Tap Down Under

‘Hands’ on with the Amex Band

August 31, 2018 by Beau Leave a Comment

Wearables seem to be all the rage nowadays, from ‘smart’ wearables like the Apple Watch (with Apple Pay), Garmin smartwatches (with Garmin Pay) or even Fitbit devices (with Fitbit Pay), through to ‘dumb'(er) bits, like the Bankwest Halo ring, or the Inamo Curl.

While you can add your American Express card to pretty much every digital wallet out there, Amex Australia have decided to also ‘put a ring on it’, by launching the Amex Band – an exclusive offer for those dropping by the American Express Lounge during the Vogue American Express Fashion’s Night Out in Sydney and Melbourne.

Virgin Australia Membership Passes take flight, following boarding passes

November 9, 2017 by Beau Leave a Comment

Virgin Australia was one of the big partners around Apple’s Passbook launch several years ago, allowing you to check in for your flight online via your mobile phone, and then had the option to add it to Passbook. No more having to deal with filing emails or carrying printouts – it would just appear on your lockscreen at just the right time (a few hours before your flight) like magic. This was later enhanced with a brand new iPhone app, storing your membership details, points history, and boarding passes.

In the last few weeks, Virgin seem to have added the option to have a ‘Digital Membership Card’, allowing you to put your ‘card’ in Wallet (and Android Pay too!). [Read more…] about Virgin Australia Membership Passes take flight, following boarding passes

Prezzee adds support for Apple Wallet

November 6, 2017 by Beau Leave a Comment

Prezzee, an app for iOS, Android and the web has today added support for Apple Wallet.

For those who have never heard off Prezzee, it’s a quick and easy way to buy, gift and share digital gift cards from a range of different retailers, including places like JB HiFi, David Jones, Myer and so on.

Prezzee was actually one of the first Australian apps to add Apple Pay support over a year ago, making it super easy to buy gift cards with a touch of your fingerprint.

Today this support extends to Apple Wallet. Previously any gift cards you had bought or received lived in the Prezzee app – which while not terrible, supporting all the bells and whistles including the remaining balance on the card, obviously wasn’t ideal when you’ve got s perfectly acceptable Wallet app built in.

Android Pay gains Full payment history and notifications

October 31, 2017 by Beau Leave a Comment

As a Halloween treat, it appears that Google has now added transaction notifications to Android Pay, for payments that weren’t made via Android Pay.

A feature that has been around since day one for Samsung Pay and Apple Pay, and limited to cards issued by American Express, it’s a great way to keep an eye on when your card is being used.

Whenever your card is used, be it Android Pay, using the plastic card instore, using it online or over the phone, or even using it on another device (Apple Watch, Android Wear watch, etc) – you’ll get a notification letting you know where, when and how much.
In addition, the full history will be shown in your payment app, which makes for a handy mini statement. You don’t even need the app from your bank installed!

As you can see in the screenshot below, it seems that Google are still working on it considering that the Samsung Pay notification came in at the correct time, whereas the Android Pay notification was a little more delayed.

Getting started with ‘virtual’ Suica and Apple Pay on your iPhone or Apple Watch

October 27, 2017 by Beau 1 Comment

One of the ‘big’ changes that Apple quietly introduced with the iPhone 8, 8 Plus and the X, as well as the Apple Watch Series 3, is support for Suica no matter where you buy your phone or Watch.

While Suica support was added to the iPhone 7 and Watch Series 2, they were restricted to models sold in Japan. So if you travel to Japan often and wanted to take advantage of Suica on your phone, unfortunately this would mean you’d need to buy your phone (or watch) in Japan. (which then had it’s own list of downsides, for example, the camera shutter is permanently on, thanks to the local laws. As an Australian, you’d also miss out on the effective ‘warranty’ above and beyond a year thanks to your consumer rights).

Apple has changed that this year; you can now both add ‘existing’ cards to Apple Pay, or create virtual cards via the Suica app, which I’ll show you here. You don’t need to fiddle with any settings, nor create any additional App Store accounts! [Read more…] about Getting started with ‘virtual’ Suica and Apple Pay on your iPhone or Apple Watch

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