In April 2026, Alipay unveiled a significant enhancement to the NFC transit card feature in Apple Wallet, allowing iPhone users in various cities across China to seamlessly upgrade their cards with a single tap within the Wallet app. This upgrade is now fully integrated with Alipay’s payment system. The rollout includes major cities such as Shanghai, Nanjing, Suzhou, Changsha, Xiamen, Qingdao, Xi’an, Kunming, Tianjin, Shijiazhuang, Shenzhen, Dalian, and Jinan.

Eligible users—those with iPhone 6s or later models running iOS 26.1 or above—will receive upgrade notifications and can complete the process directly through Apple Wallet. After upgrading, users no longer need to pre-load funds onto their transit cards. Instead, they can conveniently top up using Alipay as needed or settle payments after their journey, effectively eliminating the inconvenience of being unable to travel due to insufficient balance.

For Shenzhen users, the process is even more streamlined: they can directly activate NFC transit cards in Apple Wallet via Alipay and simply tap their phone to pass through gates—even with the screen off. To encourage adoption, Alipay is running a promotional campaign where users who upgrade or activate a new card will receive an instant 3 RMB discount coupon for transit rides.

This upgrade maintains the benefits of Apple’s NFC technology, including offline tap-to-pay functionality and low-power operation, while catering to the payment preferences of domestic users. By doing so, it significantly reduces the hurdles for card activation and everyday use. Officials have confirmed that the service will continue to expand to additional cities in the near future.