Octopus app offers you new features (as long as you don’t use an iPhone)
Cashless payment giant streamlines mobile offering, but is limited by Apple’s restrictions on its products
Hong Kong’s cashless payment giant Octopus has launched a new app for topping up and making online payments through mobile phones. But it will not work on all phones, with limits still in place for Apple phone users.
The new app merges the peer-to-peer app O! ePay into an expanded Octopus app.
Octopus CEO Sunny Cheung said having one single app “offers greater mobile payment convenience to customers, who can enjoy the benefits of Octopus’ offline and online payment experience in one go.”
Hongkongers with Android phones will be able to use their handset to contactlessly top up their Octopus cards, check their balance or make online payments.
In shops, they can make a payment just by tapping their phone, if they have an Octopus SIM card.
But if they use an iOS device, like an Apple iPhone, they will still need a separate mobile card reader for some uses, because Apple keeps its contactless functions limited, mostly for its own Apple Pay system.