A physical Octopus card is still the lowest-friction way to use Hong Kong's MTR, buses, trams, ferries and many small merchants. Contactless Visa, Mastercard and UnionPay work at MTR gates, but they do not reproduce every Octopus concession or interchange rule and should not be assumed on every bus or minibus. The Octopus App for Tourists is useful only for compatible iPhone, Apple Watch and supported Huawei users; the ordinary Android Octopus product requires a compatible phone sold through an authorised Hong Kong retailer and a local-style Octopus Wallet setup, so most overseas Android visitors should buy a physical card. Citymapper is the most useful single network planner, with MTR Mobile and the government HKeMobility app as operator and official-data checks. Public transport is normally better than a car. Uber works in Hong Kong and its licensed Taxi option is the clear legal visitor fallback, while the private-car licensing transition is still under way in August 2026. For delivery use Keeta or foodpanda; Deliveroo ended Hong Kong operations on 7 April 2025 and Uber Eats is absent. Cards are common at larger businesses, but keep some HKD for traditional restaurants, markets and payment failures. Enable MyObservatory warnings for typhoons, rainstorms and extreme weather. Hong Kong uses Cantonese in daily speech and Traditional Chinese in writing, while English is official and widely used. Call 999 for police, fire or ambulance; an app never replaces the call.
Optional visitor app for creating and topping up Mobile Octopus on compatible iPhone, Apple Watch and supported Huawei devices.
These apps need data
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How to Pay in Hong Kong