Anyone who visited Singapore a decade ago will remember a different rhythm: drivers tearing parking coupons at the dashboard, travellers queueing to get their passports chopped, and everyone carrying cash because the kopitiam stall definitely didn't take cards. A recent piece in The Smart Local looks back at seven of those everyday habits and charts just how thoroughly apps and biometrics have erased them.
The biggest shift for visitors is at Changi Airport. Since September 2024, all four terminals offer passportless immigration clearance for Singapore residents, who walk through automated lanes where cameras match their face and iris against registered biometrics — no counter, no stamp. Departing foreign visitors can use it too. The Immigration & Checkpoints Authority says average clearance time has fallen from 25 seconds to 10, roughly a 60% cut. One caveat for travellers: you still need to carry your physical passport, since other countries require it and officers can ask to see it.
Getting around has changed just as much. Hailing a cab once meant standing roadside and hoping, factoring in peak hour, rain and shift changes. Ride-hailing apps now show the fare upfront, identify the driver and vehicle, and handle payment in-app. On the roads, the Parking.sg app — launched in 2017 — replaced the old glove-compartment coupon stack entirely. You enter your vehicle and duration on your phone, extend remotely if errands run long, and get automatically refunded for unused minutes since it charges by the minute.
Money is the other quiet revolution. Cash was once essential at hawker centres, but QR codes and contactless payments now cover almost everything, and PayNow lets people settle debts in seconds using just a mobile number. It even crosses borders: PayNow links with Malaysia's DuitNow and Thailand's PromptPay, and apps like DBS PayLah! can scan QR codes in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. Groceries have gone the same way — Cheers AI Unmanned stores let shoppers scan in with the FairPrice Group app, grab what they need and walk straight out, some operating around the clock.
Even the bureaucracy has thinned out. Singpass doubles as a digital ID with a Digital IC, while MyInfo auto-fills verified personal details into government and private-sector forms, ending the era of block-capital repetition at service counters. Meanwhile streaming killed the DVD shop, with Netflix, Disney+ and HBO replacing the buy-or-rent ritual.
Why does this matter to a traveller? Because Singapore is now arguably the easiest major city in Asia to move through: near-instant immigration, cashless hawker lunches, minute-billed parking and app-everything logistics. It also explains a quirk you might notice — older locals tearing a coupon tab or fishing for exact coins now look genuinely retro, and some millennials joke that the 2000s are already 'vintage'. If you last visited before the pandemic, the city you return to will run noticeably smoother than the one you remember.
