Apple Pay With Express Transit Mode Now Available for San Francisco Bay Area's Clipper Card - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Apple Pay With Express Transit Mode Now Available for San Francisco Bay Area's Clipper Card

by

The Clipper card, used for most transit options in the San Francisco Bay Area, now supports Apple Pay with Express Transit Mode. Starting today, Clipper cards can be added to the Wallet app on an iPhone and Apple Watch and used wherever Clipper cards are accepted.

clipper card express transit apple pay
Clipper cards can be reloaded directly in the Wallet app, making it more convenient to travel throughout the Bay Area. Apple has a dedicated Clipper card website with details on how to transfer a Clipper card to the iPhone.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, Clipper cards are used for BART, Caltrain, Muni, VTA and more. With Express Transit Mode, transit can be authenticated with a tap and no need to use Face ID, Touch ID, or touch a transit machine.

Related Roundup: Apple Pay
Related Forum: Apple Music, Apple Pay/Card, iCloud, Fitness+

Popular Stories

American Express Gold Apple Pay Feature

American Express Announces New Apple Pay Feature

Tuesday June 30, 2026 10:27 am PDT by
American Express today announced that you can now redeem Membership Rewards points when checking out with Apple Pay on the web and in apps on the iPhone and iPad. When checking out with Apple Pay on iOS 18 or iPadOS 18 or later, tap on your eligible American Express card (Platinum, Gold, Green, and others) and select the Membership Rewards points option. You can use points to cover all or...
Read Full Article • 15 comments
iPhone 18 Pro Deep Red Feature

iPhone 18 Pro Launching in Two Months With These 12 New Features

Friday July 17, 2026 10:39 am PDT by
It is now mid-July, and that means the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are now just two months away. The devices are expected to look similar to the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, but there will still be many year-over-year changes, with rumored features including a smaller Dynamic Island, 5G via satellite, and more. Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, ...
Read Full Article • 37 comments
Apple 2026 Back to School Graphic

Apple's 2026 Back to School Offer Just Went Live in Select Countries

Wednesday July 15, 2026 11:48 am PDT by
Apple's annual Back to School promotion is now live in select countries in Asia, including China, India, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. The offer provides college students and educational staff with a free item with the purchase of an eligible Mac or iPad model. The exact offer varies by country, with options including a pack of four AirTags, AirPods 4,...
Read Full Article • 19 comments

Top Rated Comments

alexandr Avatar
alexandr
69 months ago
yea, america — joining the rest of the world :)
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
C
ceriess
69 months ago

Add it manually.

But this also means that the physical card can no longer be used after the transfer? How is that for a good customer experience if you can’t get home when your phone’s battery is gone.

The Clipper card, used for most transit options in the San Francisco Bay Area, now supports ('https://transit.applepay.apple/san-francisco') Apple Pay with Express Transit Mode. Starting today, Clipper cards can be added to the Wallet app on an iPhone and Apple Watch and used wherever Clipper cards are accepted.



Clipper cards can be reloaded directly in the Wallet app, making it more convenient to travel throughout the Bay Area. Apple has a dedicated Clipper card website ('https://transit.applepay.apple/san-francisco') with details on how to transfer a Clipper card to the iPhone.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, Clipper cards are used for BART, Caltrain, Muni, VTA and more. With Express Transit Mode, transit can be authenticated with a tap and no need to use Face ID, Touch ID, or touch a transit machine.

Article Link: Apple Pay With Express Transit Mode Now Available for San Francisco Bay Area's Clipper Card ('https://www.macrumors.com/2021/04/15/clipper-card-apple-pay-express-transit/')

Unfortunately it errors out when I try to add my card and hold my phone over it
You don't hold your phone over it. You put your phone directly on it.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
podycust Avatar
podycust
69 months ago

Add it manually.

But this also means that the physical card can no longer be used after the transfer? How is that for a good customer experience if you can’t get home when your phone’s battery is gone.
If you got an XR or newer that’s not a problem as it has power reserve of about 5 hours where you can still use your express travel card method - https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/security/sec90cd29d1f/web
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
D
darkslide29
69 months ago
This was a long time coming, finally, in Apple’s own backyard.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dontwalkhand Avatar
dontwalkhand
69 months ago

Does this work with Tap on/Tap off services like Caltrain? There website doesn't seem to say anything about this. I don't live in the Bay Area but visit sometimes. Would someone mind testing it for me.

I'm seriously considering a trip out once my 2 weeks after vaccine is up just to test this out.
It works exactly the same as a physical card.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
squirrelist Avatar
squirrelist
69 months ago

Will the card still work? If I want to add value to the "card," should I do it via the wallet and it flows to the card as well? or is the card now worthless and the phone is my only option?
Clipper only allows you to have one card per account. So if you enable this your plastic card is deactivated. If they allowed the other card to continue that would be a huge loophole. You could give the card to someone else and if you are both riding transit at the same time it would only charge you once in many cases.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments