A TikToker has revealed a super fkn handy feature if your iPhone dies while you’re out and about: it turns out you can still use certain cards and keys that are stored on it.
Anastasia Koss, a TikToker based in Hong Kong, posted a vid saying she’d learned how to use her Apple Wallet when her phone is dead. As you might expect, the comments were full of people echoing the same sentiment: what the fuck?
@ak_mao Someone in the subway showed me 😂 #applepay #todayyearsold ♬ original sound – 𝟒 𝟒 𝟒
In a shred of bad news, it’s not specifically Apple Pay that works when your iPhone is dead. But loads of features that are linked to your Apple Wallet can still work.
“This only works for my Octopus [transport] card and bank card in Hong Kong. Not sure about other regions!!” Anastasia commented on her video.
She was able to use her flat iPhone to tap out of public transport ‘cos her transport card was stored on her Apple Wallet, per 7News.
On the Apple website, it explains that your phone can still support Express Mode transactions if it’s recently run out of charge.
If this is the first time you’re hearing about Express Mode — mood. It turns out Express Mode includes certain cards, keys and passes stored in your Apple Wallet. You can use ’em without actually unlocking your phone.
So if your iPhone dies, a payment or transit card designated as your Express Transit card for public transport should still work. Once again I simply cannot wait for the day I can pop my Opal card on my Apple Wallet.
It should also work for student ID cards, car keys, home keys and hospitality or corporate access cards all with the Express Mode turned on.
The feature has actually been around for a couple of years, but shoutout to TikTok for bring it to my not-tech-savvy-at-all self.
Alas, the handy little hack doesn’t work if you’ve manually shut down your phone. It also only works on newer iPhone models: the iPhone SE (second generation and later), iPhone Xr and then iPhone Xs, 11, 12 and 13 variations. RIP my fellow iPhone 8-havers.
Apple says you can see the “cards, passes and keys available for use with power reserve” by “pressing the side button or the Home button when your iPhone needs to be recharged”. But it also warns that pressing the buttons reduces phone battery, as a lil FYI.
So there ya have it: a flat iPhone isn’t necessarily the end of the world. I’m personally manifesting the next feature is the ability to keep playing podcasts on a dead battery.
