screen appears with a passcode request (#5-five failed Face ID attempts when wearing a face mask), this is exacerbated by Face ID Raise to Wake which is why I recommend that Face ID users turn it off when wearing face masks. There is a similar but separate issue when a user inadvertently pushes the side buttons (#6-emergency SOS • iPhone shut down), this happens more than you might think because side buttons are easily pressed when iPhone is in a tight pants pocket, especially when iPhone is in a case which is pretty much everybody.
  • The last video shows manual Apple Pay card selection and authentication when an Express Transit is not set, this is also how Apple Pay works on open loop transit systems without Express Transit support such as Sydney’s Opal.

An interesting side note about Japanese transit gate reader design UI. The blue light NFC reader hit area not only makes a great big visual target, it tells us the gate is ‘ready and waiting’. Notice how the blue light goes off when the reader is busy with a card transaction, then blinks on again ready and waiting for the next card. Watch the above videos carefully and you’ll notice the blue reader light stays lit with every false read attempt. Only when the correct card is brought up does it blink off and complete the transaction. When there’s a real problem the blue light changes to red.

This is simple, clever and user friendly design as your eyes are naturally focused where your hand is but you don’t see the design anywhere else except the new OMNY system readers. Copying the Japanese gate reader UI design is a smart move by Cubic Transportation Systems and MTA but their LED screen NFC hit area combo design appears to be somewhat fragile. The green ‘GO’ might seem like a nice touch but I suspect it subliminally makes a use wait for it. More feedback isn’t always better. Every millisecond wasted at the transit gate is a bad design choice.


Fixing Face ID
iPhone users in America only became aware of Face ID shortcomings thanks to COVID face mask mandates. Yes Virginia, Face ID sucks with face masks and Express Transit users in New York and London came face to face with issue #5: five successful Face ID attempts disables Face ID and Express Transit. It got so bad that MTA pleaded with Apple to ‘fix Face ID’. Apple dribbled out some Face ID “fixes” that didn’t fix very much.

iOS 13.5 introduced a Face ID with face mask passcode popup tweak that didn’t make passcode entry any easier and certainly didn’t fix Face ID use with a face mask. People quickly forgot about it.

iOS 14.5 introduced Unlock iPhone with Apple Watch that was widely ballyhooed by tech bloggers but real world use was a different story:

I find it fails me too often on the daily commute and in stores, usually at the very moment I need to launch dPOINT or dPay apps at checkout. I also get the feeling that Apple Watch battery life takes a hit too… If it works for you that’s great, but the Unlock with Apple Watch end user experience will be all over the place.

Also telling was that online Face ID/Express Transit complaints continued to grow despite the iOS 14.5 feature. Unlock with Apple Watch is a one trick pony, it unlocks a Face ID iPhone when a mask is detected, nothing more, no Apple Pay, no Face ID fix.

iOS 15.4 introduced Face ID with a mask for iPhone 12 and later. This is the first true fix for using Face ID with face masks, finally doing all the work Face ID does from unlocking iPhone to authenticating Apple Pay and apps. It’s not perfect as it doesn’t fix Face ID for earlier iPhone X-XS-11 models, and there are trade offs as it reduces Face ID security for the convenience of keeping your face mask on. In my experience Face ID with a mask on iPhone 13 Pro is certainly an improvement but slower and less successful than using Face ID without a mask. Face ID with a mask is also somewhat quirky. It doesn’t like strong backlighting, some users report frequent ‘look down’ requests depending on the their type of face and glasses.

Now that Apple has a focused Face ID with face mask roadmap that restores the Face ID Apple Pay experience, we can ignore all that mushy ridiculous Touch ID + Face ID dual biometric iPhone talk. Expect Apple to focus on improving Face ID with a mask performance on legacy Face ID on iPhone 12 and 13 in future iOS updates and delivering phenomenally better Face ID technology in future iPhones.

Delete Suica from Apple Pay for free

Stored value transit cards like Suica are different from branded credit/debit/prepaid cards issued by banks as the money is stored on the card itself (called the card balance or stored fare/SF). The truth is in the card not the cloud which is why a Mobile Suica card can only exist on a single device.

Remove from Wallet vs Delete from Apple Pay
People assume removing a card in Wallet means that it is deleted from Apple Pay and gone, but this is not the case. The cards are still attached to your Apple ID and can be easily re-added but were not always easily visible. Before iOS 15 only active cards in Wallet were visible but not dormant cards still attached to the user’s Apple Pay • Apple ID. A very confusing situation.

This is the classic ‘where’s my Suica? ‘situation when a user forgets to remove Suica or PASMO from the old iPhone when transferring to a new iPhone. Suica, PASMO and eMoney cards (nanaco, WAON) are automatically stored in the cloud when iPhone is accidentally wiped or remotely wiped if iPhone is lost or stolen.

iOS 15 Wallet added a new category ‘Previous Cards’ to solve this ‘where is my card’, parked in the cloud vs running in Wallet problem. Previous Cards are Wallet items removed from Wallet stored in the cloud still attached to your Apple Pay • Apple ID. The screen blurb says, “Quickly add the cards, keys and passes you have already used in Wallet.” Cards and Keys in the cloud still attached to Apple Pay but not in Wallet show in Previous Cards as a standby list ready to be added.

Wallet wording is tricky here because there is a huge difference between ‘removing‘ a card, which removes it from Wallet, parking it in Apple Pay cloud, and ‘deleting‘ a card which completely deletes a card from Apple Pay and Apple ID. Previous Cards makes things clearer than before, but you still need to pay close attention.

The Stored Value difference
There are also differences when deleting a card from Apple ID • Apple Pay for good. Deleting a bank issue payment card from Apple Pay is easy to do in Previous Cards as nothing is stored on the card itself, deleting leaves the card account intact and untouched. It can all be setup and added again if you want to do so. However you cannot delete a Suica or PASMO from Previous Cards. Why not?

Deleting Suica or PASMO is the digital equivalent of cancelling the card account and chopping up the plastic. The transit card issuer has a legal obligation to refund the card balance to the user before the transit card can be deleted, forever, from Apple Pay. This is why it is very easy to remove Suica from Wallet but impossible to delete Suica from Previous Cards and Apple Pay because Wallet has no mechanism for refunding the balance as required by Japanese regulators. Refunding a Suica balance is the job of Suica App.

For most people it’s just easier leaving an unused Suica or PASMO attached to Apple Pay, unused Suica and PASMO are valid for 10 years after all. But some users may want to go through the extra hassle of getting a refund and ‘chopping up’ their digital Suica or PASMO card.

Suica withdrawal refund
Getting a withdrawal refund from a Suica card balance isn’t easy for inbound visitors as the refund can only be made to a Japanese bank account. There’s also a ¥220 fee that JR East charges for processing refunds. Ditto for PASMO.

Why not just refund the stored fare directly to a credit card? There’s a catch. Apple Pay recharge is a one way trip to the stored fare balance. It cannot go the back to the payment card. Why? Many things can happen after a recharge. Maybe you use some of the recharge for transit or shopping. Maybe you add some hard cash to the card balance. There is no way to to reconcile the in and out differences. Hence hard cash refunds only. For Mobile Suica or PASMO that means refunding to a Japanese bank account.

The Suica withdrawal refund workaround
There is a way to get around the ‘refund to bank account with processing fee’ problem and permanently delete Suica from your Apple Pay associated with your Apple ID. Mobile Suica support states:

The “Withdrawal” procedure on the registered members menu (in Japanese only) allows the balance of the SF (Stored Fare) to be remitted to your bank account in Japan. Since it costs ¥220 for the refund, it is generally advised that you use up all the SF (Stored Fare).

Mobile Suica Support: Can I get a refund from the remaining balance on the SF (Stored Fare) ?

You still need a Mobile Suica account and Suica App to do the job but the process is simple. Before deleting Suica run the balance down to ¥0, then launch Suica App.

  • Step #1: scroll to the bottom of Suica App Ticketing and Management menu and tap the red ‘Refund this Suica’ item at the very bottom
  • Step #2: Confirm the refund terms and confirm
  • Step #3: In the next screen confirm the balance, refund and processing fee are ¥0, tap ‘refund and delete card’.
  • Step #4: Confirm refund and delete
  • Step #5: In Wallet Suica shows ‘this card cannot be used’, tap ‘delete this card’
  • Step #6: Confirm deleting Suica
  • Step #7: Wallet notification that Suica has been deleted from Apple Pay

Done, the Suica is deleted though it may show in Previous Cards for a few hours until the Mobile Suica system processes it completely. Use the same steps for deleting PASMO from Apple Pay using PASMO App.

Help Desk: time to toss the teiki for Mobile Suica?

I’ve abandoned renewing my teiki in favor of just using the suica app on my phone. So much easier, I think it’s worth the money I’m saving by buying a teiki. For some reason though, I’m not getting JRE points when recharging my suica. Any ideas?

Reader question from Fukuoka

In this era of on again, off again COVID infection waves and remote work from home, many people may not need a teiki/commuter pass for the office, even though they still need a transit card for occasional work use. A reader who lives in Fukuoka asked about using Suica in the Fukuoka sugoca/hayakaken/nicoma transit card territory. Is possible for Apple Pay Suica to do the job instead of native area cards?

If you do not need a teiki then absolutely yes, Mobile Suica takes care of your needs. But there are a few gotchas to be aware of. Actually there is only one: points. All of the various transit IC cards are tethered to their respective regions with reward points and company branded credit cards. Each card has a different reward point system, JRE POINT for Suica, JR Kyupo for Sugoca, hayaken point, JR West Point and so on.

If we take the example of using Suica in Fukuoka, there is only one way to earn JRE POINT, Apple Pay Suica recharge with a JR East issue VIEW credit card in Wallet app. And there is only one way to use JRE POINT, Suica recharge with JRE POINT via Suica App. If you can live without points Suica is fine, but if you want to rack up points, this sucks. It comes down to personal choice of using what works best for you, convenience, and/or what gives you the best return.

One thing is clear, the teiki needs to change with the times. If you follow this blog you know I write a lot about Suica 2 in 1 cards that support 2 separate reward point systems and commute passes in one card. Currently these cards are only for JR East region transit affiliates, but the next generation 2 in 1 FeliCa architecture can done anywhere. All the JR Group companies should do this and issue 2 in 1 cards for their respective regions and work with transit affiliates to improve transit IC card compatibility for cross region transit, multiple points, multiple passes, mobile support and so on.

An interesting aspect of Suica 2 in 1 such as the Yamagata cherica card is that commute plans include traditional point to point transit passes and transit zones passes. Japanese transit companies are have to get creative and offer different kinds of passes that appeal to different working styles in the post-COVID era. Tough transit times demand tough transit action. 2 in 1 transit cards that support multiple point rewards and commute passes on mobile is the future for transit IC.

NTT docomo iPhone Visual Voicemail problem (resolved)

A few months ago I noticed that my iPhone Visual Voicemail was not working reliably. Most of the time messages kicked into the standard NTT docomo dial-in messaging service (1417). I didn’t pay it much mind until December when I had a lot of job related back and forth with missed calls showing in the docomo SNS feed but nothing ever showing in Visual Voicemail.

Today I finally called docomo support and got a quick answer:

“Are you using the latest iOS update?”

Of course I am.

“NTT docomo recognizes the problem and is working on the Visual Voicemail issue. When Apple releases the new update please install it and let us know if it doesn’t solve the issue.”

Okay, that sounds like a plan. Hopefully iOS 15.3 will fix the NTT Docomo Visual Voicemail issue. Until then NTT Docomo iPhone users will have to use the dedicated 1417 dial-in message if Visual Voicemail is not working. Judging from the quick support response it sounds like a widespread issue.

Update: good news, iOS 15.3 updates fixes the Visual Voicemail problem for docomo iPhone users.

Dealing with a lost Wallet

Yusuke Sakakura writes:

As usual, I tried to get on the train using Apple Pay Suica at the ticket gate, but it didn’t respond at all and I got stuck. At first I thought it was because I was wearing a thick coat, so I held it up again, but there was no response … When I checked the Wallet app, all the credit cards and Suica were gone.

It sounds like he was using Suica on Apple Watch. Sakakura goes on to helpfully explain what can cause this and how to get your Wallet cards back. The most common cause for a lost Wallet is signing out of Apple ID. Another cause is turning off the passcode. As he points out, the notification warning when signing out of Apple ID or turning off the passcode is vague, it doesn’t specially say you are about wipe your credit cards and Suica from iPhone. Some users are not fully aware of the consequences and proceed, only to be rudely surprised when they find Wallet is empty.

In all cases it is easy to restore a lost Wallet. Sign-in to Apple ID, set a passcode, go to Wallet, tap + , tap Previous Card and re-add the listed cards. Suica is easier to re-add as there are no terms and conditions or security code steps involved. As always make sure iPhone has a robust network connection when adding Wallet cards.

Another issue to be aware of with Suica and PASMO is Express Mode deactivation without realizing it. This happens when iPhone Face ID has 5 false reads (easy to do when wearing a face mask), when Apple Watch is off the wrist, or when the iPhone side buttons are inadvertently pressed in a snug fitting pocket (often aggravated by the phone case).

One oddity I have encountered using Apple Pay Suica on Apple Watch is wrist band fit. Apple Pay Suica on Apple Watch works fine at the transit gate under layers of winter cloths but Express Transit is sometimes deactivated with a looser fitting band. I like wearing the braided sports loop but it tends to stretch over time and become loose compared with the snug fitting solo loop. On a recent trip I had to constantly enter the Apple Watch passcode as my winter coat sleeve layers pulled the loose fitting braided sport loop enough to fool wrist detection. From here on I’m sticking with cheaper, more reliable solo loop which never has this problem.

Here are some guides dealing with re-adding Suica and PASMO:

Transfer to a another device
Restore from a lost or wiped device
Safely remove Suica or PASMO