SmarTrip vs CARXI
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
SmarTrip
Manage your SmarTrip card and account with this optional tool. Register your card for balance protection, check benefits, set up auto-reload, or purchase transit passes. It can also be added to Apple Wallet for easy tap-to-pay.
- Manage SmarTrip card and account
- Add SmarTrip to Apple Wallet
- Register card for balance protection
- Check SmartBenefits
- Setup Auto-Reload
- Buy unlimited transit passes
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This app is an OPTIONAL tool that allows you to manage your SmarTrip® card and account. This app can NOT be used to pay your transit or parking fares. You do NOT need to setup a SmarTrip account to use SmarTrip in Apple Wallet. Add SmarTrip to Apple Wallet: - Open Apple Wallet on iPhone or Apple Watch - Tap “+”, choose “Transit Card”, select “SmarTrip” - In less than a minute you’ll have a new SmarTrip card in your Apple Wallet and be ready to tap to pay for rides or parking anywhere SmarTrip is accepted. If you need to do account management, then: - Install this optional SmarTrip app to register your card for account balance protection, check SmartBenefits, setup Auto-Reload, or buy money-saving unlimited transit passes. Chat with us at WMATA.COM/CHAT or call 888-SMARTRIP (888-762-7874)
CARXI
Request new trips and receive real-time notifications. This app allows users to book rides, specifying pickup locations and managing ride statuses. It connects users with drivers for convenient transportation.
- Request new trips
- Receive ride notifications
- Set pickup addresses
- Manage ride status
- Connect with drivers
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The user uses this application to request new trips and receive notifications. Users will install this app on their phones and run it to request a ride to be assigned to a driver, it should display a screen with the pickup address and can be clicked to change the status of a ride.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: CARXI at 5.0 against SmarTrip's 2.5. CARXI also leads on update cadence (every 6 weeks vs every 5 months) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.1). SmarTrip's advantage is ratings volume (57 vs 2) and chart position (#197 vs unranked). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
CARXI holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 2.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: SmarTrip has 57 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.
SmarTrip ships an update every 5 months, CARXI every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 18, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | SmarTrip | CARXI |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.5 (57 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 10.4% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 57 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 months | Every 6 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Best chart rank | #197 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.1 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 66 MB | 10 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority | Josue Reyes |
Customer experience
SmarTrip
CARXI
Bugs and requests
SmarTrip
Reported bugs
3 issues- Unable to activate account due to missing activation email
- Password reset process not working
- Inconsistent behavior when adding value to card
Requested features
4 requests- Ability to transfer balance between cards
- Real-time balance updates
- Improved trip planning tools
- Apple Watch support
CARXI
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
SmarTrip
No in-app purchases
CARXI
No in-app purchases
