T-mobilitat public transport pass now available for iPhone users

Catalan iPhone users will be able to use their own personal devices to travel on Catalonia's public transport system using the T-mobilitat contactless transport pass starting on Friday.

The Barcelona Transport Authority (ATM) announced in a press release that the system is now available for free for those who download the 'Cartera T-mobilitat' app from the App Store.

Until now, iOS users could only use the T-mobilitat app to top up and check their card balances. However, the device's NFC system did not allow a virtual card to be used as a payment method for transportation.

After the European Union forced U.S.-based Apple to open its iPhone NFC chips to developers in the EU, ATM asked commuters to use their devices to pay for transportation in Barcelona and Catalonia, where the T-mobilitat system is in place.

"This new T-mobilitat update will allow Barcelona, and in the future the whole of Catalonia, to have an integrated system that links transport options and modern mobility," said Sílvia Paneque, Catalan regional minister and ATM president, in a written statement.

Two apps required, not Apple Wallet

iPhone users will need to download "Cartera T-mobilitat" from the App Store to use their smartphone as a payment tool.

However, commuters will also need a second app: the existing T-mobilitat app, the TMB app or the FGC T-mobilitat. One of these three apps allows you to check and recharge the contactless card that will now be linked to the newly launched "Cartera T-mobilitat".

To use iPhones, commuters need to unlock the device, open the Cartera Mobility app and click on 'Validar' before holding the phone up to the ticket validator, unlike Android users who only need to unlock the phone.

Barcelona follows Paris in Europe in using iPhone devices to validate public transport tickets, but while the French city has the ticket on Apple Wallet and can be used as an "express transport card," the T-mobilitat needs its app.

"Most of these cases are not public transport tickets, but credit cards that work as public transport cards, and payments are made on a usage basis once the device is near the validator," reads a statement released by the ATM.

"The goal of the ATM has always been to have a virtual T-mobilitat that allows phone users to use it as a physical card with integrated plans and subscriptions," it continues.

Availability of the Cartera T-mobilitat will be gradual with users having to join a waitlist as soon as they download the app.