I was able to take the metro in Île-de-France with just my Samsung smartphone. Several devices of the brand can indeed replace your ticket. Here's how.

Here I am in the heart of Paris, facing the gates of the Strasbourg Saint-Denis station. And I have a problem: my Navigo pass which usually allows me to freely use the metros, RER, trams, buses and Transilien is not in my pocket. Will I have to turn around to pick it up? Or maybe cheat, despite the risks of being checked?

In reality, I did not ask myself these vain questions. I had my Samsung Galaxy Note 9 in my pocket and it can replace a transport ticket in Paris and its entire region. This is also the case with a number of models from the South Korean giant, regardless of the mobile operator.

Without a Samsung smartphone, you must have an Orange or Sosh SIM.

Indeed, remember that when the Galaxy S10, S10 + and S10e were announced, Samsung had formalized its partnership with Île-de-France Mobilités. This collaboration was initially to take effect in March, but following some delays it took until April.

Here is how to turn your Samsung smartphone into a metro ticket.

Compatible smartphones

First of all, be aware that not all Samsung smartphones are compatible. They must at least support NFC and even that does not guarantee their eligibility. Here is a non-exhaustive list of devices that should benefit from this feature according to our latest information:

Note also that we are testing the Galaxy A50 at the moment and that, despite the fact that it has NFC, it is not eligible for the moment. This will most likely change quickly.

Transform the Samsung smartphone into a Navigo pass

In the Play Store, look for the Navigo Lab application (Unpublished) which is accompanied by the mention "Early access".

If you can't find it, just click on this link. In addition, the mentions "unpublished" and "early access" do not necessarily appear if you do not have Samsung smartphones.

Important detail: the number of downloads authorized from the Play Store is limited since it is still an experimental phase.

Open the app and follow the on-screen setup steps.

Once this is done, you can buy tickets on the app and use them directly using your smartphone's NFC.

Important: some readers have nevertheless reported to us that even with a relatively recent SIM card, the service told them that their chip was not compatible with NFC.

How to validate your metro ticket with a Samsung smartphone?

Once you have purchased a monthly or weekly Navigo ticket or subscription, all you have to do is put your Samsung smartphone on the access point and you're done.

Note that it is not necessary to unlock the phone, as you can see from the GIF above. The "My tickets" tab also displays the date and time of validation of the last validated ticket. Handy in case of control.

Finally, it should also be noted that it is currently impossible to set up a Navigo account on the application. Because of this, I could not enjoy my subscription already paid for at the beginning of the month on my smartphone.

I am therefore forced to buy metro tickets or wait until the end of the month to renew my subscription directly from Navigo LAB. A priori, this should be corrected in the final version of the application.

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