HN Explorer

What services or apps did you see abroad and wonder: why don't we have them?

45 points by ekusiadadus ↗ HN
When I was in India last year, I used UPI. Paying or splitting bills was as simple as scanning a QR code. Every shop had it, from street food stalls to restaurants. It just worked.

In Singapore, I saw how much could be done with the digital ID system. Filing forms, healthcare, banking—it felt like everything was one login away.

In the US, even a short hospital visit can cost thousands of dollars. It made me wonder why some basic things that clearly work elsewhere are missing here.

What have you seen abroad that felt obvious, but doesn’t exist where you live?

37 comments

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Nextgrid
The Swiss public transport ticketing system. Their app uses location services to automatically determine your fare, so you don’t need to buy tickets in advance: https://www.sbb.ch/en/travel-information/apps/sbb-mobile/eas....

As a bonus there are no ticket barriers so no queues and no overheads of maintaining those machines.

equinox_nl
I don't understand how so many tech-minded people on this site completely disregard the value of privacy. How is this a win?
jjice
I'm a bit confused - how does this differ from something like The Tube in London where I tap on and tap off and it'll charge me based on the entry and exit points and whatever the appropriate "zone" travel I did was?
preya2k
Swiss/Danish/Finnish Mobile Payment alternatives like TWINT and MobilePay.

Also: physical lockers with PIN/Code instead of keys (in basically every country aside from Germany). It's just completely bonkers to me, that German train station lockers still use physical Keys EVERYWHERE.

tdeck
I like the keys. The key has the locker number on it, so you don't have to remember anything. And there's no way to screw up setting the pin because of a language barrier, since there are basically no instructions needed for key lockers. FWIW the key lockers are more common in Japan as well.
seabass-labrax
I agree with you with regard to convenience, but what about security? For the application of railway station lockers, one can assume that they will be under CCTV or other monitoring. I am no expert in locks, but presumably an electronic lock, whilst perhaps less secure overall, is harder to break without obviously looking like one is tampering with it. This is in contrast to a conventional barrel lock, which can be picked with tools that look enough like keys not to arouse suspicion from a distance.
wojciii
I use mobilepay when paying online. Its quicker than the credit card.

But the service is owned by the greedy banks so it will probably end with me abandoning it because it will get too expensive when they have enough users.

ano-ther
London and Stockholm: swipe your credit card for public transport. Great for visitors (I guess for residents a subscription will be cheaper)
Ylpertnodi
App: Fountains in Italy.
tveyben
ThirstyInRome I presume (the only iOS app returned when searching for ‘Fountains in Italy’ :-)
tionate
Old school but all the machines for paying in cash in Japan are so optimized for speed. Train stations, onboard buses, convenience stores. Just throw in a handful of coins and it quickly picks what it needs and returns what it doesn’t.

In other countries (eg australia), the ticket machines could only take a single coin at a time and would reject if you did it too fast.

I believe this is one (of several) reasons why cash has continued to be dominant in Japan.

yen223
Sydney lets you use your credit card to tap on to trains and buses, which is very nice
tdeck
Vancouver does this too, at least on the SkyTrain. Very convenient when you're a visitor.
petralithic
The best part is it's very useful for getting rid of lots of smaller denomination coins, just dump them all in and the machine will give you the fewest number of coins back that equal the balance.
bombcar
If I can go the other way - one thing the USA has that Europe, at least, doesn’t - the ADA.

US businesses are basically all wheelchair accessible - easily, too. Most sidewalks have curb cuts at street crossings. Ramps are commonplace.

This is NOT the cause in Europe, and not only in the historic old buildings.

Even using a stroller is noticeably different; I can’t imagine being in a wheelchair in some cities.

equinox_nl
This depends on where in Europe. From personal experience of a relative (going back 20+ years), the Netherlands is very accessible by wheelchair.
disgruntledphd2
Basically every building in Ireland is wheelchair accessible in some form.

Has been for well over twenty years at this point.

It had a number of unexpected consequences, like making it much harder/illegal to rent flats over shops in much of the city centres.

melesian
Blinkered nonsense.

Yes, of course Europe doesn't have any US laws but to suggest that it doesn't have legislation about accessibility is simply wrong. Guess what... the legislation generally applies to buildings and construction post-dating the legislation. Applicability to earlier structures will vary depending on feasability and justification (cost, traffic).

LargoLasskhyfv
Europe is diverse. The parts of Germany I happen to know, are mostly ADA compliant, or even more so. From the little bits I know about stuff like that. Anything wheelchair accesible I tend to notice as avid bicyclist. Other things are clearly visible, audible, or tactile. Like textured markings on the ground for the blind, braille markings on all sorts of buttons, near screens, acoustic signaling at street crossings, in stations, doors of buses & trains, lifts, in all sorts of public spaces. If there is something wrong with that, say a lift for acessability of platforms, it's in the local news. Which doesn't necessarily means it gets fixed fast, depending on who manages that property. Let's say Deutsche Bahn, which is mostly foobared.

Anyways, that is NOT the case in the parts I know of the US. Much less markings, much less signaling, much shrug, so what?

I guess the US are diverse too, uh?

What comes to mind for .de and its ADA-equivalents are:

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behindertengleichstellungsgese...

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrierefreiheit

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrierefreies_Bauen

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodenleitsystem ( I like to walk on these! )

Also funny, in the middle of the night, when there is no traffic at all, are the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syncopation 's the traffic lights produce.

Beeping or 'knocking' drifting slowly apart, to randomly come to be synchronized for a moment, then drifting apart again. I think I'd go crazy when I'd have to live near such things.

Otherwise, during daily life I tend to be annoyed by all that beeping.

jamesdhutton
In the USA, the postal service picks up outgoing mail from your mailbox. I wish they would do that in the UK.
tdeck
This is only true in rural areas and most suburbs. In the city, you often have to take it to a blue post box.

Although some carriers will pick up outgoing mail in an apartment building if you leave it where they can see it and indicate it clearly.

tietjens
Instant free bank transfers by IBAN.

In comparison with how tightly-guarded personal email addresses are protected (GDPR, etc.), it's shocking how common it is to freely give out your IBAN.

bacr
Car sharing in Germany such as Bolt and Miles. The pickup and drop-off anywhere model is so much more convenient than the point-to-point or round trip model that zip car uses. They are cost competitive with public transit or private car ownership.
qwertfisch
I was in Paris some years ago, and it surprised me that a jug of water for drinking was free on every table. Of course if you wanted any other beverage you’d pay for it, but just quenching your thirst was free.

In Germany water is not free, but instead another income for restaurants. Also it needs a law (only since 2001) that the cheapest beverage must be non-alcoholic. (Yet water could be more expensive than beer, as long as e.g. apple juice costs equal or less.)

petralithic
That's pretty funny that this is novel for you, as it's very common in many countries.
tintumon
BankID (or Freja ID) in Sweden which makes login to almost everything a breeze.

- Sweden’s national digital ID, run by banks - Used for login, payments, contracts, gov services - Legally binding like a handwritten signature

scarface_74
Caja - universal healthcare in Costa Rica and even relatively cheap private insurance.
m463
Shinkansen

and japanese toilets

TheCapeGreek
CityMapper for more cities.

Found it super helpful for getting around London. Would be great for somewhere like Athens. Google Maps decently supports this as well, bit CityMapper UX is better for the task.

cddotdotslash
In China, nearly everything works via the same app (WeChat) and via QR code. Every grocery store, coffee shop, train station, or point of sale has the same scanner, where you can flash your QR code. I don't think I saw a single physical currency exchanged in the entire 6 weeks I was there.

I keep hearing that X wants to be the "everything" app. WeChat is _already_ the everything app. It's DoorDash, Venmo, Facebook, Instagram, and about 500 other apps in one.

I will say that I disliked the pattern of every restaurant using a WeChat "mini app" where it basically loads an entirely new app within WeChat just to see the menu or order. It felt much clunkier than just using a web page.

petralithic
You're misunderstanding, Musk wants X to be the everything app in the US. He knows about WeChat, that is in fact where part of the inspiration came from, and more generally he talked about it during the PayPal days.
aprilnya
definitely loved renting e-scooters when I was in Germany, really convenient with how many bike paths there are
seabass-labrax
The problem with these scooters is that people leave them in awkward places, such as where they block the pavement or a wheelchair ramp. Their wheels lock when not in use and they're really heavy too, which means that some people can't move them out of the way.

With bike rental systems the frustration is slightly less common as you often need to put them up against a bicycle rack in order to return them.

Ultimately this is just a societal issue, but unfortunately there's neither the public co-operation nor enforcement of sensible rules about where to park them in many large cities such as Berlin.

jimkleiber
m-pesa in Kenya, where mobile payments are as simple as typing in a phone number and sending. It's like Venmo if every person and business had it and used it.