SmarTrip

• Free

Last verified 28 Jul 2026

2.2 93 ratings · App Store

1. 3/5Stored Value Needs More Options

   For those that don’t live around DC but visit occasionally from the surrounding states, we don’t need passes which are overpriced compared other metro areas. The store value pre-set options have not been updated to reflect changes in fares. Why would anyone need to add $4? Evenings and weekend rates are $2.50 so if you’re going to have a minimum preset, make it $5. However, I think you need to give the option to put exact wha you want to add, including cents similar to adding value at the machine in the stations. I don’t want to put more on my card than I need because my visits to DC are infrequent. Give us more flexibility with stored value. Thanks.

   JB757 · 28 Jul 2026

2. 1/5App Could Use Improvements (or a Complete Do-Over)

   There’s not much to say except that other reviewers who have noted problems are all correct. This feels like an app that was developed by people who knew they’d never have to use it… maybe bc they don’t have smartphones? Idk- it’s very unintuitive. Tapping on a SmarTrip card on the Home Screen doesn’t open info on the card- you have to go to the bottom and open a different view to see info on your cards. (??) I gave up trying to add a favorite route or station. It says I should be able to, but there doesn’t appear to be a mechanism to do so on the screen. Searching for one to add kind of works, but then there’s no icon or swipe or text or anything to let you actually add them to favorites, so that’s pretty pointless. Trying to set up auto reload was a fail oat nightmare that other users have already captured. If it doesn’t work (for whatever reason), then take the option off the app. I get more up-to-date info from twitter/x than I do from the trip tools. A pulled-in feed of the #wmatasucks tag might be more helpful than the tools that are present. Honestly, while the app looks very pretty and looks like it should do things, it only does some of what you want sometimes, and it never does it as well as any other tools- whether it’s a physical card, Google maps, or twitter/x. So why bother.

   Jingying · 28 Jul 2026

3. 5/5easy and intuitive

   I think, respectfully, that some of the negative reviews may come from individuals who just don’t know how to use a smartphone. I was able to create an account, confirm it, buy a pass, and link it to my Apple wallet in like 4 minutes. I’d gently suggest that those who are having trouble with the app ask their child or grandchild for assistance before assuming it is the app’s fault.

   marikataa · 28 Jul 2026

4. 1/5Don’t switch

   I switched my physical SmartTrip card to digital, but am switching back after several months of trying to make it work. ~10% of the time, the card reader at the turnstile gives me a card read error, and then when I tap again, it tells me it’s invalid. So then I have to go to the station manager, because the tap counted, it just didn’t let me through. Twice, there was no station manager and after waiting fruitlessly stuck, I bought a card and added money so I could get to work. The system just bugs out too often—cancels out any convenience of having it on my phone.

   AHutchis · 28 Jul 2026

5. 1/5Frustrating

   This app doesn’t even have a map of the metro system on it. It’s also missing the trip planner tool on the WMATA website, which would be very useful to find metro or bus routes rather than searching them by name or location on the trip tools tab. The trip tools tab is quite useless. Unless the location you are searching is exactly located on a bus stop or the metro line, it doesn’t find the transit options in the area. When searching for transit options, the number on the bus should return that bus route in the results, but it does not. The search does not offer any similarly named suggestions, so finding bus routes to see the map and schedule is quite difficult.

   annoyedconsumer5 · 28 Jul 2026

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