HUGE UPDATE JULY 2025:
The day has finally come. T-money functionality is now officially integrated into Apple Wallet.
To use T-money on an iPhone or Apple Watch, users can open the Wallet app, tap the “+” button at the top, select “Transit Card” and then “T-money.” A T-money card can be purchased and recharged directly within the app. After agreeing to the terms of service and verifying one's identity by double-clicking the side button — the same process used for registering Apple Pay — the T-money card is all ready. Users can recharge via the T-money app for iOS.
Apple Pay T-money does not support postpaid payment options like traditional T-money cards, credit cards or Samsung Pay. However, it does have an automatic recharge function. Users can set it up to automatically top up their balance from a connected bank account when the balance runs low — for example, automatically adding 30,000 won ($22) when the balance drops below 5,000 won. The automatic recharge setting can be adjusted or canceled anytime via the Wallet or T-money app and remains active even when switching to a new iPhone.
Once the T-money card is added to Apple Pay, it is active immediately. Users can also enable “Express Mode,” allowing payment by simply tapping an iPhone or Apple Watch on a T-money machine. There’s no need to open an app or wake the device.
Apple Pay users now able to tap into Korea's transit system with T-Money integration
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It's been a long journey. I originally made this post back in 2022, but it seems Korea is catching up to all things Apple lately. As before, I'll leave this post up as a historical reference to the goofy workarounds we used before this functionality was baked in. The sticker card still could be a good idea for easy portability. I'm still a little uneasy about all my payment methods being virtual inside my phone. But that's the way the world is headed.
So for anyone coming to visit Korea, just install the T-money app and you should be good to go.
Maybe I'll do a simple post once I activate it on mine. I drive most places these days so barely take the subway or buses at all anymore so I'm not in a real needy rush to get it working. Plenty of other stuff eats up my time. But great to hear more functionality is available.
Original post below:
Just a quick post about my recent experience trying to use T-money on an
iPhone here in Korea.
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Can I use T-money on an iPhone in Korea?
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:
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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:
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These will be available at the end of August 2022.
Apple Watch T-Fairy band attachment
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Image: 시계 부착형 티머니 티페리티머니샵 |
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Image: 애플워치 티페리 장착, 페이 대신 티머니 사용하기 (교통카드 및 결제) +사용후기 : 네이버 블로그 |
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You can order them from the T-Zone store or just on Coupang:
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These aren't the only ways of paying with your iDevices.
Rail+ sticker card for Korail trains
Cashbee sticker card
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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.
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.
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