I use it and it works fine. I usually open google pay and select smart trip as I'm walking up to the terminal, sometimes I have to tap twice but that would happen with my physical card too. Once you've added a card to the smartrip app you can never use the card again; you can transfer the balance to another card or unlink the card in google pay so that you can add the card elsewhere (presumably another phone or switching to apple).

No - more likely to have a dead battery on my phone than I am to not have my card with me, so I avoid it.

I do, one thing to note, there is no way to migrate your card from one phone to another. You have to get a new card, report the virtual card as "lost/stolen", and transfer the balance to a new virtual card on your new phone. This makes its a huge pain in the ass if you have SmartBenefits.

This is the way. They can pry my SmarTrip card from my cold, dead hands.

I use it. And i like it.

The smart trip app on my IPhone works when my phone is dead

Woof, that is exactly the information i needed. I definitely cannot risk that with SmartBenefits

I use my wallet app but not a separate app. I don’t think?

Powered by the spooky ghost of Steve J.

This is incorrect. I have switched to my new phone. You unlink from one phone before you link to another.

Once you make a card digital, I don't think you can go back to using the card though.

You want to add to your Google wallet. The reason the app itself has 1 star reviews is it's buggy. But you can delete the app after you set everything up and it works fine in your Google wallet.

It works great for the most part. It can get buggy with some bus fares, to the point that the driver just waves me off, but never had an issue on rail.

That is a featured called Power Reserve in any recent iPhone that works for up to 5 hours (when the battery is deadish but not dead dead, in this mode it turns off and then shows a "you need to charge me" icon when you press the power button). I think Google is planning something similar but that currently Androids don't have this.

I signed up for it one day when I realized I'd left my credit card at home and needed to reload my SmarTrip card. I added $20 to the app and was able to get into the station to start my trip, but it would never scan at the exit. The station manager tried to help me figure it out, but in the end after many tries we got frustrated and they let me go through without paying. Sooo my app still says I have a trip going (from months ago at this point with no way to end it and start a new trip), and I bought a new physical card. Never again.

Oh that is helpful to know, thanks!

The only issue I've had is on Samsung Galaxy S phones if you don't set Google as the default wallet it can get into a hissy fit for dominance with Samsung Pay. Open Google Wallet, select the Smartrip and tap-out.

This is not true at all…. The WMATA website provides step by step directions. Just did it a month ago when i upgraded my phone.

Yeah, I don't get the supposed utility of the phone thing at all.

Smartrip - take it out of your pocket, tap, done.

Phone - Take it out of your pocket, unlock phone, find wallet app, open card, tap, apologize to the people behind you because you just took 30 seconds to do something that should have taken 1.

Not to mention the fact that people are way more likely to grab your phone when you're holding it out than your Smartrip, and even if they do take my Smartrip it's like $2 to replace instead of $200.

okay far enough, can you unlink if you've already factory reset the first phone, or if your phone was lost/stolen/screen broken?

I use it, almost had a bad time once as my phone was at 1%. IIRC, the smart-trip app kinda sucks, i have the card in google pay. It auto-reloads and all i need to do is unlock the phone. Its convenient because I lose cards all the time (throwing them into my pocket as opposed to back into my wallet, which proceeds to get thrown in the wash or lost to the ether). I do wish the card in the google pay app was actually linked to a physical card so that the physical card could be used if your phone is dead.

I noticed some people mentioning they have to open the google wallet app, I don't have to do this, the phone just needs to be unlocked, but I'm using a Pixel 6 so I'm not sure if its different on other manufacturers like Samsung.

Yeah, I'm thinking that maybe I'll put my main card on my phone then get a backup card with minimal funds to keep in my wallet just in case something happens to my phone.

Question about opening the Google wallet app; do you also use Google wallet for tap to pay for normal purchases too? If so, does the app know the difference? Or do you only use it for your smartrip card? Because I also never have to open the app when using my debit card, but I only use the one card on it

I don't use the phone app/smart wallet so regarding losing the physical card, I actually put it into a slim card holder to not lose it. The kind that has a clear ID window works great too, so you just pull the thing out of your pocket or purse/bag and tap. It makes it a bit bigger and with material that will prevent it from easily slipping out unseen and you can even easily find it in a big messy bag just by touch.

Good question.

In that case you might not be able to transfer it to a new phone. When adding to a new device I got a message about it being locked to my old phone. I unlinked on the old phone before factory reset.

I don't think you can unlink a digital card from a phone from your wmata account online, it has to be done on the phone itself.

so that itself is a good reason not to do this if you have SmartBenefits.

I don’t know if it’s different for android, but I have an iPhone and you don’t have to unlock it at all. Just pull the phone out and tap, just like the metro card. I made the switch when I realized that my phone was always easier to find than my metro card

So even if that's the case you're taking out a far more valuable thing that can drop and break or be stolen. And I don't know why a phone would be any appreciable amount easier to find than a smartrip unless you are wearing parachute pants and have your pockets filled with crap.

There are literally no advantages.

The value point is still correct, I was just commenting on the ease thing, since the sequence you cited wasn’t correct. Most people keep their phone a lot closer than their metro card because you use your phone more often. But that’ll vary person to person. People also have different storage situations, such as bags, jackets, pockets, no pockets at all, etc

Either method can be more convenient, just depends on the person

You don't have to unlock the phone. Just wake the screen.

They do. Samsung Wallet and Huawei Wallet transit cards/digital keys have the ability to operate when the battery is out.