Apple Wallet App Now Works With PRESTO Fare Card in Toronto Area

[MacRumors]

Apple and Metrolinx today announced that the PRESTO card can now be added to the Wallet app, allowing commuters in Toronto, Canada and the surrounding area to tap an iPhone or Apple Watch to pay for a fare on buses, streetcars, trains, and the subway. Funds can be loaded onto the card directly in the Wallet app for added convenience.

Express Mode allows commuters to simply hold their iPhone or Apple Watch near a payment reader to pay for their ride, without needing to unlock or wake the device. This mode even works for up to five hours after your iPhone runs out of battery power.

Transit agencies that accept the PRESTO card in the Wallet app include the TTC and UP Express in Toronto, HSR in Hamilton, MiWay in Mississauga, Brampton Transit, Burlington Transit, Durham Region Transit, Oakville Transit, and York Region Transit, as well as the GO Transit network. The feature does not work with OC Transpo in Ottawa.

To add the PRESTO card to the Wallet app, tap on the plus sign in the top-right corner, select Transit Card, and select PRESTO. A physical PRESTO card can also be converted for use in the Wallet app, but the physical card will no longer work. The version in the Wallet app supports various fare types, and Ontario's new One Fare program.

Adding a PRESTO card to the Wallet app requires an iPhone 8 or later with iOS 16.4 or later, or an Apple Watch Series 4 or later with watchOS 9.4 or later.

For additional information, read the PRESTO in Apple Wallet page and FAQ.

(Thanks, Apollo Zhao!)

Article Link: Apple Wallet App Now Works With PRESTO Fare Card in Toronto Area

 

[Devyn89]

This is awesome. Hopefully this comes to Ottawa soon as that’s where I live and would love to use that feature here.

 

[drewcosten]

I tried it today and it worked perfectly on my Apple Watch on the TTC.

 

[danakin]

I tried it today and it worked perfectly on my Apple Watch on the TTC.

TTC short for Take The Car

 

[fwmireault]

I can't wait until the end of this century, when this feature will be available in Montreal!

 

[adisor19]

Came here to lament about Montreal. Am not disappointed that someone mentioned it first.

 

[jhollington]

This hasn't been explained very well, so it's worth noting that adding a Presto card directly in the Wallet app will create a new virtual Presto card and ask you to load some money onto it. To convert an existing physical Presto card, you need to use the latest version of the Presto iPhone app. The option should appear as soon as you open the app, provided your card's already registered; otherwise, you'll need to go through the process of adding it to the Presto app first.

 

[Apple$]

Coming to the Translink Compass card in 2089!

 

[jicon]

This hasn't been explained very well, so it's worth noting that adding a Presto card directly in the Wallet app will create a new virtual Presto card and ask you to load some money onto it. To convert an existing physical Presto card, you need to use the latest version of the Presto iPhone app. The option should appear as soon as you open the app, provided your card's already registered; otherwise, you'll need to go through the process of adding it to the Presto app first.

Thanks. What wasn't clear to me was whether only one phone or watch can use the expresspass feature. Given the setup, it looks like I only set up one device, pick your phone or watch per card.

 

[jhollington]

Thanks. What wasn't clear to me was whether only one phone or watch can use the expresspass feature. Given the setup, it looks like I only set up one device, pick your phone or watch per card.

Yup, that's apparently how transit cards work everywhere in Apple Wallet. It's an Apple limitation rather than a Presto one.

You can move the card between the iPhone and Apple Watch as often as you like, but it can only be active on one device at a time.

You can also transfer or buy a second Presto card for the other device, but it will be handled as a separate card, just like it would if you had two physical Presto cards. That means two balances and two sets of transfer windows (e.g., you have to use the same device to get free transfers throughout your trip, just like using Apple Pay with a credit or debit card).

 

[AnInanimateCarbonRod]

Yup, that's apparently how transit cards work everywhere in Apple Wallet. It's an Apple limitation rather than a Presto one.

You can move the card between the iPhone and Apple Watch as often as you like, but it can only be active on one device at a time.

You can also transfer or buy a second Presto card for the other device, but it will be handled as a separate card, just like it would if you had two physical Presto cards. That means two balances and two sets of transfer windows (e.g., you have to use the same device to get free transfers throughout your trip, just like using Apple Pay with a credit or debit card).

The PRESTO site says there's a limit on how many times the card can be moved, but never actually specifies it:

Each PRESTO card in Apple Wallet can can only be associated to one Apple ID. It can only be active on one Apple device at a time (iPhone or Apple Watch), and you can only move it between devices a limited number of times.

 

[jhollington]

The PRESTO site says there's a limit on how many times the card can be moved, but never actually specifies it:

Interesting, and that's a good catch. Apple doesn't enforce a limit, and there's no reference to it on the screens that show up when moving it back and forth, but since it has to phone home to Presto each time you move the card, I can see how Presto could decline to authorize the move at some point.

 

[jhollington]

It also appears that new cards created in Apple Wallet can be added to the Presto app directly.

If you remove a Presto card from the Wallet app, it will remain in the Presto app and can be re-added from there. It seems like this would also let you add it to another iPhone by signing into your account with the Presto app on that device, although I haven't tried that yet. I can definitely see Presto enforcing a limit on how often you can do that, though.

 

[AnInanimateCarbonRod]

One gripe I have is that if you use Wallet on the Apple Watch for your PRESTO card, the PRESTO app seems to have no awareness of this at all and shows an error-like message that "This card is active on another device", offering to remove the card server-side as if it's in some state they think you shouldn't be in.

 

[jhollington]

One gripe I have is that if you use Wallet on the Apple Watch for your PRESTO card, the PRESTO app seems to have no awareness of this at all and shows an error-like message that "This card is active on another device", offering to remove the card server-side as if it's in some state they think you shouldn't be in.

Haha, I was about to say almost exactly that. It seems like it's easy enough to ignore that message, but I agree it's kind of annoying.

I assume it's the same thing that we'd see if the card was in Wallet on another iPhone. I guess I'll find out after my daughter loads her card into her Apple Wallet.

 

[sinned72]

Today was probably a terrible day to take the car with all the flooding from the rain in Toronto (power grid did not like it) ...

I figured all stored-value cards behaved where there is only one true card since the balance is on the card, not the account, per se. Do the others from Europe and Asia all multiple devices/cards to use the same card?

 

[DARKiLLUSiON]

Today was probably a terrible day to take the car with all the flooding from the rain in Toronto (power grid did not like it) ...

I figured all stored-value cards behaved where there is only one true card since the balance is on the card, not the account, per se. Do the others from Europe and Asia all multiple devices/cards to use the same card?

I just checked and my Suica card is showing on both AW8 and the phone. I don't need to transfer the card between the two devices and the transit card acts like a credit card showing up on both AW/iPhone at the same time.

 

[jhollington]

I just checked and my Suica card is showing on both AW8 and the phone. I don't need to transfer the card between the two devices and the transit card acts like a credit card showing up on both AW/iPhone at the same time.

If I had to guess, I'd assume that's because the Suica card is also backed up by a credit card if the balance runs out? Either that or they're doing some strange jiggery-pokery behind the scenes.

From what I know of how Apple Wallet and the underlying technology works, each device gets its own distinct card stored in the Secure Element of that device. That's true for both credit and stored-value transit and eMoney cards.

A stored-value card can't really be in two places. Otherwise, you'd be able to spend the same money twice. For obvious reasons, stored-value cards are designed with very sophisticated cryptographic security, and there's no way for Apple to transfer funds between two cards as it doesn't have the necessary cryptographic keys to access those funds — this is all handled by the card issuer or transit operator, either over-the-air when provisioning the card and adding funds or at a terminal when presenting the card.

This means that when you pay for something with a card on your Apple Watch, the money will remain in the card on your iPhone (and vice-versa).

Suica must be doing something more intelligent on the back end to reconcile these balances. Like a physical transit card, every NFC terminal can also update the stored value of a card, and a digital card can be updated over the air, but that has to be handled by the issuer — it's not something Apple can do. If all the payment terminals are always online, then it wouldn't be too hard to send an update to deduct the value from a linked card on the other device or even update every other NFC terminal in the network to deduct the value from the linked card the next time it sees it. That seems needlessly complicated, and it would still have some risks, but since most Suica cards are backed up by credit cards, presumably, any overages can be dealt with that way.

 

[cem222]

Note that to obtain a senior or student discount, you need to transfer a physical card, you cannot buy one electronically.

 

[Junior117]

After 5+ years, it’s finally here…