Suica Card - App !

[AntonyJ]

Here is a nice development, for folks that are interested, there is now an English Suica card app – for both iPhone and Android am told – see pic below of apple Store graphic:

It allows you to have a Suica card on your phone, without first having a physical card to them move onto your phone.
This is of course if yours is a model of iPhone that has the extra IC chip in it, most models from last few years do, but let Google be your guide.

Have read it allows you to create an account (in English) and then add money to the newly created virtual card on your phone, via Apple Pay (or similar on Android) and I believe you can also top it up when in Japan, at stores and machines in the stations.

As I have a Suica on my phone already, the app only works partially for me, but anyone who does not have a card on their phone and fancies giving it a go…….

There are a few cons to having it on your phone to be aware of.

1 – with a physical card you can hand it back in at a station and they will give you back the money left on the card, back in your hand. Not an issue for me as I just used my balance in Tokyo Hands store to pay part of the bill what was left on my Suica, the rest via cash.
2 – I added cash to my Suica via Apple Pay or via convenience stores at the till, but you should also be able to do it in train stations at Suica top up machines, of which nearly all stations have them.
However, the machines I saw had slots for the Suica card to be pushed into (think ATM) and only saw one machine than had a “shelf” you could rest a phone into – to charge the Suica on a phone via.
Not an issue for me as did Apple Pay / stores – but worth bearing in mind.