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Comment by xnx | Hacker News Reader

> This has been a common scenario for many countries and cities around the world

By using a watch or a card? A watch is 10x better than a card because it's always available, even when your hands are full.

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Suica (used for transit in Japan) has been supported on Apple Watch in Japan since the Apple Watch Series 2 way back in 2016

On the London Underground since 2014 you can use any regular EMV NFC debit/credit card to tap in and out of turnstiles. Since Apple Pay just implements the EMV standard, it works just fine as well with any credit card you have added in there.

Suica was amazing the last time I visited Japan. Just bop your watch and go. It even supported reloading cash from my US credit card with the native iOS/watchOS provided card management UI, no need to fidget around with a questionably engineered third party app.

NFC is NFC. Tap to pay with the physical cards is what convinced me to finally start using the same thing on my phone. If I had a watch... I'd probably still use the phone? I'm not entirely clear on why or how Dick Tracy inverted, yet again.

Note that I have no problem with others liking the watch. I just don't see what makes it so much more convenient than a phone. Curious what will pull me over.

Doesn’t the phone have to be unlocked? The watch authenticates one time when you put it on (and unauthenticates when you take it off), so you can securely pay for things via a double click of a button then tap, vs having to unlock the phone with your face first or enter a pin or whatever. If someone steals your watch, they can’t steal your money unless they some how can cut off your wrist without triggering an unauthentication.

Doesn’t need to be unlocked for public transport transactions, just tap the locked phone (watch also works without further interaction). https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT212171

Ya, the same for Apple Key (I can unlock my car with my phone, but needs to be unlocked before I start my car with it).

For general payments, yes, but Apple allow-list known public transport networks to charge cards without auth. I would guess this involves auditing the crypto, being fairly sure they aren't going to mess it up, having a very limited payment amount (Transport for London for example "charges" £0.10 when you tap in/out, and then bills you the correct balance at the end of the day).

My paranoia is such that I'm sure I would require my watch also have some form of "be unlocked." And since this is largely, "be unfolded and have seen my fingerprint recently," feels like a non issue?

Phones aren’t secure enough, even if it’s seen your face or fingerprint recently. Actually, Apple offered a way to use your watch to make your phone easier to unlock, as long as your watch is nearby and has been authenticated itself. The whole “on your wrist” authentication experience can be used for the phone also, I guess.

Pulling out my phone while in motion greatly increases the likelihood I will drop it, or that it will be stolen out of my hand (especially by a thief going the other way).

Isn't it the same thing, just NFC? The only difference I know is that your watch/phone will not limit you to a certain amount like your card will, since you're authenticating when paying.

What happens if the Watch runs out of battery?

That never happens and I wear my Apple Watch all day and all night (for sleep tracking) except for when I shower -- I plop it on my charger once a day when I shower and it charges to full during my shower (it doesn't take that long for the Watch to charge to full)

iOS devices also have Power Reserve, which lets you use wallet and express transit for up to 5 hours even after your battery is out of juice.

https://www.idownloadblog.com/2022/01/13/apple-power-reserve...

Never runs out of charge… needs recharging daily?

How do these 2 not conflict?

Just that there's a routine in place which ensures it always gets the required charge without it needing to be especially planned for.

I'm sure it works great when you're travelling /s

Traveled to Japan recently (time zone change, long transpacific flight). No problem. I charged the Watch when I got to the hotel and it still had quite a bit of charge left. Then I just charged it whenever I showered and that worked for me.

The Watch isn’t like a phone. It doesn’t have a lot of background apps running and the battery life between charge intervals is more than enough.

Simple. To "run out" means to drop to a 0% battery level. That has never happened to my Watch since I've unboxed it.

Good for you, but with a battery life measured in hours, not days, unless you've got a life that's on such a routine that you charge it every day, it's going to run out of battery. I have a Series 4 watch and that thing spends most of its time at 0% battery level. It's not so useful when I'm just sitting at home, so I don't bother to charge it unless I'm planning on going out.

Battery life is actually 1.5 days for Series 7, and whatever routine one has with smartphone charging, one can implement the same with Watch. I tend to shower daily but I know a lot of Northern Europeans have different ideas about that so charging at bed time works too.

Most Apple Watch owners charge their watch while they’re asleep at night.

It still works in power reserve. https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT212171

Take out your phone?

What happens if your phone runs out of battery? Take out your tablet.

Fumble in wallet for suica / oyster card?

Using any NFC device

You can buy NFC rings these days

Best for who wearing watch on right wrist

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