ssander

Hello all...

Our last two times in Paris, we were unable to load Mon-Sun week passes on our Navigo cards using the machines at the CDG RER...we had to wait in line and do it in person at the ticket office at the CDG 2 RER station.

We are going to Paris again this spring, and I have learned of the Ile de France Mobilite app. If I understand this correctly, we can load the passes onto our Navigo cards using the app. The app also seems to serve as the card itself when entering the Metro or bus by holding it to the card reader.

Please confirm or correct me regarding these features and let me know any other helpful information I need to know about this app. (How it handles the charges, for instance...link to a credit card, for instance.)

Thanks so much.
ssander

Sarastro

I have loaded countless weekly passes, and monthly passes, onto my Navigo card at the kiosks. Never once have I needed to have it done at the service window. I cannot explain why you might have had difficulty.

However, using the credit card linked Bonjour RATP app or the Île-de-France Mobilité app, you may now purchase Navigo fares and load them onto your Navigo cards.

On Android devices, the apps can be used as cards. The phone must be on, the app active. Some newer Samsung smartphones have the card circuitry built-in, meaning the phone does not need to be on or even have a charged battery, it still serves as a Navigo card.

Apple phones are not yet officially supported as card replacements, but you can use one of the apps to reload a card.

ssander

Thanks...good to know -- we have Apple phones. We're not going till late spring, so maybe they'll be supported as card.

I, also have no idea why the cards would not work on the machines the last trip. The trip before last year, they told us they had changed the cards -- we had to get new ones. Last year they said that our type of card would not work in those machines. Who knows....onprevious trips, the machines worked fine.

Thanks, again.
ss

ssander

Hi all...

I tried to have the app recognize my card and it did not. I got an error message "The service does not recognize the card." It is a Navigo Decouverte card. Is that a problem?

Sarastro

How old is the Navigo card you are attempting to use?

ssander

Not sure...I think 2019. It was during that trip that our even-older card was replaced at the ticket office because it would not work in the machines.

ss

Sarastro

If your Navigo card is gray/light violet, as shown in your photo, next to a green checkmark, it should work with the app. If you have one of the older cards, purple/light blue with the photo on the front, and in this case, marked with the red X, you might need to update your card.

ssander

Looks like I have an older version. (Excuse the bad lighting, but the colors are light blue and dark gray.)..and of course I blurred the photo and number.

ssander

Hi, all...just an update:

The app works with my cards. Either the app was updated -- I had heard it was glitchy when reading cards -- or I did a better job following the instructions (most likely, because last time I didn't realize I was supposed to hold the card at the top of my phone...when all else fails, read the instructions .).

At any rate, now I can load week passes onto our cards the day before we fly.

ssander