Octopus Reviews

Seamless and convenient for a tourist even before you arrive to Hong Kong while supporting Wallet application.
Yet whenever I top up using my credit card the transaction type is set to “Cash Advancement” from this app which is translated to interest rates and administration fees which much more than top up amount. Each time I topped it up I was charged administration fees of USD 41 beside the interest! I am not it is a mistake or on purpose therefore, this is a red flag.

Set up was Easy, added to Apple Wallet Easily; but then Top up within the Apple Wallet does not work; and also in the this app Tourost App, a simple Top Up using - Mastercard - Apple Pay does not go through.
If a developer has taken the responsibility to create such as important app, then it needs to work seamlessly.
This is app is very poor at the moment.

You are unable to top up via app/apple pay as others have said. Only way I was able to top up was by visiting a customer service desk in the station and use cash.

Octopus needs to be fixed now to allow top up’s with Apple Pay as advertised.

Octopus is very glitchy. Was able to load it to start using debit card. 2 credit cards and apple cash not accepted. Then as an experiment attempted to top up and found debit card that worked previously is now rejected, as well as other credit cards and apple cash

Added fund and used it just fine for a day. The next day I could not add fund anymore and I confirmed with my bank that the problem was not on their side.

On top of reliability issues, they charge extra for currency conversions and force users to pay in foreign currency so that we cannot get the much better visa/Mastercard conversion rates.

This thing is worse than useless. It doesn’t work to be able to pay for anything AND they rip you off with a ridiculously high “handling” fee when you try to demand a refund.

Don’t waste your time. They are preying on foreigners trying to rip us off. Just buy a real card and use it.

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, Octopus should be great and a boon for visitors to Hong Kong. However, Octopus 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.

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 this app 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.

All my Apple Pay transit cards had successfully moved to my new iPhone, except my tourist this app card. The Wallet app tells me to try to add this card later, and this stupid app just tells me to get a new card like I'm a new customer. No explanation or guidance to recover my existing card. Also, the exchange rate is a rip-off.

I downloaded this app 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.

So it worked for the first few transactions. But then when I tried to top up through Apple Pay, it did not work. Then when I tried to top up through Octopus it kept telling me to call their hotline. Thankfully, I don’t need it anymore. So I used the rest of the money and deleted Octopus . Never using it again. Cash is better.

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 Octopus 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.

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.

Lots of places in the city only take cash or this app - 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 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 this app. 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 Octopus 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.

Octopus is simple and works for me. I wish I could use same card on my phone and my watch at the same time, but that’s only a minor complain.

Worked flawlessly for three days in HK, was concerned after reading other reviews but maybe they’ve updated it.

It worked perfectly for me during a one-week trip to Hong Kong. Top up worked fine too. No problems at all.

I was able to get an this app card using Octopus. I didn’t have to visit an MTR station or 7-11 store. I also got my deposit refunded from Octopus . Octopus 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. Octopus works great. Fees are part of everyday life. Complaining about fees is like complaining that everything in the world should be free.