Using T-money on an iPhone in Korea

Just a quick post about my recent experience trying to use T-money on an iPhone here in Korea. 

Tmoney Pay app open on an iPhone with a Ryan Kakao Friends Tmoney sticker card. Image: Tmoney

Can I use T-money on an iPhone in Korea?

Short answer: via Apple Pay or in Apple Wallet, no.

Some visitors to Korea want to use T-money, the local standard for public transportation payments and which also works as payment in various convenience stores, marts, coffee shops, and some shopping malls. They may be familiar for example with using Suica in Japan for subways and etc. But sadly, T-money in Korea cannot be used with Apple Pay or Apple Wallet in Korea, at least not yet (still not yet as of Q4 2024). Samsung Pay, yes. Apple Pay, no. 

But that doesn't mean you can't still use T-money by tapping your iPhone or Apple Watch. It just means you will need some small accessories. 

So yes, you can sort of use T-money with Apple products if you attach a sticker card.

These alternative methods of using T-money with just your iPhone are what this post will mostly focus on. So read on. 

Apple Pay update (2023)

As of Q1 2023, Apple Pay has officially launched in South Korea. Technically, you were sort of always able to use Apple Pay at offline stores here, assuming they had an NFC payment terminal, if you had your international (non-Korean) bank cards in your Apple Wallet. Years ago I used Apple Pay at a McDonalds order kiosk to pay, and once to fill up my car at a gas station that had modern pumps with NFC terminal. But that was only with foreign-issued credit cards and this didn't work at all NFC paypoints. 

Today, with the official presence of Apple Pay, you can now add Korean payment cards to an Apple Wallet (well, technically only Hyundai Cards for the moment, but this should open to more banking cards soon). Does that signal that we can use Apple Pay to "beep" onto the subways/busses? 

Sadly, no. At least not yet still. According to [애플페이 도입돼도 '교통카드' 제한된다 - 전자신문], there are systemic differences between the way T-money and Apple Pay work at the card readers. Overcoming this would require compromises and equipment upgrades that don't seem justified for now. So although in some countries you can just tap your iPhone or Apple Watch to the bus/subway payment pad, that won't be possible in Korea for now.

So the T-money sticker card is still your best choice for that.

T-money iPhone sticker card

If you want the convenience that Android users take for granted with just tapping your iPhone on a subway turnstile reader or etc, you'll need a T-Money sticker card. This is a miniature version of a T-money card that literally sticks to the back of your phone. It looks like this:

Tmoney Sticker Card (티머니 스티커카드) attached to iPhones. Image: Tmoney

There are a few different designs available and they are all currently priced at 12,900 won for the sticker card itself, which then needs to be charged with funds. They can be purchased online from 11st, Coupang, or the official T-money website. 

 

Example of the sticker cards available on 11st. 

What makes it better than just carrying around a physical card in your wallet is that it can interact with the T-money Pay app for iOS, allowing you to connect it to your bank account to be automatically recharged when necessary. 

Here's a link to an English blog post by someone who bought this iPhone T-money sticker card and used it: 🔗 T-money Sticker Card for iPhone Users - Wander with Jin

Of course this isn't ideal, since rather than being a "sticker" exactly, it's more just a sticky cutout of a credit card, so it does add a bit of a bump to the back of the phone, more noticeable if you have a case surrounding it, as you can kind of see here:

  

Sticker Card bulged in a case. Image: Kepper

If you do decide to stick it on, be aware that the Tmoney guide states that the iPhone 13 Pro has too large cameras to properly fit the sticker.  UPDATE: See below.

It seems important where you stick this - I wonder if the app can't communicate well with the sticker if it's in an alternate location, like on the case itself or at the bottom. 

iPhone 13 update:

They've come out with a smaller version of the sticker card specially designed for the iPhone 13 and other iPhone models (like the mini) that feature large camera housings. 

There are also special phone cases you can purchase too that help make the card more flush with the overall body of the phone.

Comparison of standard T-Money sticker cards and newer smaller models. Images: Wadiz

These will be available at the end of August 2022.

Apple Watch T-Fairy band attachment

Samsung Galaxy Watch has a special T-money app that allows for watch-based payment "beeping" into busses and subways. How about Apple? Can you tap your Apple Watch against the NFC payment pad and pay via T-money? Yes... following the same idea as the sticker card above.

For they also make an attachment for your Apple Watch band apparently called T-Fairy (시계 부착형 티머니 티페리). 

T-Money "T-Fairy" band attachment, Chrome auto-translate screenshot.
Image: 시계 부착형 티머니 티페리티머니샵

T-Fairy watch band attachment.
Image: 애플워치 티페리 장착, 페이 대신 티머니 사용하기 (교통카드 및 결제) +사용후기 : 네이버 블로그  

Apple Watch with T-Fairy band attachment

You guessed it, it's basically a tiny T-money card. that sticks to the watchband. It's not exactly the most stylish accessory, but it gets the job done, and can integrate with the T-money Pay iOS app for automatic recharging. Because of it's size, some users apparently dismantle it once purchased and give it a smaller profile.

Hacked T-Fairy card attachment

You can order them from the T-Zone store or just on Coupang:

T-Fairy watch attachments on Coupang.

These aren't the only ways of paying with your iDevices.

Rail+ sticker card for Korail trains

Similar to the T-money sticker card, there is also a sticker card produced by Korail called "Rail+". This is a similar nationwide transportation card that will also work for real trains (long-distance type trains, not just subway trains). So if you are a frequent commuter on KTX or other trains, you might consider this. 

As usual, Android users don't need this. 

Cashbee sticker card

It turns out that Cashbee also has a similar sticker card for iPhone users. If you prefer their cards, give this a try. Cashbee has essentially the same functionality as T-money, just provided by a different company. 

The Cashbee sticker card for iPhone users

T Money USIM payment (not for iPhone)

Rather than attaching a sticker to my phone, I was hopeful that I could somehow make use of the Tmoney NFC functionality built into my USIM card. I had been using Tmoney via the branded SIM card in my other Samsung Galaxy phone just fine, and had been hopeful that this functionality would carry over to the iPhone. I knew that iPhones themselves do not offer the type of NFC implementation most often used here, but I was hopeful that maybe somehow the SIM card itself could function in this regard by itself. 

I was wrong. 

After loading up the Tmoney Pay app on the iPhone and registering my number and identity, I was greeted with this unfortunate message.

Of interest is the message at the bottom:

Transportation payment function cannot be used on this device. 

Digging into the settings, I found the preferences for initiating the connection to the sticker card, but nothing for connecting to the Tmoney portion of the USIM. This seems to be limited to Android only. 

I can see now why the Sticker Card method was so highly publicized and highlighted by Tmoney as "finally" a way for iPhone users to use their phone to pay. You're not really using the phone at all I suppose. Just the sticker, activated/managed by the app. 

One side effect of this realization is that, if you are setting up a new phone service here in Korea and are given the option of a regular SIM card or a slightly more expensive USIM with Tmoney or CashBee functionality, just skip the premium option and go with a basic SIM. iPhone users won't be able to make use of those extra features anyway.

TMoney Pay via QR code

iPhone users can still pay via Tmoney using the Tmoney Pay app by QR code at places like convenience stores or cafes that accept Tmoney.

But if you ask me, you're better off just using KakaoPay or Naver Pay for that, since all the same places will accept it and Tmoney is hardly used for online shopping. The benefit of having Tmoney on the phone is the transportation payments, pure and simple. I might use it too in the shops on my commute, but without a reliable build-in transportation payment method, I doubt I'll use this at all. 

Final thoughts

Anyway, just hoped this post might save some time and headache for iPhone users who can't seem to figure out why they can't just tap their phones and pay like their Android counterparts do. You're a little crazy to go non-Android in the Land of Samsung anyway. Be grateful you at least get a sticker card!

Happy tapping.