Published: 19 Mar. 2026, 13:36

Updated: 19 Mar. 2026, 14:25

Screenshots from the Tmoney app [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Screenshots from the Tmoney app [SCREEN CAPTURE]

 

Foreigners and tourists can now use Apple Pay Tmoney to ride subway and buses in Korea using Apple iPhones.

 

Tmoney updated its iOS application on Wednesday, adding support for cards issued outside Korea to top up their Tmoney credits. Previously, the app only supported top-up using bank accounts, Hyundai Card-issued credit cards, or Hyundai Cards registered on Apple Pay, meaning that tourists or short-term residents in Korea were effectively barred from using Apple Pay Tmoney.

 


 

The new update to the Tmoney app, which rolled out Wednesday, adds a new “Foreigner” button to the login screen. Pressing the button bypasses the sign-in and the authentication requirements, allowing tourists and short-term residents to top up their Tmoney accounts via Apple Pay with non-Korean cards.

 

The app currently accepts Mastercard, American Express and UnionPay. Support for Visa cards is unavailable as of press time. 

 

Users can then add the virtual Tmoney card to the Apple Wallet on their iPhones or Apple Watches to use it on buses and subways. The transit cards also support Apple’s Express Transit feature, which allows users to bypass the need to open the app and go through biometric authentication.

 

Apple’s default Wallet application, however, still only accepts Tmoney top-ups using Hyundai Cards — the only credit card company supporting Apple Pay in Korea so far.

 

Apple Pay’s Tmoney support landed in Korea in July last year after much anticipation, 10 years after Apple Pay for Transit added its support for Japan’s Suica transit cards. But unlike the Suica, where foreigners or tourists were allowed to purchase and charge transportation cards with non-domestic cards, Apple Pay Tmoney had until recently only accepted payments through Hyundai Card.

BY CHO YONG-JUN [[email protected]]