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

Apple Pay Walmart Feature

Walmart to Begin Accepting Apple Pay in U.S. Stores

Friday August 21, 2026 7:09 am PDT by
After years of holding out, Walmart today announced that it will finally begin accepting tap-to-pay options like Apple Pay in some of its Walmart and Sam's Club stores in the U.S. starting Monday, August 24. The retailer plans to roll out tap-to-pay support to all of its U.S. stores by the end of 2026 and to its gas stations by mid-2027. "We want customers and members to have choice in how...
Read Full Article • 326 comments
Apple National Parks

Apple Pay Supporting U.S. National Park Foundation Over the Next Week

Friday August 21, 2026 8:52 am PDT by
Now through August 28, Apple will donate $10 to the National Park Foundation for every purchase made in the U.S. using Apple Pay on Apple.com, in the Apple Store app, or at an Apple Store, up to a maximum of $1 million. In addition, the annual U.S. national parks Apple Watch Activity Challenge returns on Sunday, August 23 this...
Read Full Article • 17 comments
iphone duo

Apple Announces Foldable 'iPhone Duo'

Wednesday September 9, 2026 10:56 am PDT by
Apple today announced the "iPhone Duo," a new kind of iPhone featuring two screens and a foldable inner display. The two halves of the iPhone Duo connect into a single continuous frame with the same aspect ratio across both displays, and Apple said the transition between open and closed is designed to feel fluid. When fully open, Apple says it is the thinnest iPhone ever made, with an...
Read Full Article • 712 comments

Top Rated Comments

alexandr Avatar
alexandr
71 months ago
yea, america — joining the rest of the world :)
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
C
ceriess
71 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
71 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
71 months ago
This was a long time coming, finally, in Apple’s own backyard.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dontwalkhand Avatar
dontwalkhand
71 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
71 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