New York City Subway’s OMNY Card to Soon Offer Apple Wallet Integration on iPhone
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While Apple debuted support for dedicated transit cards six years or so ago, it hasn’t exactly taken the world by storm. It’s available for transit services in several large North American cities, including Los Angeles and its TAP card, Washington DC’s SmarTrip card, the San Francisco Clipper card, and Canada’s PRESTO card in the Greater Toronto Area.
Now, it looks like New York City will soon be joining the club with its tap-to-pay OMNY card, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
… This is a multi-year design-build program being designed with open architecture, and it will be an account-based system that accepts open payments made with contactless credit and debit bank cards, as well as digital wallets in smartphones and watches (known as open loop media) at transit pointof-entry gates.
The New York City transit system has slowly been phasing out its physical MetroCard system over the last few years in favor of a new tap-to-pay system, OMNY. Initially, the system only supported tap-to-pay with a rider’s debit or credit card while also offering support for Express Transit in Apple Wallet — although it was notably one of the first transit agencies in the world to do so.
In recent years, OMNY has offered physical cards that allow customers to load the card with money up front, using cash or a credit or debit card. This not only made things more convenient, but riders also didn’t see gobs of $2.90 fare transactions listed on their monthly banking or credit card statements.
The MTA is now ready to eliminate the MetroCard entirely over the next year or so, making it necessary to provide a reliable and easy way to pay a subway fare.
Enter Apple Wallet.
The MTA is going to announce significant updates involving the OMNY rollout at its upcoming capital program meeting, which include rolling out a mobile virtual OMNY card for regular commuters and students during the fourth quarter of 2025 and offering integrated management of a rider’s OMNY card within the MTA app. Both are expected to be available by December 2025, when the MTA expects the OMNY rollout to reach “substantial completion.”
This means transit riders will be able to add an OMNY card to the Apple Wallet on the iPhone or Google Wallet on Android phones sometime in the coming months.
Transit cards for select transit systems are not the only things you can store electronically and privately in your Apple Wallet. You can also store credit and debit cards to make payments at touchless payment terminals in stores while also being able to pay online with your iPhone, iPad, or Mac at websites and in apps that accept Apple Pay.
You can also save store coupons, loyalty cards, and gift cards for merchants that support Apple Wallet. Coupons that are compatible with Apple Wallet will update automatically, ensuring that you’ll get the latest deals without having to search for them. Loyalty cards are the cards you show at checkout at stores like Kroger, Walgreens, and other merchants to receive discounts on the items you buy at those stores (and it allows those merchants to track your purchasing habits). By storing your gift cards in Apple Wallet, you no longer need to keep track of multiple gift cards.
Some airlines, amusement parks, concert and sporting event venues, and other places that require a ticket or other proof of entry also allow bonding passes or tickets to be stored in Apple Wallet.
Last but not least, a growing number of states now allow their citizens to store their driver’s license or state ID in Apple Wallet, while an increasing number of colleges and universities allow students to enter their student IDs in the app.
Other uses include storing employee ID cards, hotel keys, house keys, car keys, and even your auto insurance information.
