If you've read my previous post on how Apple Pay T-money only works for locals before, I have some good news. Tourists can now use Apple Pay T-money if you're willing to pay a 6% foreign exchange commission to top it up. The announcement for Tmoney in Apple Pay was announced in July 2025, but it was limited to locals at that time. 9 months later foreigners can now also use Tmoney in Apple Pay.
Is there a fee for Apple Pay Tmoney?
Yes. If you're horrified by the 2 to 3% foreign exchange transaction fees your credit card may charge you, you may be enraged by the 6% charged by T-money (or is it Tmoney?).
There is good news believe it or not, because 6% is not that much because you're allowed to top up to a maximum of KRW 90,000 (USD 64.18). The mid-market rate at the time of writing this was USD 60.57. This means you're paying $64.18 - $60.57 = $3.61 in fees.
How is this good? Many ATM operators will charge about USD 5 in fees. $3.61 is less than $5, so that is a win right? 90,000 KRW is more than you need with cash in Korea in my experience. Treat the $3.61 as a convenience fee so you don't need to line up to buy or pickup some tourist card to pay for the subway.
Most likely you'll spend may KRW 20,000 for a 5 day trip in Seoul, so you're paying less than USD 1 as a convenience fee. So that really isn't that bad. At least I am willing to pay USD 1 for convenience.
By the way, you may be thinking your bank waives ATM withdrawals fees overseas, but ATM operators are sneaky, so they charge you that extra USD 5 as part of your withdrawal amount, so the fee is not surfaced to your credit card company. e.g. if you want to withdraw USD 100 equivalent overseas, you do not get USD 100 in cash + USD 5 as a fee that is waived by your bank. The ATM operator charges your bank USD 105, and gives you USD 100 equivalent in cash.
How is the user experience?
Terrible. (I'm being nice already).
What you expect
- Add a transit card in Apple Wallet
- Fund the card with your existing credit card in Apple Wallet
How it really works
- Add a transit card in Apple Wallet. The UI has not been updated to say you can use a non South Korea-issued credit or debit card.
- Download the Tmoney app from the Apple App Store first (because somehow all foreigners knows you use Tmoney in Korea right?)
- Click on Foreigner. Should I feel insulted as a Korean from overseas?
- Click on the Add to Apple Wallet button. Shit, wasn't that what I thought I was supposed to do before when I was in the Apple Wallet?
- Sign your life away. Agree to the T&C and TOU that I'm sure you've read and understood.
- Agree with more stuff that you hopefully actually have read.
- Click on Continue.
- Wait ....
- Adding Card has completed, but you cannot click on Continue. What?!
- So you go into Apple Wallet and see the Add Money option. But before you do that, you see there is an update for the Tmoney app that you just downloaded 2 minutes ago. WHAT?! You click on update, but you also click on the Add Money button since you're on this screen where you see the Tmoney card in your wallet.
- You see the Auto Reload option, which sounds perfect. I can add KRW 10,000 and let it top-up automatically.
- Go through all the steps to add money ... only to find you don't have an acceptable credit or debit card that is South Korea issued. Dead end.
- You kill the Tmoney app and launch it again. This time the UI changes and you see a card and Top-up button.
- Click on Top-up.
- You're informed of a minimum amount and what the increments are in.
- Because you're a high-roller, you type in KRW 100,000 (<USD 70), but frustration kicks in because the maximum that you weren't informed about is KRW 900,000.
- Adjust the amount down, and you pay with your existing credit card in Apple Pay.
Screenshots
Keep carrying cash in South Korea ..
My recommendation is to keep carrying cash in South Korea. While you can pay for many things with a credit card and also with Tmoney, as a tourist you may find toilets and temples only accept cash. See my cash in Korea post for more details.
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