After a long, long dance, Île-de-France Mobilités (IDFM) confirmed that Smart Navigo, the Paris region transit card for mobile will come to Apple Pay in 2023. As usual, Le Parisien broke the story (paywall), quickly reported on French Apple centric tech blog iGeneration.
“This time, for sure, it will be done”
After a test phase, in 2022, iPhones and Apple Watches will be able to replace the plastic pass distributed by IDFM (in 2023). “We cannot yet give a precise date, because it depends on the progress of Apple’s developments in Cupertino. But this time, for sure, it will be done, “says Laurent Probst, CEO of Île-de-France Mobilités. The contract is due to be voted on this Thursday at IDFM’s board of directors…
The contract between IDFM and Apple is spread over a period of five years, with a total budget of up to €5 million dedicated to the development of new services. A budget equivalent to that allocated to Android service developments operated by Samsung with IDFM.
Le Parisien
The contract with Apple is due to be approved by IDFM directors the week of February 20, we can thank the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics for breaking the Smart Navigo on Apple Pay logjam. Le Parisien has regularly criticized IDFM’s slow rollout of mobile services: “The modernization of the ticketing system in force on public transport networks in Île-de-France is not a long quiet river.” A timeline is helpful to understand the stalemate.
October 2017: Smart Navigo mobile was announced for 2019 launch. At the time IDFM said, “Unfortunately, it won’t be possible for iPhone owners to use the service since Apple does not yet allow third parties to access the NFC secure element in their phones. However, we are happy to explore the possibilities with Apple to offer the same service to all Paris public transport users.” In other words, IDFM wants to bypass Apple Pay Wallet and do everything in their own app.
September 2019: Smart Navigo launches on smartphones using an Orange SIM card, and on Samsung devices.
January 2021: Le Parisien reports that Smart Navigo is coming to Apple Pay. However this turns out to be a false alarm, instead IDFM releases a new version of the ViaNavigo iPhone app with support for adding money to plastic Navigo cards with the iPhone NFC.
February 2022: Le Parisien reports Smart Navigo on Apple Pay will launch in 2023, IDFM confirms on Twitter and also announces EMV open loop support coming in 2024 in time for the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.
French journalist Nicolas Lellouche independently confirmed the Apple Pay Navigo 2023 launch directly with IDFM and posted some details. Expect direct adding in Wallet app with Apple Pay recharge, similar to Suica, PASMO, Clipper, TAP and SmarTrip. An updated ViaNavigo app will provide extra features for commuter passes and more service options.
French reaction on Twitter was interesting and varied. People complained about the long lag getting Smart Navigo on iPhone but the equally long delay getting Smart Navigo on all Android devices, not just Samsung Galaxy, is more interesting and revealing. IDFM has spent a lot of time and expense working with Calypso Networks Association, the transaction tech used for Navigo, to develop the less secure network dependent Calypso HCE ‘cloud’ secure element approach. It flies in the face of where payment transaction technology has been going with eSE as standard hardware on all modern NFC devices. It’s almost like Ferdinand de Lesseps digging a sea level Panama Canal when a lock-and-lake canal was the better technical choice all along.
As for Android Calypso HCE performance vs Apple Pay Navigo Calypso eSE performance, I suspect the network dependent HCE on Android will be problematic. It will certainly be problematic, and challenging, for non-Apple smart wearables. If there is anything the bad user reviews of Suica App tell us, it is that network connections in station areas and on trains are never reliable and Android NFC adds layer upon layer of support complexity. No network = no HCE service, it’s that simple. Apple Pay Navigo will work without a network connection, just like all transit cards on Apple Pay, and will work great on Apple Watch too.
For this reason IDFM has to focus all of their system resources on the much more complex Android launch this year. They could certainly launch Apple Pay Navigo sooner if they really wanted to, but it’s better to do these things one platform at a time.
I ran across an untidy but interesting Twitter thread that mentioned Apple Pay Suica in the larger context of evolving NFC smartphone services.
Suica (Metro card / digital money in Japan) now lets you transfer the card to Apple Pay. Some thoughts about the future of FOBs, cards, and wallets…You use NFC to transfer your Suica by tapping the card with your iPhone, the same way you’d tap to use Apple Pay.
Devices support some kinds of NFC but not others. Until now, you couldn’t tap to use credit cards — it was blocked by the device.
But this is changing! Apple will support card payments now, in an app that IT will make & provide to vendors. This lets Apple compete in new hardware markets: first phones, now point-of-sale, payments, inventory mgmt, etc.
Physical cards are on the way out. But not everyone is on-board. FOBs, subway cards, ID cards, drivers licenses, and building security cards have been slow adopters of mobile. I’d love to copy my building FOB to my phone 😁 There’s nothing stopping me other than that I can’t.
Apple is moving into those markets….Airports, Driver licenses (in 30 / 50 US states). How far this tech goes & the speed of adoption depends on iOS, Android, and the people at ID / security / FOB / card companies adopting the change. They may need help! And there may be startup potential in that space… if anybody is interested!
The intention was discussing the implications of Apple’s recent Tap to Pay on iPhone announcement, but it stumbled over a rarely discussed but vital point about the extremely slow migration of various physical card services to mobile devices. Why can’t we just load these in Wallet…all the technology is in place right?
The mobile chokepoint is not technology but the backend systems to seamlessly deliver, verify and securely manage individual ‘card’ services (payment cards, transit cards, ID cards, keys, etc.) in digital wallets. Those systems are not up to the job. You can be sure that Apple wants to get iOS 15 ID in Wallet driver licenses out quickly as possible but corralling all those state run systems into a coherent user friendly whole that holds up to the high expectations and massive base of iPhone users eagerly waiting to use it, is a very big challenge. It’s a similar challenge behind every kind of digital wallet service.
This backend weakness is easy to see with transit cards, there are relatively few on mobile with most of the cards exclusive or limited to certain digital wallets like Apple Pay and Samsung Pay. There are special challenges too as a mobile transit card service hosts all the functions of ye olde station kiosk card machine (card issue, adding money, pass renewal, etc.) and more, on the cloud, pushing it out to apps and connecting to digital wallet platforms like Apple Pay.
Despite the challenges, the rewards for going mobile are clear. If there is one lesson Apple Pay proved in Japan with Suica it is that building a mobile foundation early on is key to future success. Mobile laggards like Hong Kong Octopus have paid a heavy price. Unfortunately for regions where transit is operated as a public service instead of a sustainable business, spending money building transit card mobile service systems is often considered an extravagance.
Banks have had an easier path to mobile thanks to the strength of EMV payment networks, but only on the payment transaction end. Mobile card issue is another matter up to individual banks. Look at the Apple Pay participating bank list for the United States. The long list didn’t happen overnight. It has taken years for mobile backend systems to be put in place to make this happen.
It’s all about the backend A sadly overlooked aspect of the Japanese market is the crazy collection of contactless payment options: Suica, iD, QUICPay, WAON, nanaco, Edy, PayPay, LinePay, dBarai, VISA-mastercard-AMEX Touch payments and more. The reason for this is Japan’s early lead in creating the first mobile payment platform, Osaifu Keitai, in 2004.
Not everybody used Osaifu Keitai early on, but it grew the mobile payments foundation so the market was ready for new mobile payment platforms when Apple Pay launched in 2016. More importantly, the early lead also meant that bank card issuers, payment networks and transit companies had backend systems firmly in place servicing a large installed base of various digital wallet capable handsets (Symbian) and smartphones (Android) that quickly extended to Apple Pay and Google Pay.
The backend flexibility is easy to see on the Mobile Suica page that shows all the different Mobile Suica flavors: Android (Osaifu Keitai), Apple Pay, Google Pay, Rakuten Pay. Mobile Suica is also on Garmin Pay, Fitbit Pay and is coming to Wear OS.
A user is surprised by all the Mobile Suica device choices
Mobile issue and verification Adding a ‘card’ to a mobile wallet is sometimes called ‘onboarding’, but this is really a banking term: “digital onboarding is an online process to bring in new customers,” as in setting up a payment account and getting an instant issue debit or prepaid card to use in Wallet with an app, or using the app for QR Code payments (like PayPay or Toyota Wallet).
Success or failure for any mobile wallet card service depends on reliability, simplicity and the speed for adding cards and using them. From VISA:
When it comes to digital onboarding, the average amount of time after which customers abandon their application is 14 minutes and 20 seconds. Any longer than this, and 55 percent of customers leave the process.
There is also context. Futzing for 14 minutes might apply for people setting up a bank app, but a transit app user trying to get through a ticket gate at rush hour is a completely different matter. Judging from the large number of negative Suica App user reviews and complaints on twitter, Japanese transit users probably give it 2 minutes before giving up and calling it all crap. Speed is the key.
How long does it take? The speed of adding a card to Wallet depends on a number of factors, what kind of wallet service are we dealing with (car key, hotel key, home key, office key, payment, transit, ID), does the user need an account first, can a physical card be transferred, what kind of user verification is required.
User verification with digital credentials is still in its infancy which is why driver’s licenses and state IDs in Apple Wallet is fascinating and important. How does one authenticate their own ID card? Apple explains the process but doesn’t say how long verification takes or reveal backend details:
Similar to how customers add new credit cards and transit passes to Wallet today, they can simply tap the + button at the top of the screen in Wallet on their iPhone to begin adding their license or ID… The customer will then be asked to use their iPhone to scan their physical driver’s license or state ID card and take a selfie, which will be securely provided to the issuing state for verification. As an additional security step, users will also be prompted to complete a series of facial and head movements during the setup process. Once verified by the issuing state, the customer’s ID or driver’s license will be added to Wallet.
The verification process is similar to the recent addition of Mobile Suica student commuter pass purchases where students take a picture of their student ID and upload it. Online verification takes ‘up to 2 business days’ because Mobile Suica has to manually verify the ID information with the school. Hopefully the Face ID setup-like ‘additional security step’ is the magic iPhone ingredient for instant verification by the state issuer. However notice that Apple doesn’t spell out where the face and head movements are stored. Hopefully it will stay in the Secure Enclave and never be stored on a server. We shall see when ID in Wallet launches with the iOS 15.4 update.
As you can see from the table below, the journey from backend system to Wallet varies widely by the type of service. The easier additions are the ones done in Wallet app: card scans for payment cards and ID or simply tapping to add transit cards.
Physical card scans are the primary way to add payment cards but this is changing, apps will replace plastic card scans over time. In Japan there are a growing number of ‘instant issue’ credit/debit digital cards from top tier banks that can only be added to Wallet with an app and account. Digital onboarding is the direction banks are going, where everybody has to go to an app first to add a card to Wallet. This leaves transit cards as the only card that can be added without an app or account.
Who owns the thing in Wallet? Physical keys, fobs and plastic cards may seem inconvenient at times but they are personal property we carry on our person. One downside of digital wallets is that convenience carries a risk that the thing in Wallet isn’t necessarily ours. What is added with a simple tap can also be taken away by a technical glitch, or in a worst case scenario, without our consent. As backend systems improve and integrate, more services will migrate to our digital wallets. Without doubt much of this will be convenient but read the fine print and always keep your eyes open to the tradeoffs and risks. In other words don’t let your digital wallet be a potential chokepoint of your life.
The digital wallet endgame should never be like this
These Mobile Suica passes will not be available at the local station ticket window, they are purchased in a new version of Suica App due by the service launch date. Only regular Mobile Suica or Mobile Suica with expired commute plan can be used for day passes, Mobile Suica with valid a commuter plan attached cannot be used. JR East is promoting the passes offering bonus JRE POINT when purchased in Suica App with a VIEW credit card.
New Wallet app strings in iOS 15.4 developer beta found by Steve Moser
The very next day after the JR East announcement Apple released the first developer iOS 15.4 beta with many new features including Wallet app strings related to transit card commute plans and stored value, such as “Save money with time based or unlimited ride plans.”
The delicious timing is not coincidence: Apple Pay Suica will certainly put these new iOS 15.4 Wallet strings to good use when the new day passes launch. Wallet app currently indicates when a Suica card is a regular type or has a commute plan attached. The addition of Suica day passes require some sort of new Wallet UI indicator.
One interesting aspect of the Mobile Suica commuter pass limitation: the current card architecture only has one area for attachted commute plans, if there is a valid commute plan it must be removed before a day pass can be added. This storage limitation is addressed by Suica 2 in 1 which holds up to 2 different commute plans but even here there is the problem of conflicting commute plan + day pass plan that exist for the same transit region on the same card. There is no way for the transit gate to determine which one to use for fare calculation: commute plan or day pass. Hence the ‘no commute plan’ rule.
Mobile Suica student commuter passes (university or vocational schools) have been around for some time, but purchase and renewal required a trip to the local JR East ticket office to confirm the school issue student ID. From February 13 students purchase and renew Mobile Suica student commute plans in a new version of Suica App after pre-registration and uploading a picture of the student ID for verification via the Mobile Suica member site (that got a desperately needed refresh). Still somewhat of a pain but much better than before.
Imagine how easy it would be if a digital student ID card loaded in Wallet could be used for secure digital confirmation instead of uploading a picture and mailing a paper copy. In time digital ID will hopefully deliver this kind of time saving convenience.
The updated Mobile Suica member site adds student commute pass pre-registration with student ID picture upload for verification.
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:
The app requires a Japanese Individual Number Card (My Number Card) to issue a vaccination certificate which is linked to individual vaccination information. The process offers 2 options, domestic use and international use. Issuing a certificate is simple: select options, enter the user set My Number PIN and read the physical My Number Card. The International option requires a reading a passport number.
Users report success getting an issued certificate into Wallet but the process is somewhat manual. If you don’t get a Wallet prompt, do an in-app scan of the Smart Health QR Code to load it into Health and Wallet apps.
My own experience with the app was not good. I have vaccinations and a My Number Card, but get a 60910 error when I enter my PIN and read the card. Some My Number Card naming conventions, such as such as maiden + married names, or mixed English and Japanese are not accepted by the app for certificate issue.
The app support details explain this kind of issue can only be fixed with a visit to the city hall office where city officials update the registered My Number Card name information. The issue appears to affect more than a few people. The Digital Agency updated their website later in the day and told IT reporter Junya Suzuki that an app update is coming soon to address some unspecified naming issues, however the basic name limitations remain listed on the website and app.
We shall see…knowing my luck I’ll probably have go to to the local ward office records section anyway to get a real fix. I’ll report gory details later if I do.
Junya Suzuki reports an app update should be coming soon to fix the name issue, apparently it is not a complicated technical issue
UPDATE2021-12-22 A number of issues have cropped up since the apps release. It seems that the Digital Agency subcontractor made mistakes, or failed to find them in their rush to get the Vaccination Certificate App out. Most likely there wasn’t proper subcontractor oversight or review, and iOS development appears to have taken a backseat to Android. The name issue is related to limitations in the current JP ePassport format. The timing is questionable as Japan is entering a gray zone regarding who should get booster vaccinations and when. Until that’s settled vaccination certificates are pretty useless for domestic use.
The list of issues so far:
The supported formats are ICAO VDS-NC and SMART Health Cards (SHC). Currently there is no support for EU DCC format which is widely used internationally (iOS 15.4 Wallet will support EU DCC, expect app support to follow).
Certificates are not added to Wallet automatically, it is done via an in-app scan of the SHC QR Code, not the VDS-NC one.
The app handles SHC code incorrectly and produces a SHC record that wrongly juxtaposes ‘family’ and ‘given’ names in Roman letters (fixed in v1.04 update).
Instead of reading ePassport data via NFC, the app uses OCR. Verification could be done with a NFC read of all ICAO MRTD (ePassport) information but the app does not do this. Instead the only requirement to get a passport read is a valid MRZ (machine readable zone) read of the birthdate that matches the birthday what gets read from the My Number Card.
JP ePassport format does not support maiden + married names (by design) and this is the given reason why OCR is used instead of NFC. The JP ePassport name limitation also the reason why the current version of the app refuses to issue vaccination certificates when the My Number Card contains such name combinations. (fixed in v1.08 update)
Welware agency? Looks like a rush job with little oversightFamily and given names are displayed incorrectly for Japanese region
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