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Navigo Pass: Apple Wallet vs. IDF Mobilities

Rather than purchasing an actual Navigo Easy card, a virtual Navigo card can now be purchased either by using Apple Wallet on an iPhone or through the IDF Mobilities app. Question: Are these just 2 different ways to purchase the same virtual Navigo card? Thank you.

Posted by
2673 posts

A properly configured smartphone may replace the use of Navigo cards, iphone or Android.

Posted by
30 posts

Yes, I understand. I just wanted to be sure that the virtual Navigo pass is the same on the iPhone & the IDF Mobilities app.

Posted by
3318 posts

Is this working on the iPhone now? It was my understanding that they were having a problem getting it to work reliably on the iPhones, but the android phones worked fine.

Posted by
10051 posts

They opened it to iPhones earlier this summer. My boss has used it since then on his iphone just fine. So yep it is a new development!

Posted by
30 posts

My understanding is that as the Navigo smart card was designed to replace the paper tickets, so the virtual Navigo pass on smart phones might replace the smart cards.

But back to my original query...is the virtual Navigo pass on the iPhone the same as as the virtual Navigo pass on the IDF Mobilities app?

Posted by
12313 posts

There are youtube videos by a couple called Les Frenchies (American wife/French husband now living in Paris). You could check the date, but he says definitely not Apple phones and works marginally on Android phones. Based on that, and similar comments here, I'll go with the Navigo Easy card (and pay the 2 euros) rather than risk it not working on my phone.

Posted by
30 posts

Hmmm..although that might just be a rumored opinion, it certainly it worth looking into. Thank you.

Posted by
14607 posts

@TravelBoss....the ability to add to iPhone is a recent addition. The Les Frenchies video is older and out of date.

Posted by
10051 posts

Pam's right. The iPhone came on as a possibility in May, so the Frenchies video obviously predates that. My boss uses his iphone all the time now without any problem.

Posted by
1550 posts

The info about the Navigo not being available for IPhone is outdated. I’m currently in Paris for the Olympics with a virtual Navigo Easy loaded on my IPhone. I’ve been using the ticket on my virtual Navigo to get on trains, trams, busses and metros these past few days and it works like a charm.

You buy your tickets in de IDF app and then you load them onto the wallet app on your IPhone or Apple Watch. You can’t buy the tickets directly in the wallet app, you have to go through the IDF app. Think of the IDF app as the ticket office/machine and the wallet app as the virtual Navigo.

Posted by
30 posts

Thank you, all, for the update.

Dutch_traveler: The Navigo Pass can be purchased directly in Apple Wallet. Go to Wallet, click on the "+" sign, then select Transit Card. On the next screen, navigate down to "France" & click on "Navigo Paris". From there either the number of days or the number of tickets you wish to buy. Payment is then made directly through Apple Pay.

Posted by
1550 posts

Ah I see. However in the wallet you can only choose from a limited selection of available tickets. The tickets that you need to load on a Navigo Decouverte can’t be purchased that way. I’m in Paris for the entire duration of the Olympics, so I have bought a month pass for July and will buy one for August. This pass had to be loaded on a (virtual) Navigo Decouverte which has my name and photo on it.