Octopus for Tourists Ratings and Reviews

Only worked for a day! Then started having problems to enter and exit. It seems like the gates do not recognize Octopus card in Apple Pay! Ask to use HK Octopus card to enter/exit. The customer service have have cleared some things and ask to try again. The first try still doesn't work. Back to the second time to clear it then work to enter. But next day has the same problems. So I canceled the Octopus app and back to the physical card.

i know lots of reviews have common experiences in app failure, but it’s working well for me after a day in HK so far, and i appreciate the convenience of use for both public transit and purchases in most places. before travel, i linked my credit card to the app and added a couple hundred HKD. i also added the card to my Apple Wallet before travel. and now that i’m here, it’s been working for me no problem. also no issues adding more funds as needed. i did experience concerns from the bank about the foreign transactions before i left, but it wasn’t a big deal to clear up and notify them of my travel.

First of all, after transferring the card from the physical card to Apple Wallet, I did not receive the HKD50 deposit refund at all. Customer service is absolutely useless in providing a solution as well.

Additionally, I have noticed that from time to time, the MTR gate fails to recognize the Octopus express transit payment and instead conflicts with the Visa payment, when it happens, you'll be THAT person clogging up the gate with a long queue behind you giving you the dirty look, I would advise tourist to simply keep to using the physical card to avoid this headache.

Last but not least, you can no longer top up with cash if you use the Apple wallet version, since you can't insert the card into the top up machine. This tourist app charge a higher conversion rate.

I read so many of the recent reviews and was scared to try it, but I did anyways. It was easy to create a new card (I paid with an Apple Card via Apple Pay). Yes, their conversion rate is 6% worse but I’m used to “foreigner taxes” everywhere I go (especially at museums and famous tourist sights) and 6% is MUCH less than the 5-10X markup they charge in India. I found most businesses and restaurants accept international credit cards but there were a few that only accepted cash and Octopus. Paying at those locations was a piece of cake.

On my last day in Hong Kong, I needed to top up. That process was just as straightforward for me using the same payment method.

What I haven’t figured out is how to get the $50 HKD refund. I won’t be worrying about that as I know I’ll be going back later this year.

I only gave the app 4 stars since it is far from being a polished app. But it did its job for the 2 things I asked of it.

I wish you all good luck and hope it works for you too.

I was able to get an Octopus card using this app. I didn’t have to visit an MTR station or 7-11 store. I also got my deposit refunded from the app. The app works great.

I felt compelled to write a 5-star review after seeing many 1 star reviews that complain about the 6% service fee. The fee should not be the reason for a low rating. The app works great. Fees are part of everyday life. Complaining about fees is like complaining that everything in the world should be free.

Lots of places in the city only take cash or octopus - it’s really helpful to have this when visiting. Plus you need it to ride the MTR.

The other bad reviews are about a slightly suboptimal exchange rate, which I think is no big deal, and the fact that you can’t refill cards. That one is annoying (which is why I gave 4 stars), but it’s easy to work around by just creating new cards instead. The old ones can be refunded when you’re done with them.

I downloaded Octopus for Tourist on iPhone and tethered to Apple Watch. Everything was great for the first couple of days, I could use it everywhere and was able to add funds. Then suddenly adding fund always failed for unknown reasons. I called my visa card and it wasn’t due to any card problem.
Could be better if it works, and accept more payment option other than Apple Pay only.

Just like Suica in Japan and EasyCard in Taiwan allowing e-purchase in convenience stores and mass transit. Did have problems reloading card initially but once figured out sequence of steps became easy. For peace of mind I also carried physical card as backup - and it gives me the souvenir to take back home. Lots better than fumbling with coins and paper bills.

PLEASE! Get the actual physical card so you can have a souvenir (or return), be able to actually top off your card with cash, not get exchange rate scammed (6% under market), not have to wait 6-8 weeks for a refund and get charged $11HKD for closing your account within 90 days. For god sales, it’s literally an app for tourist and we’re going to get our remaining refund and delete it as we don’t need it anymore…first and last time using it if I go to HK in the future.

Conceptually, this app should be great and a boon for visitors to Hong Kong. However, the app forces the user to choose a non-HKD payment currency (with no choice of paying in HKD). This wouldn’t be a problem were it not for the fact that the forced dynamic currency conversion (DCC) carries a mark up of ~6% vs. current market exchange rates (as observed on 4 September 2020). As far as I’m aware, this situation of forced DCC is actually a violation of both Visa and MasterCard rules and subject to dispute and chargebacks.

Please provide appropriate currency choice or remove the ridiculous DCC markup.