Riders can now pay for Paris metro passes with Apple Pay

As reported by iGeneration, riders can now charge their Paris metro cards with an iPhone using Apple Pay. The feature rolled out a week ahead of schedule with the latest update of the app.

Ile-de-France Mobilités (IDFM) did not wait until January 20 to launch its Navigo pass recharge service from the iPhone. The function has just appeared with the latest update of the app, which for the occasion is renamed... Ile-de-France Mobilités. To pay for your pass with the app and Apple Pay, you must launch the app and go to the Purchase tab, then position the card by placing it on the top of the iPhone. A "Ready to scan" window will then appear, just let yourself be guided...

According to the report, feature availability across iPhone models is currently spotty. When it completely rolls out, however, it should be available for iPhone 7 and later models running iOS 13 or later.

IDFM specifies that if this feature is available from iPhone 7 (on iOS 13), it is not yet available for iPhone XR and XS/XS Max, but it will soon be solved (several of you have managed to use the function on an XS Max). Not everything is perfect yet. NFC charging is not yet compatible with iPhone XR and XS (left). And Navigo cards that have a few years in the cone are not supported (on the right, a 2012 map). Thank you François and Michel.

The outlet reports that the second phase of the rollout, which will let riders add their passes to the Wallet app, is still being figured out.

This second stage of the rocket seems a little more complicated to take off, we talked about February but discussions are still ongoing between the manager of public transport in Paris and Apple (read: Public transport: Navigo charging in NFC with the iPhone from January 20).

The rollout in Paris comes after New York, which recently finished rolling out Apple Pay support to all of its buses and subways.