yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[General Topics] lagoboss:
Just did it Monroe on the blue line. It was quicker than my regular card

Edit: just tried on the 55th street bus. It had normal ventra processing lag :/

The lady before me tapped her card several times before it worked and then I hovered my phone and it had the processing lag and then my phone said card busy.

I'm starting to think that we are just at the mercy of the load on the Ventra network or windows mobile on the Ventra pad as far as lag occurring :/
[General Topics] BallCity:
See?! I told you. The phone is so much better at transmitting that signal.
[General Topics] lagoboss:
Yep :) I just tried on the 55th street bus. The senior citizen that tapped his card had to touch the pad several times and then it had major processing lag. My phone just vibrated and the pad said go immediately. This is so cool.

Oh and I forgot to add that my phone is in a rather thick holster case.
[General Topics] BallCity:
Ah nice about the case! I have a slim case over my Nexus 5, and that also has no issues whatsoever. It almost feels wrong to be using the phone for the transit lines, but it's amazing. Guess we live in the future huh.
[General Topics] lagoboss:
It does feel very odd. 5 years ago, I didn't even picture these implications for a phone. NFC rocks.

I just hope there is no abuse with it. It's one of the reasons I don't carry my chase card debit card with nfc. It's kind of creepy knowing someone could soft-clone your card if they get close enough.
[General Topics] bigiberg:
I can't get Squareless to read my Ventra card, any ideas?
[General Topics] lagoboss:
Hey, these are the questions I'd ask myself.

Is nfc activated on the device?

Does the phone read other NFC tags? (Like nfc tags or a Chase bank blink enabled card)

Does the phone react in any way when you tap the card? My phone has two types of beeps/bloops for successful and unsuccessful taps.

Do most ventra touch pads read your ventra card?

What device are you you using?

Maybe we can start troubleshooting with more information.

Best
[General Topics] macallik:
Will check this out, thanks.

Shout out from Hyde Park!

Anyways, based on experiences, Ventra confirmation on the bus takes longer than at the train station and have a lower success rate as is if I remember correctly... that is why the CTA was withholding payments for Ventra for a while. They met their train SLA's but the bus readers were still hit or miss.
[General Topics] lagoboss:
+1 for Hyde Park too!

My experiences seem to support this too. The turnstiles are way quicker these days. I feel sorry for bus drivers. Especially on 6 when there are like 20 people trying to get on and they are re-tapping over and over.

Still very excited about duplicating my upass though. I don't have to worry about misplacing the card anymore XD.
[General Topics] calebpw:
military service pass

Does anyone have any experience using with a military service pass. It's an unlimited use pass and am assuming it would work if the Upass worked. I have been out of town but am flying home tomorrow and can't wait to try it. I will post results.

---------- Post added at 02:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:37 PM ----------

Also, when searching for simply tapp app, I don't find one by that name just one named Tapp. However, in the pictures under app description one of the screenshots shows Simply Tapp. Am I correct in assuming this is the correct one? Andrew Stephen is listed as the developer.
[General Topics] BallCity:
In terms of the app, you are absolutely correct - it is now called just "Tapp" in the Android Market and the developer is "Andrew Stephen". That is the same developer for both of the apps you need to download. The website used to setup Tapp is still called SimplyTapp, though.

As for the military service pass - I have no idea, but I bet it will work. Literally this method just mimics the physical card itself. I have pre-tax transit benefits from work, and this works fine to take the balance from there, works fine with transfer fees, etc -- it is literally the same exact thing as a physical card.
[General Topics] calebpw:
Great! As I left my ventra card in Chicago, I can't set it up until I get home. My flight gets in around 1pm tomorrow and I will post whether it worked for me or not by tomorrow evening.
[General Topics] marpat1:
I just saw your original message and you are using cloudride? I don't know what cloudride is but I'm using the app jackless and simplytapp. It should work after that and make sure you copy exactly what jackless gives you.
[General Topics] yours_falsely:
I just got a new phone as well and am having the same problem; I'm getting an unknoqn error. My other phone worked fine and I'm wondering if there's something wrong on the backend.
[General Topics] yep_nexus:
cloud ride

hi, i've read this thread more than once and upgraded my phone in large part to get NFC support. thanks for the info! now i have Tapp which works for the cta when the app isn't trying to connect to SimplyTapp. i emailed the dev to sort out why the app is flaky and he said i should be using Cloud Ride. fair enough.

here's my issue. i don't trust Amazon with permissions, and to use the current version of Cloud Ride, it requires the Amazon underground app to be installed. i tried the APK posted here, but that won't read my Ventra card, like someone else reported. any suggestions or should i just suck it up and use Amazon? N6 on Marshmallow here.
[General Topics] resrevni:
The Cloudride app on Amazon doesn't work either. The developer is a nice guy but he doesn't support his app at all. Currently, Cloudride is able to successfully scan, but cannot save the card on my Nexus 5X.
[General Topics] yep_nexus:
Thanks for the info. Well that's unfortunate. Guess i'll live with Tapp until Ventra gets their app working for this. It should be ready by... 2018 maybe?

On a serious note, the press for this in the market might be pretty reduced, considering the iPeople won't be able to use NFC until Apple allows devs to utilize it. Silly iPeople!
[General Topics] realdaguru:
Welp. Seemed like it was too good to be true.

I've used Tapp for almost a year now and it worked flawlessly until yesterday. I keep getting the error "Could not make a connection"

I've signed into the account, the card is still there, but the app is not communicating with the site.

Has anyone made any progress with this? Any other alternative apps that work?
[General Topics] yep_nexus:
+1

same here, it worked in the morning and by evening the app would not connect. i noticed when i tried to go to simplytapp.com from my phone the site has certificate errors. it loads right up from a desktop though. i wonder if an expired certificate is causing the problem. solving this is another issue...
[General Topics] t3chwizard:
I sent an email to the developer once, and on top of this he put out a new app or updated one on March 15, 2016 (or close to that might be 16th idk) so I'll send another email and see what is going on. Don't lose hope yet. On a new app on the play store by this same "Andrew Stephen" there is a different email listed, so I shot one off to that address hoping for someone to respond and fix this for us.
[General Topics] yep_nexus:
well it's working again as of this evening. if your email to the developer helped fix it, thank you!

now i'm happy to stash my Ventra card back into its RFID sleeve and forget about it for a good long while. cheers.
[General Topics] t3chwizard:
Yay!!!! Sometimes it is the simplest things we overlook that are the key to solving a problem. Working in technology this is something you see time and time again.
[General Topics] t3chwizard:
[MENTION=7338173]yep_nexus[/MENTION] for some reason when I click on the swipeyours card I added the app force closes on me. I'm on Nexus 6 running DU
[General Topics] yep_nexus:
did you try reinstalling it? surprisingly i did not have to re-enter any info after a reinstall.
[General Topics] t3chwizard:
I had to enter my card info obtained from jackless as I didn't have it set up before because my old phone sucked. When you enter the custom info, what part of the number should I be entering? The full string or what?

Also I tried a reinstall and it still force closes on me.
[General Topics] yep_nexus:
yes the full string - http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=64795444&postcount=181

also a restart or power cycle?
[General Topics] t3chwizard:
[MENTION=7338173]yep_nexus[/MENTION]

After restart/power cycle on DU it still force closes

EDIT: I switched to CM and it works without force closing
[General Topics] t3chwizard:
I just tried it on a CTA bus and it did not work. It said "Card not read, please scan again" or something similar. [MENTION=2117317]webmastir[/MENTION] any ideas?

I tried it on the train too and it did not work there either. Tried scanning it several times.
[General Topics] scriptnstuff:
Success!

Got it to work on my Nexus 5X by following this thread, thanks guys!

Do you guys open Tapp and activate the SwipeYours card before you scan in, or do you have Tapp set to`Card Always Activated`?

This is great, I'm pumped it's working!
[General Topics] t3chwizard:
It did not work for me. Do u have a student Ventra card or regular one? I have noticed when I swipe my student Ventra card, the string jackless gives me changes ever couple swipes so I think it could be changing when swiped hence why it won't work for me.
[General Topics] scriptnstuff:
I have a regular ventra card, have been using the app to scan in every time I ride. It has worked every time but sometimes it takes 3-4 swipes. It never works on the first try for me, which sucks, but hey, it works and its free, can't complain.
[General Topics] t3chwizard:
It must be that I don't have a regular card. Does the swipe data change for you each time or few times you swipe with jackless? (If you don't know could you please check that for me in jackless?)
[General Topics] mkone5718:
IS this still working? What are the new steps?
[General Topics] loverdugo:
I used Jackless to get the code from my Ventra card and followed the Tapp instructions. Worked perfectly. Only problem for me is that I have to unlock Tapp every time I want to use it by putting in my PIN.
[General Topics] azgjazeof:
The service SwipeYours (simplybank.us) seems to be down, therefore it is impossible to add a newly scanned card.

Any alternative? Thanks
[General Topics] sirrix:
I'm seeing the same thing. I couldn't find an alternative.
[General Topics] geoff78:
is there anyone who post the download link for cloud ride,thanks
[General Topics] webmastir:
Search this thread. :rolleyes:
[General Topics] ankurR:
Thanks working here?
[General Topics] yours_falsely:
Once again I'm having issues. Has anyone been able to set up Cloud ride recently? I'm running Marshmallow on a note 7 and when I try to sign in I just get "Unable to connect to server".
[General Topics] John`:
Cloud Ride didn't work the last time I used it back in late 2015 either,
[General Topics] YemeniFriend:
Has the app stopped working for everyone now? I was able to use it before, but now I get the Bad Device Error. No I'm not rooted. Help?
[General Topics] Ydisodhxbshz:
Bump for interest, any fix found yet?
[General Topics] DarK_MischieF:
Ventra now officially supports Android Pay, Samsung Pay, and Apple Pay.

More info here
[General Topics] yours_falsely:
These have been officially supported for a while, but just using a tap to pay solution like this doesn't allow transfers because it's a 'pay as you go' (PAYG) transaction. So what might normally cost me $2.50 for a bus to a train, would now cost $4.50. This is one of the reasons why we want to get our Ventra cards on our phones.
[General Topics] t3chwizard:
Yea...I wish the old solution still worked...
[General Topics] gompka:
Transfers now work with pay as you go, so do 7, 10, 30 day passes. No dice for pretax transit benefit though, still have to use the physical ventra card.
[General Topics] sachinbiradar9:
SimplyTapp is no more available on Google PlayStore?
[General Topics] PaKii94:
Discovered this thread looking for a way to get my pretax commuter benefit into google pay. There HAS to be a way. We are ingenious people. Just have to find it :p
[General Topics] webmastir:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tapp :confused:
[General Topics] sachinbiradar9:
It says - "We're sorry, the requested URL was not found on this server."

Is it restricted to some country? I am trying to access it from U.S.
[General Topics] webmastir:
Weird. Works fine for me and I'm also in the US.
[General Topics] ymir606:
So Squareless has always been able to scan the first generation cards, but mine is expiring soon and I got my new card in the mail. The problem is, I can't scan it.

Has anyone been able to get the proper data from the new cards?
[General Topics] yep_nexus:
For those of you still following this thread years later, Ventra (finally) paired up with Google Pay so you can use your phone to pay for transit via NFC again. The catch is once you set up your card in GPay, you can't use the physical card any more. https://www.ventrachicago.com/googlepay-faq/
[General Topics] mstofflett:
I'm going to talk with Ventra in the next couple days about making an official app. I know this is something they have wanted since the beginning... And know that I've figured it out, it shouldn't be that hard.
[General Topics] lagoboss:
OMG, that would be so cool. I'd like to just have google wallet installed so that it doesn't have to fight with simply tapp to be the default app.
[General Topics] calebpw:
Hi guys,

So I made it back home. Had to get my military service pass replaced. However, I am having the same issue as the poster above, with squareless not reading my ventra card.

Details:eek:k I have the AT&T Samsung Galaxy S5. Stock, however i did root using the new 'root towel'exploit. I believe that's the name of it. I do have NFC enabled. My ventra card does work at the train turnstiles as well as the buses. I also tried reading a friends ventra card and it wouldn't read it either. I haven't had a chance to try it with anything else. I don't own anything else, that I'm aware of, to try to read. Can anyone help me troubleshoot by offering suggestions I can use to test the NFC function with. I'm in the loop. Are there anywhere, such as advertisements or businesses I could test it out with?

Thanks,

Caleb
[General Topics] lagoboss:
Welcome back and thanks for your service!

One way to test nfc would be with another person with a S5 or S4. You could try to use s beam to transfer contact details or a photo.

You could also set up google wallet on your phone, link a debit card, and pay at a turnstyle or Mc Donald's. If you test at the turnstyle, it will charge the credit/debit account full fare and you won't get a transfer.

Squareless may have issues with the S5, but I'm not sure.

There seems to be mixed results on the Google Play page as far as the app working or not working. One person claimed that it doesn't work on nexus 5.

Another thing that I just found out is that the NFC feature seems to rely on the phone's battery. If your battery isn't stock, it could impact the situation.

A case on the phone, could be interfering too.

People with an S5, please chime in.

I hope this helps.
[General Topics] calebpw:
Hey thanks for the suggestions. I'll try that, I'll also look into contacting the developer. More to follow.
[General Topics] icmevans:
Does anyone know if this works with a Ventra U-Pass? My Nexus 4 doesn't seem to pick it up. I know my nfc works because a different app picks up one of the ventra temporary cards, however Simplyless does not pick it up at all. Im not sure if its a ventra u-pass thing or the simplless app doesnt work with the way nfc is on the nexus. Any insite would be good.
[General Topics] lagoboss:
It works with my upass, but I have a note 3 international model from Panama
[General Topics] calebpw:
An update, my NFC works fine when tested by using the S Beam function. Must be a problem between the app and the S5. I'm going to contact the developer and let you know when I hear back.
[General Topics] SilverWolf12:
Just set it up and hopefully it will work tomorrow. Many thanks to the OP that made this.

Using an LG Optimus G AT&T, rooted with CM 11 M8 on it.

Has anyone ever gotten weird stares or question when using this? L:ike from the busdriver or the person behind you.
[General Topics] lagoboss:
I kind of freaked out the passengers on the 55th street bus one day, but I haven't had any bus drivers say anything yet
[General Topics] SilverWolf12:
Well I could pull the card info using square less. And I put in the that info in Tapp. But whenever I tap my phone against the fare machine nothing happens. I'm using CM 11 M8 with NFC and Android Beam turned on. Can anyone help me figure out what I'm doing wrong?

Edit: In the meantime, I found that putting my ventra card in the case with my phone so it's sandwiched between the two works. Bus fare machines are a little picky, but L train stops seem to work fine. Hopefully this is a good work arounbd for anybody like me who is having trouble going card free.

Edit2: I couldn't find the SimplyTapp App in the Playstore. Instead there is this app called Tapp. It's made by the same developer who made SquareLess like the OP stated. So I'm using that.

I made my account and everything but the instructions change from the the OP said. Upon clicking Add New Card>SwipeYours, I get to sent to this website. I click the "send application" button and enter the string of characters I got from Sqaureless. Everything proceeds fine, and it tells me my new card is ready. But when I hold the phone over a Ventra fare machine, nothing happens. Any help?
[General Topics] lagoboss:
Before you tap the phone to the ventra pad, have you opened Tapp and selected your ventra card and pressed pay?
[General Topics] SilverWolf12:
This is what I see when I hit the pay button. The fare machines does nothing and nothing happens on my phone.

http://imgur.com/CuGWf9j

Hopefully the second link shows up correctly.
[General Topics] lagoboss:
My on screen card doesn't have the Mastercard logo and stuff. It just says "swipe yours" instead.

Here is a pic:

http://imgur.com/g6zMbjT

I'm not sure if this is due to me having a upass and your use of a regular ventra card or the way that your card was added to Tapp.

Regular ventra card users, does your card inside Tapp have all of that Mastercard stuff or does it just say "swipe yours"?

Nevertheless, any ventra pad should attempt to read the phone when your phone is presented with a Tapp card ready for payment.

Do places like Mc Donald's or the toll booth read nfc payment from your phone?
[General Topics] SilverWolf12:
The info I pulled from square less said MasterCard mobile paypass so I went with that. I'll make a new card when I get home. Thank you for suggestion.

Oh this is the first time I'm actually using NFC on my phone so I don't know if it works at McDonalds. I just assumed NFC on my phone works correctly sine I could pull info with squareless.
[General Topics] DJSmoove:
This mod is a hit or miss for me. I been using this for almost a month now. Sometimes the system doesn't read my phone right and it says try again. Sometimes I have to use my actual card. This is a real neat feature and I just hope ventra comes out with an app soon.
[General Topics] lagoboss:
I've had processing lag too. But I get that on my physical card as well. I don't think it's the phone or card I think the failed attempts and lag are due to the faulty system and Ventra pads. An official app would be nice though :)
[General Topics] usefulidiot127:
Works great for me. As someone else pointed out, the website must have been redesigned at some point and the instructions aren't word-for-word accurate anymore but it was easy enough to stumble through. It took me a bunch of tries to get squareless to read my card.

Doesn't this mean Ventra is kind of...not secure? Should it really be that easy to basically clone an NFC payment card?
[General Topics] mandrsn1:
I'm having the same issue
[General Topics] usefulidiot127:
Here's what I did that worked for me, with the new website format.

Add new card - SwipeYours.

Use the SimplyBank Demo issuer and click send application

Select the Tapp app

Take your string acquired from Sqaureless and type it in the box to the left of "Modify Script." Click modify script when finished

Click personalize card

Click start new application

Select Visa Magstripe SwipeYours (even though MasterCard paypass is an option, don't pick that)

---------- Post added at 10:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:30 PM ----------

I had to scan it like 30 times before it finally read it. My phone kept vibrating as if it was communicating but it wouldn't read the string. Then randomly, it finally worked.
[General Topics] mandrsn1:
It didn't work with my phone. It worked fine on my nexus 7 however.
[General Topics] RUGGNATION:
This is awesome, but what about security? Seems like pubtrans would be the perfect place to snake stuff via NFC since its close quarters and all. And what about double charging like was happening when ventra first launched if you also carry your ventra card?

Either way, even as a proof of concept this is awesome.
[General Topics] sirrix:
thank you!

Worked brilliantly on my Nexus 4! Keep in mind that there is a space before and after the forward slash in the card data. Thank you!

BTW this theoretically could be used to sniff card data..I tried on an AMEX card and it read it through my jeans and wallet. Be vigilant!

---------- Post added at 12:42 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:20 AM ----------

I will say that my Nexus 4 was very finicky in scanning my Ventra card, but it scanned my AMEX card very easily when I tested that. I believe the Ventra cards to be particular. Try in many configurations - it did eventually work quite well once I found the right spot on the card and phone.
[General Topics] SilverWolf12:
After you select Visa MagstripeYours, that's it? I don't have to do anything else? I've been hitting the modify script button and selecting personalize but not continuing on.

I've been putting in a space before the slash, not after so I'll try this and the post above tomorrow. Thank you all for the suggestions. Hopefully it will work for me this time. I can make a card fine, but the ventra fare machine won't read it and nothing happens.

Also, to avoid any security issues, could we use an app like LLama or Tasker to turn on NFC when we open Tapp and turn it off when we close Tapp? Would that help?
[General Topics] icmevans:
You have a nexus 4? How did u get it to read the card? I can't get it to read mine. Can you post what version you are running?
[General Topics] sirrix:
No, you have to continue you on - there are some more detailed instructions on this reddit thread that should help but you keep going until it basically asks if you want to add another card. I can't add the external link but it is in the r/chicago subreddit, the title of the post is "Instructions to add your Android 4.4+ NFC device to an existing Ventra account"

Then you have to sync the Tapp app and authorize the card by hitting on "pay" and then selecting your option.

Re: security, I'm sorry I wasn't clear - the NFC phone app isn't likely a source of being sniffed but you certainly can set a PIN so you have to type your PIN each time you use it. What I was saying is I was unaware phones can be turned into NFC sniffers! This is good advice to everyone to keep your NFC cards (Ventra, AMEX, etc) safe from other people's phones.

---------- Post added at 02:00 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:54 AM ----------

Yeah I'm using a stock unlocked Nexus 4 running version 4.4.4. It took me a hundred tries to get it to work but just try every possible location on the card and the phone - the NFC chip on the Ventra card is a piece of garbage and needs to be right on the right spot on the phone to get it to work.