Apple Pay Express Transit is coming to France's Île-de-France soon

What you need to know

Apple Pay Express Transit is coming to France's Île-de-France.
Testing will begin this year.
2023 should see some progress while 2024 will be when everything is online..

France's Île-de-France will be able to take advantage of Apple Pay Express Transit for Navigo cards and more by 2023, according to a new report.

French blog iGeneration notes that the Île-de-France Mobilités (IDFM), the regional authority in charge of transport, has confirmed that support is on the way after an agreement was made with Apple. That agreement will see support for Apple Pay Express Transit arrive next year, with a further expansion into 2024.

A test phase will begin this year with both iPhone and Apple Watch set to be supported.

Via machine translation:

A test phase will take place this year with compatible iPhone and Apple Watch. These devices will be able to replace plastic cards distributed by IDFM, such as Navigo passes, and Comutitres. By 2024, all tickets can be purchased directly with Apple Pay and integrated into the Cards app (ex-Wallet), reports Le Parisien. Gantry validation will be done using the devices' NFC chip, without the need to validate the operation with Touch ID or Face ID - this is what Apple calls Express mode.

Support for adding credit to the Navigo pass has already been in place for some time but the next step is being able to use iPhones and Apple Watches to make payments instead of the cards themselves — something that is now much closer than it has ever been.

Apple Pay Express Transit is one of the best iPhone features that too many people aren't familiar with. The feature allows people to make transit payments without the need to authenticate via Face ID, Touch ID, or passcode. The iPhone and Apple Watch don't need to be powered on for Apple Pay Express Transit to work, either.

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.