Apple Pay double charges on London buses, Bitcoin may be the next choice

Apple Pay has always been regarded as one of the most innovative ways to pay with a mobile phone. Whether it is worthy of the reputation or not, everything remains to be tested by time. However, since Apple Pay was put into use in the UK recently, it has been in trouble with the London Underground system. Users who use Apple Pay to pay are easily overcharged when riding, which is obviously inconsistent with the original operation plan of the system.

As more and more people use mobile payments, manufacturers and payment processors are trying their best to piece together a payment solution that can be used everywhere. However, even technology giants like Apple, which first occupied the commanding heights of mobile payment services worldwide, often encounter problems in the specific operation process.

Passengers living in the capital of London may feel this most empathetically. They have found that Apple Pay has a wide range of applications and can be used to pay for transportation within the city, but there is a problem of "double charging". For example, when a person who holds both an Apple phone and an Apple Watch uses Apple Pay to take a ride, the fee has nothing to do with the distance and time of the ride. The system always defaults to deducting the highest fee.

Imagine walking into the entrance of the London Underground and paying with your Apple Watch. So far, everything seems to go smoothly and the money is automatically deducted from your account. However, the next step is where the problem comes in. If your iPhone is also linked to the same account, you will be charged again when you leave the station.

The reason is simple: Apple Pay creates a separate ID number for each product user, and the iPhone and Apple Watch will default to two different ID numbers, even though both devices are linked to the same account. Therefore, the London public transport system reminds passengers to carry only one Apple device when riding until this problem is resolved.

A spokesperson for Transport for London said that a weekly maximum limit has been set to prevent overcharging and user abuse of the system. However, every charge made by Apple Pay is linked to a personal device. At the same time, the spokesperson also mentioned:

"To really take advantage of your daily and weekly payment limits, consumers need to use the same device throughout the day. We don't have access to data between devices that are linked to each other. So if two devices are linked to the same account, a user could be charged twice on the same day."

Although the Apple Pay issue has caused a lot of trouble for London commuters, it has also provided an opportunity for Bitcoin to be used as an alternative payment option. Bitcoin transactions can be completed directly by scanning a QR code, and the near-field communication and low-power Bluetooth functions are still controlled by consumers themselves.

Asking passengers to scan a QR code one by one could slow down traffic, especially in a metropolitan city like London, but if transactions can be done directly via near-field communication and Bluetooth low energy, they can be as fast as Apple Pay. This approach must also ensure that there is no double charging.

In addition, Bitcoin is often installed on mobile devices by members of the Bitcoin community, which is very suitable for Bitcoin as a micropayment, such as public transportation. Moreover, Bitcoin can use near-field communication technology like Apple Pay, so no additional infrastructure is required for support.