Tried out: Using public transport in Paris with iPhone and Apple Watch
For the first time in the EU, public transport tickets can be stored directly in Apple Wallet. How well does this work and would it also be suitable for Germany?
Platform barriers in Paris: Please hold your iPhone up to the reader.
(Image: Ben Schwan / Mac & i)
Using your iPhone and Apple Watch as a public transport ticket is actually nothing new: in North America and Asia, this has been possible for several years in some cases. In the EU and the UK, however, it has so far only been possible in supported regions such as London, Turku or Skane in a roundabout way: By depositing a credit or debit card with Apple Pay and using it as a check-in and check-out medium. To coincide with the Summer Olympics, Paris is now the first European city to launch a "real" iPhone or Apple Watch ticket. We had the opportunity to try this out during a short visit.
Ticket purchase directly on the device
As we are used to from North America and Asia, the entire ticketing process is integrated directly into Apple's Wallet app on the iPhone. All you have to do is press the +, select "Public transport card" and choose "Paris". The user is then presented with the ticket offer. Currently, day tickets, one-way tickets, multiple journeys and tickets for airport trains and airport buses are available - plus special tickets that are only valid during the Summer Olympics. Once you have made your selection, click on "Buy" and pay for the ticket using Apple Pay, i.e. you must have a debit or credit card on file.
(Image: Ben Schwan / Mac & i)
After the purchase, you can select whether the ticket should be stored on your iPhone or Apple Watch. Unfortunately, the Paris public transport company does not allow both devices to be used at the same time, although Apple always links iPhone and Watch together and only one user can access them at a time. The so-called Express Mode function (Express Transit) is automatically activated with the purchase. This makes it possible to hold the device directly to the card reader of the platform barrier (or to the reader on the bus or streetcar) without unlocking it. Express mode is even available when the iPhone or Apple Watch have almost no power left.
Riding in practice
Once stored, using the public transport ticket is very simple: hold the iPhone or Apple Watch to the reader, the lock opens and you're done. On RER S-Bahn trains, the device must be scanned again when leaving the platform; on the metro, stations can be exited directly. If you travel by bus or streetcar, you hold your iPhone or Apple Watch up to the reader once. Journeys are automatically recorded in the Wallet app and can be tracked again there, including the map display.
(Image: Ben Schwan / Mac & i)
As an alternative to using the Wallet app, you can also use the official Paris public transport app to make purchases. The advantage of "Île-de-France Mobilités" is that you can also log in there with your data and automatically receive a purchase receipt by email. Unfortunately, this is not available for purchases in the Wallet app, although Apple could transmit the email address via Apple Pay, but apparently does not currently do this for Paris public transport tickets. It is also possible to switch between iPhone and Apple Watch with a ticket via the Wallet app, although some ticket types are excluded. During the switching process, we simply lost a one-way ticket because a day pass was still on the device at the same time - an inquiry to customer service initially went unanswered. If you switch from iPhone to Apple Watch and vice versa, the journey history in the Wallet app is unfortunately deleted.
Practical - for Germany too?
All in all, using the iPhone and Apple Watch as a Paris public transport ticket worked without any complaints. The direct purchase on the iPhone saves time at the ticket machine or counter, and you can board the train directly on arrival at the airport with just a few clicks. In Paris, it was previously only possible to use an iPhone to buy a ticket via a physical Navigo NFC card- this had to already be in your possession and was then held up to the iPhone in order to be read or written to. All of this now works directly on the iPhone. It is annoying that the direct purchase in the Wallet app does not trigger a receipt. It would also be nice if the iPhone and Apple Watch could be used as public transport tickets at the same time, as the switch seems to be prone to errors. Apparently, the public transport companies see the danger of the ticket being used more than once.
(Image: Ben Schwan / Mac & i)
The question now arises as to whether public transport tickets via Apple Wallet would also be suitable for Germany. In fact, the systems in this country work somewhat differently: we do not have platform barriers that require NFC or magnetic cards. However, it would certainly be possible to enable ticket purchases directly in Apple Wallet and then display the ticket as a QR code. This would be conceivable for the Germany ticket, for example. However, one of the main providers, HanseCom GmbH, has still not succeeded in doing this with its corresponding app.
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