apple pay on watch declined in london tube

Hi

In the first instance, I suggest that you contact your card issuer, in order to establish whether they declining the initial payment attempts and, if so, why.

If you then remain concerned about a potential hardware defect with your Apple Watch, then I suggest that you contact Apple Support (remote diagnostics and/or mail-in service may be available, if required), make a Genius Bar reservation or visit an Apple Authorised Service Provider for assistance:

Apple Watch Service Answer Center - Apple Support

The successful second attempt shows your arm was very steady in front of the reader and the watch appears to be (almost?) in contact, but on the first attempt the watch seems to be a little further away and your hand is moving slightly to the right. I don’t know if this would make a difference but it will be worth looking for a pattern if the failures continue.

You say your Apple Watch is working OK for other payments (different location and type of reader) and it worked on a second attempt in your video. This tends to suggest there is probably no defect in the Watch or Apple Pay setup, and it is more likely to be a problem with the TFL reader(s). You could try to notice whether the problem is all TFL readers, or only one type or location. This might give more clues like the readers have unusually low working range, or maybe electrical noise from equipment around you interfering with a very low level (short range) radio signal.

The other interesting test might be to try paying with your iPhone rather than the Apple Watch for a few days. If for some reason the reader or TFL backend doesn’t like Apple Pay this should show them problem.

I didn’t explain clearly! I’m suggesting to use the phone a few times *only to test* an alternate ePay method and prove it is not something to do with Apple Pay or the card configuration.

For better or worse I’m at a safe distance from London, so much as I would like to help solve the problem I can’t test their readers against my AW3. However, that suggests another thing to observe... do you see many other watch users having to make multiple attempts? If not, maybe the NFC signal is weaker than usual on your individual AW3 and it is close to the sensitivity level of the TFL readers.