Fitbit Transit: Super Urban Intelligent Card (Suica), Pasmo/Japan

[SabrinaFitbit]

This feature suggestion is based on community requests for compatibility with local transit.

[Giampi71]

Hi @SabrinaFitbit, @LizFitbit 

You can close this suggestion as not possible. All electronic payments in Japan needs a chipset called Osaifu Keitai  and/or a mobile connected phone with a certain carrier. This definitely can't happen with the simple NFC used in Ionic/Versa

[elevtechlift]

Hi @Giampi71,

If it's not possible to implement Suica or PASMO with current methods and hardware, could there be other ways to negotiate and partner directly with each IC card operator individually similar to Suica on Apple Pay (Unofficial English guide for clarifications) especially the ones that don't have mobile IC card support yet such as ICOCA and PASMO? If direct IC card support isn't possible to bypass Osaifu Keitai requirements, could it also be possible to negotiate partner with individual transport operators directly (e.g. JR East, JR Central, JR West, Tokyo Metro Co., Yurikamome, Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation, Okinawa Urban Monorail (At the moment, interoperable IC cards such as Suica and PASMO are not supported on this system yet), etc.) for Fitbit Pay mobile ticketing support (regardless if it's individual fare products, reloadable fare products such as virtual IC cards, etc.)? Furthermore do the Versa/Ionic NFC wearables support FeliCa/NFC-F protocols (only focussing on the NFC module not the Secure Element for Osaifu Keitai transactions and card emulations)? If so, I wonder if a custom HCE-F implementation could work (standard HCE-F from Sony and Google has plenty of key limitations preventing support for Osaifu Keit...).

To @SabrinaFitbit,

This idea could accompany this other idea. Then an opportunity for Suica (as discussed here), PASMO, WAON, Octopus, Jelajah, and other FeliCa-based transit and e-money cards can be supported.

UPDATE: Since the previous idea was archived and hidden, I had to post a new idea about FeliCa on NFC Fitbits again but I did found that a new way to incorporate FeliCa into future NFC Fitbits is via FeliCa Network's Mobile FeliCa platform and FAST certification.

[elevtechlift]

It seems Suica support for Charge 4 is coming true though can anyone confirm if this feature is available to every Charge 4 device sold worldwide? @SabrinaFitbit and @LizFitbit, does every Charge 4 model sold worldwide have FeliCa card emulation function? This is so both locals and tourists can use their Charge 4 as a Suica without being limited to recharging with cash only which is the case for physical Suicas. If not, then once COVID-19 pandemic is over, it's disappointing that tourists and travellers aren't considered when implementing Suica and FeliCa card emulation support.

[elevtechlift]

So, Suica support is arriving in March 2021 after all. Though too bad the existing Charge 4 is incompatible with Suica and the Suica-compatible Charge 4 is only available in Japan. Sad for Android users outside of Japan. As for PASMO mentioned in the title, I hope it arrives when every future global model has FeliCa equipped so every Fitbit tourist can easily turn their Fitbit into a local transit/e-money card anywhere worldwide instead of only relying on EMV Contactless based Visa, MasterCard, Amex, etc.

[elevtechlift]

UPDATE: My previous FeliCa idea was archived. Again, as I've stated earlier, Fitbit must absolutely expand FeliCa support to every global Fitbit Pay compatible model so inbound Android tourists won't be left in the dark with no access to any transit and e-money networks without cash. Not every shop or vending machine accepts EMV Contactless (e.g. https://youtu.be/C23Q0QNaViw, https://youtu.be/atzXDfdel0s, https://youtu.be/0xJaI8OlRbw). So I've just created a new FeliCa idea with considerations of the Suica support on the Suica-compatible Charge 4.

[elevtechlift]

Um, why is the idea status still "Reviewed By Moderator"? Isn't Suica already supported at this point?