Korea rolled out Apple Pay for public transit — but it doesn't work for tourists

Korean iPhone users can use Apple Pay for Tmoney cards, but it's unavailable for tourists, limiting its practical use.

Screenshots from Apple's Wallet app [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Korean iPhone users can finally use Apple Pay to ride buses and subways in Korea — but the service is still not accessible for many foreigners.

Tmoney announced Tuesday, to much fanfare, that it would finally allow users to add its Tmoney prepaid transportation card — which is almost entirely used by foreign travelers or short-term residents in Korea, as their only way to ride Seoul's cashless public buses — to the Apple Wallet, as an alternative to purchasing a physical card.

But as of press time, the option is not available for tourists.

When the Korea JoongAng Daily tried to add Tmoney cards to Apple Wallet and load them with Apple Pay — attempting to use cards from Visa, Mastercard, Amex and Discover that had been issued in the United States and the United Kingdom — the app said the payments were “not accepted” and that Tmoney cards were “unavailable.” The Korea JoongAng Daily was also unable to purchase a new virtual Tmoney card at a convenience store — its only options were to purchase or load a physical card or to load an already-purchased virtual card. The Korea JoongAng Daily was also unable to transfer Tmoney cards between iPhone users, as can be done with certain Apple Wallet items, nor is there any way to load physical Tmoney cards into Apple Wallet.

Screenshots from the Mobile Tmoney app [SCREEN CAPTURE]

In short: The only way to purchase and load a Tmoney card in Apple Wallet, as of press time, is through a Korean-issued card — specifically a Hyundai Card, as those are the only cards supported by Apple Pay.

Virtual cards can technically be purchased and loaded through the Tmoney app, but also only with a Hyundai Card; the Korea JoongAng Daily tried to use Shinhan, Samsung and Woori cards to purchase a Tmoney card with no success. Foreign travelers and short-term residents won't even get to this stage, however, as a resident registration number and Korean phone number are required in order to sign up for the app in the first place.

Many other travel cards available on Apple Pay do not have such restrictions and allow foreigners to issue and top-up the transportation cards using cards issued from their home country. For example, foreign visitors to Japan can easily add a Suica transportation card to their Apple Wallet and top it off using non-Japanese cards. Physical Suica cards can also be loaded onto Apple Pay.

“The company will try its best to open Apple Pay Tmoney service to foreign travelers,” Tmoney told the Korea JoongAng Daily, without giving a specific timeline.

T-Money opened support for Apple Pay in Korea on July 22 [TMONEY]

BY CHO YONG-JUN [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]