Apple Wallet transit cards

Question

jr9519 OP

Created Feb ’23

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Hello there,

I just wanted to ask about the NFC features implementations.

I went to Japan recently and noticed they could use the phone to travel by adding the SUICA card to their apple wallets.

Let's say I want to replicate the system in my country... Can it be done with PassKit APIs or do we need to contact apple to add our transit to their list?

What we want to do is basically add our bus cards to wallets. (They work with NFC)

The government would implement the system, is not a simple "card cloning app".

Thank you very much in advance!

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Answer 1

yzde OP

Dec ’24

Hi @jr9519 I’m in the same boat as you! My city, Barcelona; has also been looking into implementing NFC-based transit cards but hasn’t been able to integrate them into Apple Wallet yet. From what I’ve researched, simply using PassKit APIs won’t cut it for adding NFC transit cards to the Wallet app. You’d likely need to partner with Apple directly for this.

Apple has specific requirements and partnerships for transit cards (like SUICA in Japan), which might include fees, technical collaboration, and certification. It’s not just developing the app but also ensuring the card system is compatible with Apple’s secure NFC environment.

It might be worth reaching out to Apple through their business channels if the government is willing to implement the system. Otherwise, the hurdles (like fees) might be the reason some cities haven’t moved forward yet.

Let me know if you’ve found any updates—this is something I’d love to see happen here too!

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