Wise is expanding its travel features for customers in Singapore with a new combination of global QR payments and customisable eSIM plans, giving travellers access to both payment and connectivity tools through a single app.
The new features arrive ahead of the year end travel season, addressing two common challenges faced by travellers overseas: making payments through local systems and staying connected without relying on expensive or inflexible roaming plans.
Singapore customers are among the first Wise users globally to access the combined offering. Wise says it is the first app to bring global QR payments and customisable eSIM plans together in one platform.
A new survey commissioned by Wise and conducted by YouGov among 14,000 travellers across 10 countries found that 61% had encountered payment difficulties while travelling abroad. Among Singapore adults who had travelled internationally during the past 12 months, 87% reported experiencing payment hurdles. Common issues included setting up local QR codes and e-wallets, as well as carrying cash and finding reliable currency exchanges or ATMs.
These difficulties can also affect what travellers experience at their destination. According to the survey, 51% of Singapore travellers had missed out on local experiences such as visiting street food vendors or independent artisan shops because of payment barriers.
Wise’s QR payment feature is designed to address this by supporting QR payments in more than 50 destinations through a single app. While international cards are widely accepted at major hotels and airport retailers, smaller merchants in many countries rely on domestic QR payment networks that can be difficult for foreign visitors to access.
Wise customers in Singapore can use the app to make payments through supported local networks including DuitNow in Malaysia, QR Ph in the Philippines, Swiss QR bill in Switzerland and Qvik in Hungary.
The service also supports payments through Alipay+ following Wise’s partnership with Ant International’s unified wallet gateway. In mainland China, eligible Wise customers can scan QR codes and pay at millions of Alipay+ enabled merchants through the Wise app without requiring a Chinese bank card, local mobile number or separate app setup.
Alipay+ currently supports payments across more than 50 destinations, including Hong Kong, Nepal, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Argentina and Mexico.
Alongside QR payments, Wise is introducing customisable eSIM plans designed to give travellers more control over their mobile data. The Wise eSIM can be installed once and reused for future trips, removing the need to download a new eSIM profile for each journey.
Travellers can purchase data directly through the Wise app and select the amount of data and number of days required according to their itinerary. The app also provides data estimation guidelines to help users determine how much data they may need.
Wise will refund customers for unused data plans they purchase but do not use, which can provide additional flexibility when travel plans change. Data is only used once the eSIM connects to a supported network at the destination.
Standard regional eSIM plans are available across more than 150 destinations, while the customisable data plans are being offered to customers in Singapore, Malaysia, the UK, EEA, US, Canada, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand.
The travel features extend beyond payments and connectivity. Wise Account customers can also purchase pay as you go airport lounge passes, find nearby cash points using the app’s global ATM map and split multi-currency bills with family and friends.
