What to use instead of Google Maps in Korea — map apps and data

Can you get directions with Google Maps in Korea?

Google itself says Google Maps directions are not offered in Korea, and as of 19 September 2026 we found no official Google notice that they have started. In a post dated 5 August 2025, Google's official Korea blog wrote that Google Maps' directions feature is unavailable in Korea alone. The same post calls today's Google Maps in Korea a "simple electronic map display" service built on SK TMAP's 1:5,000 map data, and separates it from directions, which calculate the best route between two points. So for getting around Korea, visitors download one of the two Korean map apps, NAVER Map or KakaoMap.

The table below is based on each company's official pages and App Store listings, checked on 19 September 2026.

Korea approved the map-data export in February 2026, so why is it still not working?

Because when Korea's transport ministry approved Google's export of 1:5,000 map data on 27 February 2026, it made the actual export wait until the government confirms Google has met the conditions. The decision, published on the government's policy briefing site korea.kr, lists six sets of conditions: security processing of imagery, limits on showing coordinates, use of servers in Korea, later corrections, response to security incidents, and ongoing compliance checks. Raw data may leave the country only after Google's Korean partner has processed it on servers in Korea and the government has reviewed it, and the export is limited to "the minimum information needed to run navigation or directions services." Neither the decision nor Google's Korea blog gives a start date. If you want to check right before your trip, the quickest test is to enter two places in Seoul in the Google Maps app and see whether a route appears.

Which languages do NAVER Map and KakaoMap support?

NAVER Map works in Korean, English, Simplified Chinese and Japanese. KakaoMap's App Store listing shows two: English and Korean. In a press release dated 10 June 2026, NAVER said it launched multilingual maps in English, Chinese and Japanese in 2018. Its App Store description says it provides "Korean/English/Japanese/Chinese maps and English navigation." NAVER also says reviews left by domestic users are translated into English, Chinese and Japanese through Npay Connect and shown on NAVER Map.

NAVER's help center adds two limits: NAVER Map covers Korea only, with no maps of other countries, and the PC version is not offered in English. For an English, Japanese or Chinese screen, use the phone app.

KakaoMap's App Store listing gives English and Korean as its languages. In Kakao's KakaoMap help pages we found no instructions for changing the language and nothing about Japanese or Chinese. If you want to navigate in Japanese or Chinese, NAVER Map is the one whose support is confirmed by official pages.

How do you switch NAVER Map to English, Japanese or Chinese?

Tap MY (the profile icon) to the right of the search bar, then the gear icon at the top right, then Language. According to NAVER's help center, Android lets you pick the language right there. On iPhone, tapping Language takes you to NAVER Map's page in the device's Settings, where you choose a Preferred Language. If that option doesn't appear, NAVER says to add a language the app supports under Settings › General › Language & Region.

Language settings need NAVER Map 5.1.3 or later, and version 5.0 and later installs only on Android 8.0 or iOS 16.0 and up. The same page notes that answers from NAVER Map's Place Agent are given in Korean only, whatever language you choose.

How far do live bus and subway times and walking guidance go?

NAVER Map's transit and walking directions cover the whole country, and live subway arrival times are shown for lines in the Seoul metropolitan area and Busan. NAVER's help center lists city buses and subways plus express buses, intercity buses, trains, flights and ferries as nationwide. Live subway arrivals, as of May 2025, cover Seoul-area Lines 1 to 9, AREX, the Gyeongui-Jungang, Suin-Bundang, Gyeongchun, Gyeonggang and Seohae lines, and Busan Lines 1 to 4. Live bus information appears only where a Bus Information System (BIS) is in place; the April 2024 list includes Seoul, Incheon, Gyeonggi, Busan, Daegu, Daejeon, Gwangju, Ulsan, Sejong and Jeju among others. NAVER adds that transit information changes often, so a suggested route can sometimes differ from reality.

NAVER Map's turn-by-turn walking guidance needs app version 6.7 or later on Android and 6.9 or later on iPhone, and it won't start if you are 50 km or more in a straight line from the route. Transit guidance has to be started within 1 km of the route. Both rely on your phone's current location.

KakaoMap's App Store description says it finds routes for cars, public transport, walking and cycling with information updated within 24 hours, and offers real-time bus information to cut waiting time. It names Busan, Chuncheon, Mokpo, Ulsan, Jeju and Gwangju for its Hyper Accurate Bus service.

Do you need an account or a Korean phone number to use these apps?

KakaoMap works without logging in, and NAVER has opened passport verification for bookings, orders and payments to foreigners without a Korean mobile number. Kakao's help center says every KakaoMap feature is available without logging in; logging in saves your home, work and favorites to your account so they follow you to other devices.

NAVER said in a press release on 9 June 2026 that it introduced Passport Verification on 4 June. Foreigners with passports issued outside Korea can verify their identity on a smartphone, without a Korean mobile number or contacting customer support, and then use bookings, orders and payments in NAVER Map. NAVER's help center adds that special products for non-resident foreigners in the Booking tab are shown only to members identified as non-residents from their app language setting and the identity verification they completed at sign-up. We could not confirm from NAVER's official pages how much of NAVER Map's search and directions works without logging in.

How other apps, such as taxi and restaurant booking, handle phone numbers is covered in What works in Korea without a Korean phone number.

Can you use the maps without data?

For all three apps, we found no official way to complete directions offline; the only download feature we could confirm is NAVER's regional maps for car navigation. NAVER's help center explains that its navigation downloads only the parts of the map you need as you move. If you download maps in advance over Wi-Fi under MY › Settings › Navigation settings › regional map download, it says navigation then uses only a small amount of data for live traffic. The option sits inside the navigation settings, and NAVER presents it as a way to cut navigation data use.

Google's Maps help says offline maps can't be downloaded in some countries or regions because of contractual limitations, language support, address formats or other reasons, but it doesn't say which countries. We found no offline map instructions in KakaoMap's official help. Live information such as when the next bus arrives is fetched as you look at it, so you need a data connection while you are in Korea.

What if the map puts you in the wrong place?

Start with your phone's location settings. NAVER's help center says the "my location" dot is simply the position your phone determined from GPS, 3G or 4G and Wi-Fi, so it is more likely to be off indoors or next to large buildings.

• iPhone: turn on Location Services under Settings › Privacy & Security › Location Services, and allow NAVER Map to use your location while you use the app. NAVER recommends keeping Precise Location on, because the error can otherwise grow to several kilometers.
• Android: check that location is on in Settings, and that Wi-Fi scanning and Bluetooth scanning are on in the location accuracy settings.

If your location is right but an app blocks some features as an overseas connection, that is a different issue. Kedanto's Korea eSIM routes internet traffic through Singapore, so some Korean sites and apps may see it as a foreign connection; what to check then is in When your Korea eSIM is switched on but the internet isn't.

How much data do map apps use, and which plan fits?

We worked out hourly map usage and the data each kind of trip needs in 1GB a day or 5GB in total, using published figures, and in that calculation daily use was driven by social media and video, not maps. NAVER also says its navigation reuses map data it has already downloaded when you pass through the same area again, which keeps data use down. To enter your own trip length and hours of use, the data calculator picks a plan on the same basis.

On Kedanto's daily plans, using up a day's data drops you to 1Mbps rather than cutting you off; total plans simply stop once the data is gone. What happens to your maps on an evening when the daily allowance is gone is explained in When your Korean eSIM data runs out.

Stand at a downtown Seoul intersection and the road signs spell things out in two scripts, like "남대문로 Namdaemun-ro", but they won't tell you which stop to wait at or which bus number to take. Every time you pull that answer out of a map app, your phone is sending and receiving data over its Korean line.