Hong Kong's Octopus Card Now Supports Apple Pay

[MacRumors]

Hong Kong's popular Octopus card for transit and retail purchases now supports Apple Pay, allowing the card to be added to the Wallet app for contactless payments with an iPhone or Apple Watch.

As noted by the blog Ata Distance, Apple Pay support for the Octopus card was introduced today and is still rolling out to all users in Hong Kong. Express Transit mode is supported, allowing for tap-and-go payment without needing to authenticate the iPhone or Apple Watch with Face ID, Touch ID, or a passcode.

To add a card to the Wallet app, tap on the plus sign in the top-right corner and follow the instructions.

2019 was a big year for Apple Pay with Express Transit mode, with major cities like London and New York City rolling out support. The feature is available in several other cities, too, including Chicago, Portland, Sydney, and Beijing.

Article Link: Hong Kong's Octopus Card Now Supports Apple Pay

 

[dannyyankou]

Weird name for a card. But it’s nice to see more cards accepted. I wish more store cards were supported though.

 

[Powermax]

Great it worked! I changed my region to Hong Kong and then was able to add transfer my existing Octopus card to my phone. Now I am ready for my next visit to Hong Kong.
Sadly it looks like you can only add money via Apple Pay with cards from HK for now, I hope they will change that soon like with Suica where you can use every card in your wallet to top up.

 

[Klae17]

Weird name for a card. But it’s nice to see more cards accepted. I wish more store cards were supported though.

From Wikipedia:

The Cantonese name for the Octopus card, Baat Daaht Tùng (Chinese: 八達通), translates literally as "eight-arrived pass", where Baat Daaht may translate as "reaching everywhere". Less literally though the meaning is taken as the "go-everywhere pass". It was selected by the head of the MTR Corporation, the parent company of Octopus Cards Limited, in a naming competition held in 1996.[15] The number eight refers to the cardinal and ordinal directions, and the four-character idiom sei tùng baat daaht (Chinese: 四通八達), a common expression loosely translated as "reachable in all directions".[16] It is also considered a lucky number in Chinese culture, and the phrase baat daaht can possibly be associated with the similar-sounding faat daaht, which means "getting wealthy" (Chinese: 發達) in Cantonese.

The English name Octopus card was also selected from the naming competition. Coincidentally, the English name coincides with the number eight in the Chinese name, since an octopus has eight tentacles.[17] The logo used on the card features a Möbius strip in the shape of an infinity symbol.

 

[birdieman128]

Finally after all these years

 

[Pearple]

Great, You can use Apple Pay to get to the subway when you have to flee from Chinese military... 😔

 

[Mizouse]

Great it worked! I changed my region to Hong Kong and then was able to add transfer my existing Octopus card to my phone. Now I am ready for my next visit to Hong Kong.
Sadly it looks like you can only add money via Apple Pay with cards from HK for now, I hope they will change that soon like with Suica where you can use every card in your wallet to top up.

Good to know on changing my region to HK. Its been a little over a year since I last went to HK i wonder if my card went inactive/dormant. Or if that doesnt even matter.

every time i visit I have to goto an MTR station to reactivate it.

 

[birdieman128]

Good to know on changing my region to HK. Its been a little over a year since I last went to HK i wonder if my card went inactive/dormant. Or if that doesnt even matter.

every time i visit I have to goto an MTR station to reactivate it.

Thats what I did in the past and wonder if my O Card money is still intact or not. Now it is much more simpler.

 

[Ruslan64]

Weird name for a card. But it’s nice to see more cards accepted. I wish more store cards were supported though.

Well the London transport card is called oyster. Probably because “the world is your oyster”. I really want that to be added to Apple Pay.

 

[adrianlondon]

Changed region to HK, added card, "Your card does not support Apple Pay", changed region back to UK.

Oh well. Hopefully next time I go to HK I'll get a newer one. I've had this one for a few years now.

 

[DeepIn2U]

Weird name for a card. But it’s nice to see more cards accepted. I wish more store cards were supported though.

I know right?
“when one head is cut-off, two takes its place. Hail hydra” lol. Very strange name for a card that doesn’t even use a logo representing it.

 

[adrianlondon]

Octopus is a brilliant name for anything.

 

[henry72]

I can confirm it worked. If you’re not currently in HK, just change your iPhone region in Settings to HK, add the card and then change it back

PS: Pretty cool that the iPhone can read the Octopus card

Apple Pay - Octopus

Apple Pay now supports Octopus card, delivering a new generation of public transport and retail purchase experiences. Now it’s easier than ever to ride trains, buses, and ferries and shop with just your iPhone or Apple Watch. Ride and buy. All with one easy tap.

www.apple.com

 

[zucubo]

YES!!! As soon as the airline starts flying back i‘ll be all set. Now i need the TAP for LA and im all iPhone ready for my layovers around the world.

 

[konqerror]

Changed region to HK, added card, "Your card does not support Apple Pay", changed region back to UK.

Oh well. Hopefully next time I go to HK I'll get a newer one. I've had this one for a few years now.

Yeah, there was a card replacement effort 2017-2019. The first gen ones aren't smartphone compatible.

Octopus Card Replacement

The card replacement programme aims to keep in-circulation Octopus up-to-date with security and technological advances, so all customers can enjoy the latest Octopus services.

www.octopus.com.hk

 

[Tech198]

Anyone who users Apple pay will say its always better and that's purely based on how the transaction goes though., but to me, you get to a stage where its not that much better. I don't think there is one solution for all

You could always say security is right, but do it in the right places. Cash = yes... but Octopus cards = no, maily because they are 'pre-paid' with amounts. you top up. vs anything else.

 

[incoherent_1]

I love seeing transit cards being enabled in Apple Pay.

Next, building cards and key fobs would complete the holy trinity for me!

 

[hongkongais]

It was highly anticipated since 3 years ago when netizens discovered that Octopus has the potential to be used on iPhone 7. But now it might not be as sought-after as before coz some people may have privacy concern after the police has arrested people based on their location record on personalised Octopus cards.

 

[ncc1701d]

Any fellow Hong Kongers know if you still get HSBC points when using Apple pay?

 

[ulyssesric]

Weird name for a card. But it’s nice to see more cards accepted. I wish more store cards were supported though.

Now I have Octopus, Oyster (London), and Suica ("Watermelon" in Japanese) in my wallet.

 

[adrteo]

Changed region to HK, added card, "Your card does not support Apple Pay", changed region back to UK.

Oh well. Hopefully next time I go to HK I'll get a newer one. I've had this one for a few years now.

Same issue. I tried to add the special edition Black Octopus card after changing the region to HK and was thrown the same error message.

It's odd as the card was only acquired last year so it ought to be compatible.

 

[Powermax]

My card is from 2014 and I could add it without problems.

 

[konqerror]

Same issue. I tried to add the special edition Black Octopus card after changing the region to HK and was thrown the same error message.

It's odd as the card was only acquired last year so it ought to be compatible.

You can only transfer on-loan cards. That's probably because the physical card is permanently deactivated and they didn't want complaints about people ruining their sold cards/ornaments/watch/whatever.

Get Octopus on iPhone or Apple Watch

Operating under the Stored Value Facilities Licence, Octopus provides diversified offline and online Octopus payment services to meet customers’ different payment needs.

www.octopus.com.hk

 

[MacHead84]

Yes it works but you need to topup localy or have an HK Bank card i your Apple Wallet.

 

[adrianlondon]

Yeah, there was a card replacement effort 2017-2019. The first gen ones aren't smartphone compatible.

Octopus Card Replacement

The card replacement programme aims to keep in-circulation Octopus up-to-date with security and technological advances, so all customers can enjoy the latest Octopus services.

www.octopus.com.hk

Thanks for that. However, the link says to replace cards that don't have the last number in brackets. Mine is in brackets, so maybe my problem is a different one. It could be that it needs re-activating as it's not been used in a while. I'm sure I used it while transiting last November (to buy an ice-cream from 7-11!) but maybe I used cash. Can't remember now.