Short answer: yes. Kakao Taxi is booked in the Kakao T app, and its US App Store listing includes English among the app’s languages. Kakao T’s help center, which is in Korean, says the app accepts cards issued outside Korea from Visa, Mastercard, JCB and American Express for taxis, and that on a regular call you can skip card registration and pay the driver directly instead. The catch is signing up: Kakao T asks for identity verification through your mobile phone, and its help center does not explain how a visitor does that. The company behind Kakao T, Kakao Mobility, also runs k.ride, an app for foreign visitors that lets you sign up with Google, Apple or email and calls Kakao T taxis. Below is how the two apps differ, how paying works, and one line in Kakao’s own pages that is easy to misread.
Last checked: October 7, 2026. We read Kakao T’s Korean help center, Kakao Mobility’s k.ride pages and both apps’ US App Store pages. We did not test inside either app: we did not see their English screens, call a taxi, register a card or create an account.
Quick answers
| Question | What we found |
|---|---|
| Can foreigners use Kakao Taxi? | Yes, through the Kakao T app or Kakao Mobility’s k.ride app for foreign visitors |
| Is Kakao T in English? | Its US App Store listing gives English, Japanese and Korean as the app’s languages. We did not open the app to check its English screens |
| Can I pay with a foreign card? | Kakao T’s help center lists credit and debit cards issued outside Korea from Visa, Mastercard, JCB and AMEX, for taxi, bike and pet services. The card must be in the same name as your Kakao T account |
| Can I pay in cash? | In Kakao T, yes. On a regular call you can choose to pay the driver directly, by card or cash, when you get out. The k.ride pages we read do not mention cash |
| Do I need a Korean phone number? | Kakao T’s help center says you sign up with a Kakao Account and go through identity verification with the phone you will use. It does not say whether a foreign number or a visitor can pass that step. k.ride signs you up with a phone number plus Google, Apple or email |
| Which app should I use? | See section 5 |
1. Two apps, the same taxis
Kakao T is Kakao Mobility’s app for taxis and other ways of getting around Korea. Its App Store listing says you can “Request a taxi anytime anywhere in Korea” and offers “A wide selection of Blue / Venti / Deluxe / Black.” The same app also handles bikes, parking, trains and more. Its App Store tagline is “for everyone’s movement.”
k.ride is Kakao Mobility’s app for foreign visitors. The company’s Korean page calls it a global mobility platform for foreigners. In a press release on March 27, 2025, Kakao Mobility said k.ride had been offering calls for Kakao T Blue, Venti, Black and deluxe (mobeom) taxis to visitors to Korea from about 100 countries since its launch.
| Kakao T | k.ride | |
|---|---|---|
| Made for | Anyone in Korea (its tagline: “for everyone’s movement”) | Foreign visitors |
| App languages (US App Store) | English, Japanese, Korean | English, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, plus searching for destinations and talking to drivers in 133 languages, per its App Store listing |
| Sign-up | Kakao Account, then identity verification with your mobile phone | Phone number, then Google, Apple or email |
| Foreign cards | Visa, Mastercard, JCB, AMEX for taxis | Cards issued outside Korea |
| Other payment | Pay the driver directly on a regular call | Alipay+ wallets and WeChat Pay, per its App Store listing |
| iPhone requirement | iOS 17.0 or later | iOS 15.0 or later |
2. Paying with a foreign card on Kakao T
Kakao T’s help center has a list of cards you can register, and one entry is “cards issued outside Korea,” credit or debit, from four card companies: Visa, Mastercard, JCB and AMEX. The services listed for those cards are taxi, bike and pet.
Two conditions come with it:
- Same name. The help center says a card can be registered if it is in the same name as the account you signed up to Kakao T with.
- Some cards may still fail. It also says some cards may be hard to register as a payment method, depending on the card company’s policy.
The help center’s path, written for the Korean app, is My Info (내 정보) at the bottom right, then Manage payment methods (결제수단 관리). We did not check what these are called in the English version of the app. The help center also says foreign cards cannot be used for Kakao T Members, the app’s membership program.
3. No card? Pay the driver directly
On a regular call, you do not have to register a card to ride. Kakao T’s help center says taxis can be used without card registration by choosing to pay the driver directly. It describes that option as paying “the fare on the spot, by card or cash, directly to the driver” when you get out, using the card terminal in the car or cash.
There are limits:
- Regular calls only. The help center says paying the driver directly is only available on a regular call.
- Some taxis need a card. If you pick a taxi type that only takes automatic payment, or use the boost call, you need a registered card. The help center lists “credit/debit cards, cards issued abroad and T Points” as the automatic payment methods for taxis.
The help center’s path for paying directly, again written for the Korean app, is: Taxi > enter your pickup and drop-off locations > choose the regular call (일반) > choose the payment method > Pay directly (직접 결제). The English labels may differ.
4. Signing up
Kakao T. The help center says you start by tapping 카카오 계정으로 시작하기 (“Start with Kakao Account” in our translation; we did not see the English button), and that you need to verify the phone number you will use. The code has to be entered within three minutes, and you can ask for it to be sent again; if time runs out, the help center says you have to start the “mobile phone identity verification” (휴대폰 본인 인증) again from the beginning. Kakao T says it asks for verification to prevent misuse and keep transactions safe. Its page on changing verified details asks for Korean documents, such as a resident registration abstract (주민등록초본) when a resident registration number changes, and, as one option for people who became Korean citizens, a passport plus an alien registration card plus a resident registration abstract. The help center does not describe how a visitor without Korean documents verifies, or whether a foreign number works, and we did not test it. If your problem is the Kakao Account itself, see our guide to KakaoTalk verification.
k.ride. In the same press release, Kakao Mobility’s CEO called k.ride a platform for foreigners that anyone can use “without restrictions on language, account or payment.” The release says you sign up by entering a phone number and then verifying with a Google or Apple account or by email. The App Store listing describes it as authenticating your mobile device or linking a social media account. k.ride’s App Store page also gives customer support hours: 9 AM to 2 AM Korea time, all year.
5. Which app should you use?
This is our suggestion, based on the pages above, not on rides we took:
- Pick k.ride if you do not have a Kakao Account, are not sure Kakao T’s phone identity verification will work for you, want to sign up with Google, Apple or email, want to pay with Alipay+ or WeChat Pay, or want to search for places and chat with the driver in your own language. Kakao Mobility’s page also says visitors to Korea can book a taxi for a set time and place in k.ride.
- Pick Kakao T if you have already signed up for Kakao T and finished its identity verification, and would rather use it than the visitor app. You can register a Visa, Mastercard, JCB or AMEX card, or pay the driver directly on a regular call.
Kakao Mobility also says k.ride lets you check the estimated fare before you call a taxi.
Update, October 8, 2026: if you want food delivered to your hotel or a riverside park, see Food Delivery in Korea for Foreigners for what Baemin and Shuttle say about English screens, foreign cards and ordering without a Korean phone number.
6. “Only Korean cards” is about a different service
If you read that Kakao T only takes Korean cards, check where the line comes from. Kakao T has a page for its overseas taxi service, for people using Kakao T outside Korea, that says only domestic-use cards from KB Kookmin, BC, Hana, Lotte, NH and Shinhan can be used there, meaning cards issued in Korea for use in Korea. That page is about riding abroad. For taxis in Korea, the help center lists cards issued outside Korea, as in section 2.
What we did not test
- The English screens of Kakao T or k.ride. Everything about the apps here comes from Kakao’s own pages and the App Store listings.
- Calling a taxi with Kakao T or k.ride, or paying a fare.
- Registering a foreign card.
- Signing up with a foreign phone number, or passing Kakao T’s identity verification as a visitor.
FAQ
Can I use Kakao Taxi without a Korean phone number? k.ride signs you up with a phone number plus Google, Apple or email. For Kakao T, the help center asks for identity verification with your mobile phone but does not say whether foreign numbers or visitors can pass it. We did not test either.
Can I pay a Kakao Taxi with cash? In Kakao T, yes: choose to pay the driver directly on a regular call, then pay by card or cash in the car. The k.ride pages we read describe paying with a registered card or mobile payment, and do not mention cash.
Does Kakao T accept Visa and Mastercard? Kakao T’s help center lists Visa, Mastercard, JCB and AMEX cards issued outside Korea for taxis. The card must be in the same name as your account, and some cards may not register.
Is k.ride the same as Kakao T? Both are run by Kakao Mobility. Kakao Mobility says k.ride calls Kakao T taxis such as Blue, Venti and Black for foreign visitors.
Can I book a taxi in advance? Kakao Mobility’s k.ride page says visitors to Korea and Guam can book a taxi for the time and place they want.
How do I find my destination? If you plan where to go on a computer first, see our guide to KakaoMap in English.