Translink mLink 4+

Just remember to buy your ticket a day before you plan to travel, then activate the ticket before boarding the bus. You only have a certain amount of time to use the ticket once you click activate before that ticket expires, so make sure your bus is there in front of you. I purchased a return ticket yesterday on the app (via Apple pay) and used the outbound and return tickets today with no issues.

TLDR - App updated and appears to have caused my ticket to expire. App Is crippled due to crashing

Fix - App keeps crashing daily(IPhone XR). Placing phone in airplane mode(no internet connection at all) try and buy a few tickets , It will crash. After a few attempts it should tell you there is no internet connectivity. Turn off airplane mode and buy a ticket. Oddly this fix needs to be done daily.

I followed my normal routine, walked to the bus stop, opened the app to get ticket and I was greeted with a warning that the time or something(can’t really remember error message) had changed on my phone and as a result my ticket could not be verified so my weekly ticket was set as expired. Not only that but it just disappeared from the app. If it stayed I could at least use that along with my receipt to prove purchase. The app then continuously crashed on me. Restarting my phone helped but still crashed numerous times before just magically started working again.

Never had this issue before and I’ve been using the app for about 1 year , however I did notice my phone updated the app automatically with the new version sometime since yesterday evening.

Now I have to waste time getting my money back for my day ticket as I still had to use the bus. If a refund is unsuccessful I would be very concerned about using this app for any monthly tickets now, let alone weekly.

It’s a great idea to purchase your tickets and show them via app but the execution of the app is so bad that you’re far better using their smart card to top up your journeys. Continual issues such as tickets disappearing and then reappearing, tickets prematurely expiring and the most recent ‘clock tampering’ error/glitch makes the app so unreliable that you have to carry cash or a smart card around with you anyway because you’re petrified of now being able to show your ticket to a driver (who are merciless in the face of issues and demand payment). Translink will reemburse you for tickets bought because of known issues but who wants to take a picture and email it every time plus, isn’t the point not to worry about having cash to pay for tickets.
Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t but it’s not worth the pain and risk for so many ongoing errors and I’ll be going back to my smart card.