Hong Kong's Octopus Card Now Supports Apple Pay

Apple Pay OctopusHong 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.

Related Roundup: Apple Pay

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro 34ths Perspective

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 10 New Features

Sunday March 23, 2025 10:00 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of March 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
iOS 18

iOS 18.4 Expected Next Week - Here Are the Release Notes

Friday March 28, 2025 2:01 pm PDT by
With the second release candidate of iOS 18.4 that Apple seeded out today, the company finally provided us with release notes that give a full rundown on what to expect. There's an Apple Vision Pro app, new Apple Intelligence features for notifications and additional language support, plus an Apple News Food feature for Apple News+ subscribers, and several updates that should improve the...
Magic Mouse Green

What to Expect From the Magic Mouse 3

Saturday March 29, 2025 10:15 am PDT by
Apple is reportedly working on a new Magic Mouse. Below, we recap what to expect. The two key rumors for the Magic Mouse 3 so far include a relocated charging port, along with a more ergonomic design. It was briefly rumored that the Magic Mouse 3 would also feature voice control, but that was misinterpreted information. Relocated Charging Port While the Magic Mouse switched from...
top stories 2025 03 29

Top Stories: WWDC 2025 Announced, iPhone 17 Pro and iOS 19 Rumors, and More

Saturday March 29, 2025 6:00 am PDT by
Apple's big developer event is a little over two months away, and rumors about what we can expect to see in Apple's next major operating system updates are becoming increasingly frequent. A public release of iOS 18.4 is also imminent with a number of updates and improvements, although we won't be getting the major Apple Intelligence Siri upgrades that had reportedly been planned for this...
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature Homescreen

Six Things to Know About Apple's Upcoming Foldable iPhone

Friday March 28, 2025 3:54 pm PDT by
We've been hearing rumors about a foldable iPhone for almost a decade now, but it looks like we might finally see the device come to fruition in 2026. We're going to be waiting many more months for the foldable iPhone, but so far we're hearing good things. Apple wants to make it creaseless. It's taken Apple multiple years to design a foldable iPhone that it's satisfied with because Apple ...
iOS 19 visionOS UI Elements

Apple Codename Provides Clue About iOS 19's Rumored New Design

Sunday March 30, 2025 6:40 am PDT by
Multiple sources have claimed that iOS 19 will introduce a new design with more translucent buttons, menus, notification banners, and more, and there is now another clue that points towards this glass-like appearance. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman today said the new design project is codenamed "Solarium" internally. A solarium is a room with glass walls that allow in plenty of sunlight, so this...
Facebook Feature

Facebook's New iPhone App Feature Turns the Clock Back to 2007

Thursday March 27, 2025 1:59 pm PDT by
In the mid-to-late 2000s, Facebook was all about staying connected with friends and family. However, as the social media platform added new features and grew over time, that core experience began to get drowned out. That changes starting now, according to Meta, which today introduced a new feature that will "bring back the joy" of classic Facebook. Specifically, Meta has redesigned the...
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature Homescreen

iPhone Foldable Display Said to Feature iPad-Style 4:3 Aspect Ratio

Friday March 28, 2025 3:44 am PDT by
Apple's upcoming "iPhone Fold" will feature a foldable screen with a 4:3 aspect ratio, according to a Chinese leaker who previously leaked the book-style device's display dimensions. The Weibo-based account Digital Chat Station claims that Apple will adopt a "roughly" 4:3 aspect ratio on the inner display in order to achieve consistency between the outer display, as well as to ensure parity...

Top Rated Comments

Klae17 Avatar
63 months ago

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 ('https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantonese') name for the Octopus card, Baat Daaht Tùng (Chinese ('https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_Chinese_characters'): 八 ('https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%85%AB')達 ('https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E9%81%94')通 ('https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E9%80%9A')), 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] ('https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus_card#cite_note-Milestones-15') The number eight refers to the cardinal and ordinal directions ('https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardinal_direction'), and the four-character idiom ('https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chengyu') sei tùng baat daaht (Chinese ('https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_Chinese_characters'): 四 ('https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%9B%9B')通 ('https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E9%80%9A')八 ('https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%85%AB')達 ('https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E9%81%94')), a common expression loosely translated as "reachable in all directions".[16] ('https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus_card#cite_note-16') It is also considered a lucky number in Chinese culture ('https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numbers_in_Chinese_culture#Eight'), and the phrase baat daaht can possibly be associated with the similar-sounding faat daaht, which means "getting wealthy" (Chinese ('https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_Chinese_characters'): 發 ('https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E7%99%BC')達 ('https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E9%81%94')) in Cantonese.

The English ('https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language') 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 ('https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus') has eight tentacles ('https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tentacle').[17] ('https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus_card#cite_note-MilestonesEng-17') The logo used on the card features a Möbius strip ('https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%B6bius_strip') in the shape of an infinity symbol ('https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinity_symbol').
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
adrianlondon Avatar
63 months ago
Octopus is a brilliant name for anything.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
henry72 Avatar
63 months ago
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




https://www.apple.com/hk/en/apple-pay/octopus/

Attachment Image

Attachment Image
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Powermax Avatar
63 months ago
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.

Attachment Image
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
konqerror Avatar
63 months ago

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.

https://www.octopus.com.hk/en/consumer/card-replacement/about/index.html
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Powermax Avatar
63 months ago
My card is from 2014 and I could add it without problems.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)