Local AliPay HK Usage

[mmbiker]

You have two options: you can transfer an existing physical Octopus card, or you can generate a brand new card directly on your phone. Take a look at this page and find the video near the bottom: "How to add a new Octopus card to iPhone"

https://www.apple.com/hk/en/apple-pay/octopus/

I have a physical Octopus card in my wallet, and a virtual Octopus card on my phone. Both cards auto-reload (through the AAVS).

This is exactly what I needed!! Keep my existing card and generate a new Octopus card for my Apple Pay!! Thanks bro!

[mmbiker]

​​It's supposedly 2025 in HK, but it often doesn't feel like it, especially when it comes to paying for some things. In recent years in China and the US I never needed cash, but I will admit it was useful in a couple of rare circumstances that 100% could have been avoided (lai see for China and Facebook Marketplace for the US).

I frequent many restaurants in HK that still only take cash. It blows my mind in 2025, but I like their food, so I eat it and keep going to ATMs. In China even a street vendor selling Tofu Fa for 1-2RMB usually has a WeChat pay and an AliPay QR code you can scan to pay. I thought in HK things were getting better when the government rolled out electronic payment subsidies, but plenty of vendors have regressed to cash.

Many taxi drivers make me want to teach them a lesson, but instead of dealing with about a coin toss if I'll have a decent trip, I try to opt for public transportation, which is usually slower, but at least involves less uncertainty. I can't count how many times I've hopefully seen a taxi with an Octopus card reader and/or AliPay HK QR code only to be told: No, cash only.

AliPayHK does work on the MTR and most big buses these days in HK, but it doesn't work on most mini-buses and plenty of lesser bus companies' buses.

Summary, cash is still king in HK in 2025, damnit! Octopus is still second best since 1997, yay for innovation! AliPayHK and WeChat Pay QR codes are seemingly accepted at more and more places in HK, but it's still nothing compared to China's level of seemingly almost 100% acceptance of both almost everywhere that wants money in China even in Tier 5 places. CCs (and their digital forms) work at plenty of well-established places in HK, but it's still almost necessary to have a loaded up Octopus card to really get around HK, and don't forget some cash because well it's still HK after all.

I know what you mean.... For a place like HK, cash is still necessary to have with you at all times... Seriously, I never bring cash with me in mainland China or North America.... AliPay/WeChat Pay/Apple Pay got me covered. I do still bring one credit card with me whenever I go out in North America (not in mainland china) and that's about it.... Dont even carry my ATM debit card anymore....

[mmbiker]

". I can't count how many times I've hopefully seen a taxi with an Octopus card reader and/or AliPay HK QR code only to be told: No, cash only."

Yes, this is super frustrating.......just charge me the processing fee extra and give me the choice of octopus, CC or others........having to have cash and visit ATM in 2025 seems so backwards.

This is why I stop taking taxi in HK. I use Uber instead (also, I assume is slightly less expensive than Taxi and I dont have to explain to the Taxi driver where I need to go...)

[PLamHK]

Seriously, I never bring cash with me in mainland China or North America.... AliPay/WeChat Pay/Apple Pay got me covered.

And if your phone is stolen/breaks and you're a hundred miles from home, you're buggered!

[Guy_in_HK]

And if your phone is stolen/breaks and you're a hundred miles from home, you're buggered!

Well it's nice to have friends when and where you travel. Also if your phone was stolen then I assume your wallet with your cash and/or CCs, debit cards, and the like could also be stolen. Another move while traveling is to leave one credit card and/or debit card in a less obvious place that would be less likely to be stolen in the nearly worst case scenario you can conjure up, but if you never use it you also might forget it. You win some and you lose some.

Anyway, I don't like physical cash, but I like cash equivalents in my accounts that I just view digitally without needing to actually touch dirty physical cash. However, I choose to live in HK, and I understand cash is still useful for the life I want to live in HK. Choices, yay!

[mmbiker]

Well it's nice to have friends when and where you travel. Also if your phone was stolen then I assume your wallet with your cash and/or CCs, debit cards, and the like could also be stolen. Another move while traveling is to leave one credit card and/or debit card in a less obvious place that would be less likely to be stolen in the nearly worst case scenario you can conjure up, but if you never use it you also might forget it. You win some and you lose some.

Anyway, I don't like physical cash, but I like cash equivalents in my accounts that I just view digitally without needing to actually touch dirty physical cash. However, I choose to live in HK, and I understand cash is still useful for the life I want to live in HK. Choices, yay!

That's a good idea! I do travel by myself a lots and I swear by PacSafe backpack to keep my items safe. I had one since 2018.

I hear you, always have a few contingencies.

[Zelensky2]

Well it's nice to have friends when and where you travel. Also if your phone was stolen then I assume your wallet with your cash and/or CCs, debit cards, and the like could also be stolen. Another move while traveling is to leave one credit card and/or debit card in a less obvious place that would be less likely to be stolen in the nearly worst case scenario you can conjure up, but if you never use it you also might forget it. You win some and you lose some.

Anyway, I don't like physical cash, but I like cash equivalents in my accounts that I just view digitally without needing to actually touch dirty physical cash. However, I choose to live in HK, and I understand cash is still useful for the life I want to live in HK. Choices, yay!

That would be a pretty bad assumption. Phones tend to be lost a lot more frequently than wallets. Cash also keeps working if it falls in a puddle, or is smashed into a pavement, or if it's battery dies etc.

Pointlessly foolish in my view to have zero other options of payment than a phone.

Cash has always been more fungible than any other commodity during my entire life, unlikely to change during the rest of it.

[Guy_in_HK]

That would be a pretty bad assumption. Phones tend to be lost a lot more frequently than wallets. Cash also keeps working if it falls in a puddle, or is smashed into a pavement, or if it's battery dies etc.

Pointlessly foolish in my view to have zero other options of payment than a phone.

I did say "could". No plan is foolproof and they all I believe depend on your priorities.

Lost and/or broken =/= stolen in my book, but okay.

I also didn't argue that doing everything via your phone is the way to go. I think having at least one physical credit card is useful, and my previous argument was to also have at least one credit card or debit card not on you, but accessible. I'd rather not spell out all the possible ways you could arrange that, but I don't feel creativity would hurt in such a scenario. Having a backup that would be extremely unlikely to be stolen at the same time as your regular wallet and/or phone is my suggestion.

Some people love physical cash. In HK I still feel it's king, but it doesn't mean I have to like it. I choose to deal with it, but I also have experienced what feels like the future, but it's just not evenly distributed yet.

[tf19]

What is AliPay like with chargebacks?

A little slow. I received an AliPay refund on April 17 for a transaction in the mainland. However my linked Hong Kong issued credit card was credited on the 23rd. Granted there were a few public holidays in there so it may have taken longer than usual.