IPhone automatically activated for TfL contactless payment when entering London area

[TUC]

I have had a new IPhone for several weeks, but yesterday was my first trip to London since obtaining it. I noticed when somewhere around the outer London boundary a message came up on screen with words to the effect of advising me that my phone had now been activated for being used for payment on TfL tube and rail services without facial recognition being needed (and giving me the chance to opt out if desired).

I have no problem with this, and I understand how contactless payments work. I use them all the time. What intrigued me was that TfL appears to have some kind of geo-location arrangement with Apple (and other operating systems?) to automatically only turn on this functionality when entering the TfL area for the first time. Does anyone know whether this is the case?

 

[Railguy1]

Why would Apple need an arrangement with TFL? They can just use the public APIs of the locations of the stations and combine that with the GPS data from the phone.

 

[TUC]

Why would Apple need an arrangement with TFL? They can just use the public APIs of the locations of the stations and combine that with the GPS data from the phone.

In order for the specific functionality for the lack of a facial recognition requirement to come into effect. After all, such messages don’t appear every time one moves into another bus or rail company’s area, even if they similarly do not require facial recognition.

 

[Haywain]

In order for the specific functionality for the lack of a facial recognition requirement to come into effect.

Essentially all they are doing is using your location to tell you that you can use ApplePay in transport mode. To do that needs no authority from TfL, just identifying where you are.

 

[Starmill]

If you open your Google Wallet app and look at say Go South Coast this shows a tracking functionality which you can switch on. I did wonder if TfL Go is going to be doing something like that when they announced the old app is being shut down.

Now it is gone, perhaps we'll see something? Or perhaps Apple Wallet can do it already. You can open it and find TfL on Google Wallet but this currently appears to do nothing beyond displaying a holding message.

 

[TUC]

Essentially all they are doing is using your location to tell you that you can use ApplePay in transport mode. To do that needs no authority from TfL, just identifying where you are.

No, it's a different message than that, and why would it specifically happen when entering Lindon?

 

[Starmill]

In order for the specific functionality for the lack of a facial recognition requirement to come into effect. After all, such messages don’t appear every time one moves into another bus or rail company’s area, even if they similarly do not require facial recognition.

Isn't it always opted out by default?

 

[TUC]

Isn't it always opted out by default?

That's what I thought, hence my puzzlement at the message.

 

[Skie]

Apple mention automatically enabling it based on region, which might explain why you got the message.

In some regions, Express Mode is supported. If you are in one of these regions, when you add an eligible payment card or travel card to Apple Wallet, Express Mode will be turned on by default. You can also change which card is set to Express Mode.

From https://support.apple.com/en-gb/118625