The collaboration between Korea’s Naver and the world’s number one ridesharing app, Uber, may be short-lived, but it was filling with good memories.
Late last month, the partnership between Naver Plus, the membership program of the Korean super-app, and Uber’s membership program, Uber One, officially ended last month.
“The membership partnership ended because the contract expired,” a Naver representative told Ridesharingforum.com.
Naver is the go-to app in Korea not simply for navigation, but also for searches, shopping, entertainment, content, and so much more. Tourists who visit Korea are recommended to download Naver, rather than using Google Maps, since Naver is said to be more accurate.
The not-so-good performance of the partnership is believed to have led to the breaking of this partnership and deal.
However, Naver Plus subscribers who enrolled in the Uber One program by September 29th can actually still be able to receive the benefits for a year from their enrollment.
Looking back, Uber’s partnership together with Naver came as the CEO of Uber, Dara Khosrowshahi met together with the CEO of Naver hoi Soo-yeon during a visit to the East Asian country in 2024.
This meeting had this goal of forging cooperation for Naver’s navigation, mapping, and autonomous driving technologies, and Uber’s global mobility platform. In September 2025, the partnership was formally unveiled.
But, before this partnership, Uber’s monthly active users were at around 690,000 in September 2025, and thank you to this deal, it rose to approximately 800,000 in December. However, it fell back.
The partnership, after all, isn’t so powerful, since Uber kept struggling to gain ground against Kakao T, which has a strong base for drivers and users.
Kakao T is a popular South Korean transportation app developed by Kakao Mobility. It allows users to book taxis, rent bicycles, reserve parking spaces, and access other transportation services. The platform also supports train and bus bookings, offering convenient travel options for residents and tourists navigating cities throughout South Korea.
“Uber tends to offer a lot of price promotions, such as coupons, but it was probably not enough to catch up with Kakao T because both drivers and users are already accustomed to the platform,” a taxi industry source chatted with the RSF team.
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