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Comment by dluan | Hacker News Reader

I much prefer convenient over fast, being able to just tap my phone's uploaded IC card/alipay without having to open it up or switch cards is maybe 200ms slower, but I don't have to think or change what I'm doing. Plus with alipay it will just autodeduct so I don't ever have to think about that as well, though Apple wallet Suica makes it easy to reload too.

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JRE required Suica to be instantly accessible so there's a setting in Apple Wallet to set a card to a default quick transit use card(forgot the exact name). If configured as such, just poking the gate antenna with earpiece end of an iPhone instantly completes the transaction just as fast as a real card does.

(yes, the antenna is in the top FaceID/Dynamic Island area, Osaifu Keitai spec requires a □つ icon wherever antenna is located, which Apple managed to completely ignore)

FWIW on Android, Google Wallet tells me "Transit Cards: These cards never require verification", and indeed I can just wave my phone at the terminal without unlocking it.

a setting in Apple Wallet to set a card to a default quick transit use card

Because it's not the easiest setting to find: Settings/Wallet & Apple Pay/Express Transit Card

The Wallet app prompts you to set this up when you initially add the transit card too, IIRC.

It’s also enabled by default now if I remember correctly.

And here I was all this time double pressing power button to open wallet like a fool. The more you know.

Is this different to Express Mode, which has been a thing for years for all kinds of cards (including car keys)?

Express Mode originally launched as Express Transit with only support for Suica, Beijing and Shanghai cards. It was then renamed to Express Mode when support for the other modes was added.

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