As a diverse and beautiful country, South Korea has many fun things to do, such as exploring culture, visiting enchanting places, eating delicious food, and shopping for the latest gadgets and clothes. However, navigating and making plans could be extremely difficult, especially for visiting foreigners.
Having the right smartphone applications could make all the difference in experiencing Korea. Here are ten amazing apps that could make life so much easier daily.
1. Yogiyo
If you have trouble calling up a restaurant to order food or are just simply too lazy, then you could use the Yogiyo app to order and deliver your food. The app is also perfect for food lovers in general and for people who want to explore Korean food without traveling often.
The Korean food delivery app features a “category sorter” that helps people choose from its Korean food directory filled with a wide variety of food items, pictures, and prices. Yogiyo also offers other types of food variants, such as Western, Mexican, Japanese, and others.
2. KakaoTalk
KakaoTalk is a must-have app that allows users to text, make free calls, and send videos or pictures. The app only requires an internet connection making it the go-to messaging service for smartphone users in South Korea.
South Korea’s flawless Wi-Fi coverage also helps users save both money and time. KakaoTalk offers a group chatting feature perfect for communicating with families and coworkers all at once. The Korean app also allows users to send their location, pictures, and videos with its built-in camera function, map function, and voice recording function.
3. Subway Korea
Navigating in unfamiliar territory in a foreign land could be very difficult and frightening at times. Many South Koreans use the subway to travel around; however, it could be very confusing for foreigners. Thankfully, the Subway Korea app could help in times like these.
Subway Korea provides location and information such as departure time and routes of subway stations around the country. Just by tapping the starting station and destination, the navigation app would provide users with the fastest way while guiding users through every step of their itinerary.
Subway Korea also allows users to change subway maps according to their specified cities such as Seoul, Busan, or Daegu.
4. KakaoBus & KakaoTaxi
Foreigners or locals who love to look at sceneries while traveling, and want to avoid crowded areas would find riding buses more enjoyable than taking the subway. KakaoBus allows users to search for any stop or bus number and acquire their locations and routes. The app also provides estimated arrival and departure times for the chosen bus stop.
Meanwhile, KakaoTaxi allows users to hail a taxicab anywhere in Korea. The app is quick, safe, and easy to use, as it only works with licensed and registered drivers. Users could also send notifications to friends or families detailing the route and estimated time of arrival.
5. Naver Dictionary
The Naver Dictionay app is one of the first Korean translator apps available through the internet. Korea’s top search engine Naver developed the app delivering the most accurate and complete Korean-English and English-Korean translator.
The translator is also one of the most used apps with various instructions to help learn its usage. The homepage features grammar tips, idioms, words-of-the-day, as well as daily Korean conversations. Along with each translation comes a variety of model sentences utilizing sentence structures and keywords to create an effective learning experience.
6. VisitKorea
In an effort to promote South Korea better, The Korean Tourism Office developed the “VisitKorea” app. KTO packed the content from the Korean Tourism Organization website into a convenient app perfect for foreigners and even locals.
Available in Korean and English, VisitKorea provides information about popular things to do and see, travel highlights, exchange rates, map routes, weather updates, and contact numbers in Korea.
7. Itour Seoul
The Itour Seoul app is the official travel app of the Seoul Metropolitan Government. The app provides users with the location and distance of landmarks and attractions in Seoul. The app is a better alternative for people always on-the-go than bringing a heavy guidebook or a large tourist map.
8. Naver Map
If North Americans and Europeans have Google Maps, Koreans have Naver Map.
Naver’s monopoly on South Korea’s interactive map applications provides a more detailed diagram than Google Maps. The app’s straightforward and intuitive system makes it a good companion for people without a good sense of direction. Naver Map also allows users to download maps beforehand, making it possible to browse them even without an internet connection.
9. Mangoplate
When visiting other countries, choosing where to eat is always a tough decision. Mangoplate allows users to search what type of food they want to eat, and the app would show them exactly which place to visit and why. Users could also browse cities or areas and locate the nearest restaurant.
In Korean and English, Mangoplate’s amazing review feature allows users to experience only the best eats by connecting them with trustworthy people and the best restaurants in South Korea.
10. Radish
Most visitors and people living in Korea travel by subway or bus, entertaining themselves using their smartphones. Korean startup Radish designed a great app that keeps travelers busy throughout their journey. Its mobile fiction app provides a wide range of stories for smartphone users to read.
Users could browse over 7,000 novels and communicate with others through their chatrooms. Writers could produce or curate their novels to build a consumer base and even monetize their work. Each novel only contains approximately 1,500 words, enough to finish for a single journey.
