Essential apps

Maps, messaging, payment and translation — those four are the base.

Everyday basics

1. Maps — Naver Map, KakaoMap. Google Maps has limited navigation in Korea. See map-navigation.
2. Messaging — KakaoTalk. Almost all contact in Korea comes through it.
3. Translation — Papago, Google Translate. See translation-apps.
4. Payment — Kakao Pay, Toss and similar. See kakao-pay-toss.
5. Your bank's app — for the bank where you opened an account. See mobile-banking.

Transport

• Transport cards and mobile payment — see public-transport-card.
• Bus and subway apps — real-time arrivals.
• Taxi apps — Kakao T and others. See taxi-use.
• Train booking — Korail. See ktx-train.

Administration and safety

• Government24 — issuing certificates. See government-24.
• HiKorea — residence applications and tracking. See hikorea-online-application.
• Emergency Ready — disaster alerts and shelters, multilingual. See emergency-app.
• e-gen — open clinics and pharmacies. See night-weekend-clinic.

Daily convenience

• Delivery apps — see delivery-apps.
• Second-hand trading apps — see second-hand.
• Online shopping — see online-shopping.
• Danuri portal — multilingual life information. See danuri-portal.

Where to go

• 1345 Immigration Contact Centre (app enquiries too)
• 1577-1366 Danuri Call Centre (multilingual)
• Local foreign residents' support centres (app training)
• Community centres (digital literacy programmes)

Questions people ask

Identity verification fails. The phone usually needs to be in your own name. See korean-sim-apps and phone-verification.

The app is Korean only. Use it with a translation app. The Danuri portal and Emergency Ready support multiple languages.

I don't have much data. Use public Wi-Fi. See wifi-public. Review your plan too — see phone-plans.

I want to learn how to use these apps. Ask about digital literacy classes at community centres and foreign resident centres — often free.

Take care

Never install apps from unknown sources. Tapping a link in a text message to install an app is a classic voice phishing technique. See voice-phishing. Always refuse requests to install remote-control apps. Download only from official stores.

Related

korean-sim-apps · translation-apps · map-navigation · wifi-public · voice-phishing

Source

Ministry of Science and ICT www.msit.go.kr / As of 2026-08