Tag: iOS 12.3

The end of just “Apple Pay”: iOS 13 and multiple Express Cards

Express Transit Card for transit cards and Express Mode for Student ID cards in iOS 12 are kind of a mess. They are the same option for the same thing with different names in different places. Express Mode for Student ID is on the card itself, while Express Transit is in Wallet settings.

  • Multiple Express Transit Cards in iOS 12.3
  • Transit Card vs. Payment Card

Express vs Card Clash

Prepaid cards, stored value (SV), present a problem for Wallet. SV cards in Wallet want to be exactly like they are in plastic, tap and be done without any authentication. But what happens when Wallet has multiple SV cards, each one wanting to be an Express Transit or Express Mode card? The fine print on Use Express Transit with Apple Pay illustrates the messy dilemma and limitations of iOS 12 Wallet: you can set one payment card and one transit card per transit network, except for China which doesn’t allow EMV Express Transit at all.

The fine print on Apple Support

In this scenario an Apple Pay user can set both a HOP card and a payment (credit/debit) card to use on Portland TRiMet. What happens at the transit gate if the iPhone user also has a Student ID card in Wallet with Express Mode turned on? Apple Pay HOP and Student ID card are both MIFARE cards, the payment card is EMV. If TriMet has their backend system act together and are using the latest NFC chip sets from NXP, the gate reader will call up the HOP card and ignore the others. Everything ‘just works’, the user is on their way.

If the transit fare system is not configured correctly, or uses outdated technology, the same Apple Pay user ends up with ‘card clash’ at the transit gate. Instead of automatically selecting the HOP card, the gate says, ‘give me a NFC card’ and Apple Pay goes into default mode that completely ignores Express Transit: the user has to unlock the device then manually select and authenticate a card with Face ID/Touch ID.

Multiple Express Cards in iOS 13 Wallet

There are major Japanese eMoney prepaid cards on Android Osaifu Keitai and its candy wrapper cousin Google Pay that are missing on Apple Pay: WAON, Rakuten Edy and nananco. One ‘missing on Apple Pay’ reason is that iOS 12 Apple Pay Wallet lacks a smart way to deal with multiple Express Transit and Express eMoney Cards. Wallet can hold multiple Suica cards but only one of them can be Express Transit. It’s the same deal for every eMoney card.

This started to change in iOS 12.3 with the addition of Express Transit with Payment Cards. The massive rebuilt of iOS 12.3 Wallet means that iOS 12.3 is basically iOS 13 Wallet already, and the heavy work continues with the temporary removal of Payment Card Express Transit in iOS 12.4 Public Beta.

iOS 13 Wallet will complete the journey, hopefully delivering a vastly improved and unified Wallet UI that elegantly solves the multiple Express Transit/Express Card issue, and eliminates card clash. At a transit gate the user should only have to tap, at checkout the user should only have to select a payment logo on a screen or tell the sales clerk Suica, Mastercard, etc., and pay.

The end of paying with just “Apple Pay”?

More payment options in iOS 13 Apple Pay Wallet will present users with a problem: more choices. Telling the sales clerk “Apple Pay” does’t work anymore except in regions where bank cards remain the only Apple Pay option. In Japan, Apple Pay users already say Suica, iD, QUICPay or NFC Pay. Hong Kong Apple Pay users will have the option to use Octopus or bank cards, and so on.

As Apple Pay matures with more payment options and services, it starts to resemble our real overstuffed wallets. 30 years of using a Mac has not organized my work life one bit. In the long run, I doubt Apple Pay will organize my wallet life any better, but it’s a hell of a lot more fun to use.

Full coverage on the WWDC19 iOS 13 Apple Pay Wish List

Thoughts on iOS 13 Apple Pay Express Transit

The iOS 12 release in September 2018 was a rough one for Apple Pay Suica users. It brought new problems like random gate errors, and left old problems, like unresponsive Suica Recharge and Suica balance not updating, unfixed. Everyone experienced problems, everyone except A12 Bionic iPhone XS and iPhone XR users, that is.

iOS 12 was especially tough on Revision B iPhone X Suica users. They had suffered from the iPhone X NFC Suica problem, had finally gotten a NFC error free Rev. B iPhone that worked great on iOS 11. The sudden experience of plunging back to error filled square one was a cruel twist of fate that left them confused and upset.

iOS 12.3 fixed everything for everyone, with trouble free wicked fast Apple Pay Suica performance. It is the best Apple Pay Express Transit iOS that Apple has ever delivered. However, Rev. B iPhone X owners are still worried. One owner told me, “I think that I’ll have the same problem all over again with iOS 13.”

This is a perfectly understandable concern, but I’m going to let you in on a little secret: if you are using iOS 12.3, you are already using iOS 13 Apple Pay Wallet. Apple simply has not told you yet.

iOS 12.3 Apple Pay Wallet is a whole new thing. The changes Apple made to it in iOS 12.2~iOS 12.3 are massive. Express Transit performance gains, and the new EMV Express Transit option are equally massive. Most people assume that the Wallet changes are for Apple Card, which they are, but few people understand that the changes are also for the Apple Pay Transit support of HOP, Ventra, NY MTA, and more, which Tim Cook announced along with Apple Card on March 25.

In short, Rev. B iPhone X users, and all iPhone users, have nothing to worry about anymore. If your Apple Pay Suica or Apple Pay HOP is working great on iOS 12.3, it’s going to work great on iOS 13 too.

Apple Pay Suica on Apple Watch: First Impressions

Now that iOS 12.3 is out with great Apple Pay Suica performance and no more bugs, I have a new side project: Apple Pay Suica on Apple Watch. I moved my daily Commuter Suica to Apple Watch and it’s an interesting experience. Some first impressions.

  • Apple Pay Suica performance on watchOS 5.2.1 on Apple Watch Series 4 is great, but not as great as iOS 12.3 on iPhone XS. Because A12 Bionic removes the iOS overhead for Express Cards with power reserve, Apple Pay Suica on iPhone XS/XR feels light and snappy like a plastic Suica card. I can’t wait for Express Cards with power reserve on Apple Watch.
  • Suica Recharge on Apple Watch sucks and I have discovered how wonderfully useful Suica App really is. I have a Commuter Suica on Apple Watch and a My Suica on iPhone. Both of these can be recharged and managed (with different credit cards attached to each Suica!) in Suica App. It’s super convenient and has opened my eyes to a major Apple Pay Wallet design weakness: iPhone Wallet and Watch App Wallet should just be one thing that manages all of my Wallets cards on both devices in one place. Apple Watch Wallet is great, in a pinch, but it’s a lousy UI experience for managing transit card options and Suica Recharge. Apple Pay transit prepaid card users access those card options far more than credit cards. I added a unified Wallet request for iOS 13 to the Apple Pay WWDC19 wish list.
  • Suica Reminders for low balance and commuter plan renewals are another Apple Watch weak point. They don’t exist. Suica App to the rescue again with Notification Sounds. The 3 beep Suica low balance reminder (¥1,000 or less) works everywhere and is a life saver. It’s far more attention grabbing than Apple Pay Suica Notification Center reminders on iPhone.
  • You cannot fully appreciate Suica App until you use it to recharge Suica on Apple Watch

A true story: I was buying lunch at a family owned Daily Yamazaki convenience store. You might know the kind, a Showa style convenience store stocked with Yamazaki breads, homemade sandwiches and bento, usually run by an older couple, a store from a different era that will unfortunately disappear.

I bought a bento and paid with Apple Pay Suica on Apple Watch. The Suica 3 beep low balance reminder sound from the reader caught the attention of the owner who looked to be in his late 70s. “Suica works on that? It’s so small.” I assured him Suica worked on Apple Watch.

He smiled and said, “That’s really convenient. You’ll never lose it or have to find it when it’s on your wrist.”

It is indeed.

New Apple Pay Transit Support Page Jargon

iOS 12.3 might look like a minor update, but Apple Pay has gotten a major under the hood overhaul. It feels like Apple is pulling all the different NFC technology threads together into one tight knot in advance of iOS 13: Apple Pay Suica performance is stellar and finally bug free, the beta label on China transit cards which had been there since iOS 11.3 is finally gone, the Wallet UI has been revamped for Apple Card which Apple employees just started receiving with more changes coming, and we have the new EMV Express Transit option which uses a payment card (credit/debit cards) designated for Express Transit mode on Portland TriMet.

In case you have not noticed, Apple Pay Transit support pages have been completely rewritten with some new jargon:

  • Transit without Apple Pay Express Transit mode enabled: everywhere else

By the end of summer the Express Transit mode enabled list will look like this: China Beijing and Shanghai PBOC), Japan (nationwide Suica FeliCa), USA (Portland TriMet EMV and HOP MIFARE) and Chicago (Ventra MIFARE). New York OMNY will end up on the ‘Transit without Apple Pay Express Transit mode enabled’ list.

There is also some new jargon in iOS 12.3 Wallet Settings:

  • Transit Card vs. Payment Card
  • Multiple Express Transit Cards in iOS 12.3

The Express Transit Card setting lists Transit Cards (Suica, HOP, etc.) and Payment Cards (VISA, Mastercard, American Express, etc.). Notice that Transit Cards can be ‘Multiple’ and the description: (EMV) will be used to pay for transit when (Suica, HOP, Beijing Transit, etc) is not requested by payment reader. Ideally this means that the payment reader will gracefully accept your preferred payment method to pay the fare.

The reality is going to be messy. I guarantee there will be lots of people who set a payment card for Express Transit and try going through a transit gate in Singapore, Sydney, London, Tokyo, etc. without a thought, and get a nasty surprise. What? I thought Apple Pay worked here?

That is not a problem for techies who want to try things, but for regular users who just want things to work, it makes Apple Pay look bad. People don’t have high expectations about bank cards, but they have higher expectations for Apple Pay. Put another way, banks have nothing to lose with lousy service because they already have a lousy reputation. Apple Pay is different and has more to lose when things go wrong. And that’s a risky place to be.

iOS 12.3 Update and Apple Pay Transit Improvements

The iOS 12.3 update (currently 12.3.1 16F203) has important improvements for iPhone users in Japan and Apple Pay Transit users everywhere:

Reiwa Era Calendar Support
Reiwa Era is also supported in watchOS 5.2.1 and macOS 10.14.5

  • Reiwa in iOS 12.3
  • Reiwa

Improved Apple Pay Suica and Express Transit Performance
iOS 12.3 is the best iOS version for Apple Pay Suica and Express Transit cards that Apple has produced, period. This is the single most important feature for users in Japan. Previous Suica iOS performance issues are all gone: Suica balance not updating, unresponsive Suica UI, unresponsive Suica Recharge, etc. Longtime iPhone Suica users will be pleasantly surprised, as will Apple Pay HOP users. If for no other reason, update to iOS 12.3 for fast trouble free Apple Pay Express Transit performance.

EMV Express Transit Support
This is a new Apple Pay Wallet option for payment cards (bank cards) to be set for Express Transit on open loop transit systems that support the feature, only on Portland TriMet for now. The new Apple Express Transit support page explains payment card support. Reader feedback suggests payment card support is the usual mixed bag of bank card services limited by region issuers and issues. EMV transit is always slower at the gate than native transit cards, both plastic and virtual, and only supports standard fares.

The low key nature of this service addition is rather unusual. Lots of under the hood changes have been made in iOS 12.3 Wallet in advance of the Apple Card launch: EMV Express Transit support, the removal of long term beta status for Beijing and Shanghai Transit Cards, the huge leap in Express Transit performance, and much more. We’ll hear all about these developments along with new NFC features to be announced for iOS 13 Apple Pay Wallet at WWDC19.

Apple Pay Transit Support Page
  • Multiple Express Transit Cards in iOS 12.3
  • Transit Card vs. Payment Card
  • No more beta label for China Transit cards in iOS 12.3

Wallet UI Changes
Suica UI Wallet changes have been ongoing since iOS 12.2 and are still hit and miss. The UI has improved some from iOS 12.2: transaction detail running order has changed slightly to avoid long strings that are easy clipped in English. Unfortunately, important Suica settings are still too easy to miss. Users still have to dig around to find them. I hope Apple continues to improve the Wallet card UI in iOS 13. Here’s a look:

  • iOS 12.3 Commuter Suica
  • iOS 12.2 Commuter Suica

Other Stuff

Apple TV: the iTunes Japan Store does not offer TV content so the revamped TV App is just for playing downloaded movies and nothing more, at least until Apple TV+ service launches in Japan. Amazon Prime and Netflix are way ahead of Apple here and remain the top video streaming providers. It will be interesting to see what Apple comes up with.

Update: the iOS 12.4 update provides the same Express Transit performance and fixes as iOS 12.3