Mirae Asset Pay - the Apple Pay like app for Korea that almost was

Apologies for the confusing title. I just wanted to document something interesting that I only noticed today.

An overview of Mirae Asset Pay

Mirae Assets (미래에셋), a Korean company providing financial services products, has a app called Mirae Asset Pay (https://www.miraeassetpay.kr), which works cross-platform on both Android and iOS for NFC payments basically anywhere T-Money can be used. Yes, pretty much anywhere. 

Promo images for Mirae Asset Pay showing its cross-platform use and transportation features for both Android and iPhone

That's right. You could apparently use NFC payments via your iPhone, no special sticker needed. And it claims to work basically anywhere: to beep into subways and buses, pay at stores and shops, all the usual places. No finicky QR codes. No turning up the brightness on the screen. Just pure tap-and-pay, just like Apple Pay. 

Well, almost. You apparently had to open the app before tapping. But I could have lived with that. Once the app was open, you could just tap-to-pay with no special hardware. Android users, this might not have been revolutionary for you since you always could use Samsung Pay, but for iPhone users this would have opened up a whole new world of convenience. 

The Mirae Asset Pay homescreen

It even specifies in their FAQs that no special pad readers are needed by merchants, despite how this promo imagery looks:

Tapping to pay on Mirae Asset Pay

Was this available all this time and I just never noticed?

All you needed to do was download the iPhone app, register your bank card into it, and boom, you're ready to pay around town. It accepted a variety of cards: 

• Kookmin Card
• Hyundai Card
• Samsung Card
• Lotte Card
• Nonghyup Card
• Shinhan Card
• Hana Card
• BC Card

And any foreigner with an ARC card could join the app. Just download straight from the App Store, verify your ID, and you're ready to go.

Mirae Asset Pay app for iOS

Here's a quick screenshot of the app:

Mirae Asset Pay screenshots. Images: Insight Korea

Here's an example of what a charge would look like in the app:

Charge for a coffee in the Mirae Asset Pay app. Image: kepper.tistory.com

For a detailed walkthrough of setting up and using the app, this YouTuber has a nice video up:

아이폰에서도 NFC 터치결제 미래에셋페이 앱만깔면 삼성페이 애플페이 안부럽다 - YouTube

Mirae Asset Pay shutting down

Well guess what? The service is shutting down. 

I literally discovered both the existence, and the soon disappearance of this app today. At the page, you are presented with a pop-up explaining that this month, the service will be discontinued. 

Service shutting down

By June 20, 2023, the entire payment service will shut down, and they'll refocus on their more traditional portfolio of services. 

Officially released in 2021, it had just a year and a half of life before, according to Korean news, seeing the writing on the wall and shutting down with the arrival of Apple Pay.

What a shame. This is something I would have given a try if I had known about it. I just happened to be looking up some info on NFC payment options looking to see if there were any more articles about the impending introduction of Apple Pay functionality to the Seoul subway system (see it mentioned here or here, probably more info coming soon), and stumbled across Mirae Asset Pay. 

Their FAQs section was filled with all sorts of gems that make this app seem like one of the easiest possible things to use for offline payments. Here are some highlights:

Q결제수단은 어떤 것들이 있나요?

현재는 신용/체크카드를 등록하여 사용 가능합니다.

Q갤럭시워치, 애플워치에서도 사용 가능한가요?

갤럭시워치, 애플워치를 비롯한 스마트워치에서는 사용이 불가합니다. 그러나 단계적으로 지역화폐, 계좌 결제도 가능하도록 단계적으로 오픈 예정입니다.

Q지원되는 휴대폰 기종은 어떤것인가요?

아이폰의 경우 NFC 읽기 기능이 있는 아이폰7 이후 모델에서 사용 가능합니다. 

안드로이드의 경우 최소사양  SDK 23 (Android 6.0) 모델부터 사용 가능 합니다. 

Q다른 기존페이와의 다른 차이점은 무엇인가요?

미래에셋PAY는 국내 최초 아이폰에서 터치 결제가 가능한 간편결제 서비스입니다.

타, QR코드/바코드를 사용하는 간편결제 서비스와 달리 NFC 터치를 통하여 결제할 수 있어 QR코드/바코드 형태로 카드번호를 노출하지 않아서 안전합니다.

Q가맹점에서 미래에셋PAY를 이용하기 위해서는 별도의 NFC 단말기 추가 설치가 필요한가요?

별도의 단말기를 추가로 설치할 필요 없이, NFC 패널로 간편하게 결제 서비스를 이용할 수 있습니다.

Q모든 카드가 가능한가요?

고객님이 소유한 모든 신용카드/체크카드를 등록하여 사용이 가능합니다. 단, 온라인에서만 사용 가능한 온라인 전용 카드는 사용이 불가능합니다.

다만, 온라인 전용 카드가 아닌 경우에도 일부 카드는 각 카드사 정책에 따라 사용 불가능할 수 있으니, 사용 불가능한 경우 해당 카드사에 문의 부탁드립니다.

Q국내 외국인도 결제 서비스를 이용할 수 있나요?

외국인 등록번호가 있고 본인 명의 국내 신용카드/체크카드와 국내 이동통신사 휴대폰을 가지고 있는 경우 결제 서비스를 이용할 수 있습니다.

Q사용 가능한 대중교통은 어디인가요?

전국 버스, 택시(서울, 울산), 지하철(김해 경전철 제외)에서 사용 가능합니다.

김해 경전철, 전남 진도군, 경북 군위군, 청송군, 영양군, 영덕군, 봉화군 지역은 사용이 불가능합니다.

미래에셋 PAY - FAQs

Considering Apple Pay still currently doesn't work with public transportation, and still currently only accepts Hyundai Cards, it's amazing to look through this and realize how profound this app would have been for the iPhone community in Korea. Was it just not publicized well enough? I suppose Apple Pay's features will eventually grow to reach a similar level but I am in awe that this level of convenience was made available to iPhone users and, based on a quick survey of the (relatively few) Korean iPhone users I know, no one had ever heard of it. Most people I mentioned it to assumed, like I did when I heard the name, that it was some kind of investment app.

Truthfully, although I'm now an iPhone user, I still haven't set-up Apple Pay. I just use Naver Pay via the QR codes. I can't found an instance when Apple Pay was accepted but Naver Pay wasn't, and of course I use Naver Pay all the time for online purchases. Someday I might switch, or use both. But not today.

Regardless, pour a soju shot out for your friend Mirae Asset Pay, the K-app version of Apple Pay that almost was.