Apple Pay transit cards (Suica, PASMO, and ICOCA) and e-Money cards (WAON and nanaco) are different from Apple Pay payment cards in that a transit or e-Money card prepaid stored value, the card balance, is stored locally on the card itself and can only exist on a single device. Apple […]
iOS 17 features not coming to Japan*
With every iOS release there are features that everybody gets, some features that other regions get later on, and some features that never make it out of the English language box. Now that iOS 17 has been released, Apple has posted feature details for each country. The USA is the […]
Forget the Suica vs EMV open loop soap opera, it’s all about loyalty program banks now
Quick, what’s the number one complaint foreigners had when they couldn’t use their foreign issue VISA cards for Apple Pay Suica recharge anymore? Was it inconvenience? No, it was points. Specifically Chase Sapphire VISA 3x travel points. And what’s the number one compliment that foreigners have about using EMV open […]
Recover Suica and other transit or e-Money cards from a lost or wiped iPhone
The first thing to do if you have lost your iPhone is put the device in Lost Mode from another device using the same Apple ID or iCloud.com. Lost Mode disables Apple Pay on the device. If you find your iPhone, great, but how can you recover your Suica card […]
The VISA open loop squeeze: VISA’s Apple Pay Suica recharge block one year later (Updated)
It has been a year since the VISA payment network in Japan stopped accepting foreign issue VISA cards for Apple Pay In-App use with Suica and PASMO Wallet cards (and the recently launched Apple Pay ICOCA card too). With no explanation or reason, one little VISA payment system configuration change […]