Tech
Traveling to China? Here Are the Apps You’ll Need to Survive
So, you’re going to China and you need to get your phone in order, but you don’t know where to start. That was me, a month ago.
Now I’ve been there, for a week of work and another week of personal travel in and around Shenzhen. In that time, I got a good grasp on the ecosystem of apps and mini-apps. Enough, at least, to get you started if you’re venturing to China anytime soon.
Most people will be aware – but I’ll say it here just in case you’re not – that many US-based apps and services aren’t available in China, thanks to the Great Firewall (a series of laws that limits and regulates internet use). This affects the availability of Western social media such as Instagram and the non-Chinese version of TikTok, messaging apps including WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, and anything that falls under the sprawling Google umbrella.
If you use an eSIM to roam while you’re in China (highly recommended), or manage to get a VPN to work reliably (not a given), you’ll still be able to access those services. But you will also need a whole different set of apps – and this isn’t optional. You won’t get by for a single day without them.
I’d been to China once before, over a decade ago. Unprepared for the Great Firewall and unaware of the workarounds, I just went offline for a week.
Now, that’s not an option – in large part because if you want to pay for anything in China, you must do so using your phone. I didn’t take a credit card out with me for the whole two weeks I was in the country. Anywhere else, this would have been reckless, but in China, I simply wouldn’t have been able to use it.
WeChat and Alipay: The super apps
Enter WeChat and Alipay. They’re super apps, meaning you can do all kinds of things with them, but you’ll mainly need them for payments. I would strongly recommend downloading both and setting them up by linking them to multiple credit cards before you arrive in China (it can be trickier to do once you’re in the country).
To pay for things, from groceries to public transit, you’ll either scan a QR code with your phone, or allow the vendor to scan your personal QR code.
I recommend having both apps because occasionally one of the apps didn’t play ball when I was trying to pay for something (a stressful experience if that something was a dinner I’d already eaten), but the other would work just fine.
Alipay and WeChat are known as super apps because they’re platforms that host thousands of lightweight mini applications that sit inside them – from popular drinks brands such as Hey Tea and Luckin, to the transit app that allowed me to order KFC straight to my seat on a high-speed train from a station we passed through.
Some apps, such as Meituan (for food delivery) and Didi (for ride-hailing and, which I’ll address separately later) worked best for me as mini-apps within WeChat and Alipay. Not all mini apps are designed for payment, but this is almost exclusively what I used the super apps for.
Of the two, I preferred using Alipay, largely because I found the interface easier to navigate. Whenever I opened the app, the home screen presented me with three big buttons titled “Scan,” “Pay/Receive” and “Transport,” which allowed me immediate access to public transit tickets and passes for whatever city I was in.
The option to translate the content of mini apps was also less fiddly to find on Alipay, popping up as a little tab on the left of the screen.
Where Alipay and WeChat differ – and another reason I’d recommend having both – is that WeChat is first and foremost a messaging app. When you open the app, the first thing that pops up will be your chat history, just as if you were looking at your messages.
You might not know anyone in China right now, but your hotel will probably want to add you on WeChat – probably ahead of your stay – in order to have an open line of communication with you in which messages can be easily translated between languages. I found this super helpful for arranging transfers and breakfast, among other things.
I also thought WeChat did a better and more consistent job of translating mini app content overall (top tip: tap the three dots in the top right corner of the screen to access the hidden menu containing the translation option).
Amap: The Google Maps alternative
Perhaps the biggest challenge for me while traveling through China – digitally speaking, at least – is what it did to Google Maps. Overnight it turned from a geographical safety blanket that’s guided me around the world multiple times into the most useless app on my phone.
Thanks to my eSIM, I could access Google Maps, but it contains almost none of the location information about China you’ll actually need. Some people suggested using Apple Maps as an alternative, but I didn’t find it much better.
Instead, I recommend doing as the Chinese do and downloading Amap. I found it frustratingly slow to load at times, and it didn’t have the same depth of information Google Maps has about dining establishments – the lack of menus is a big difference, for example. But if you want to find local businesses and walk around without getting lost, Amap is the one.
One nice touch is that it would plan out walking routes for me based on tree cover and shade provided by buildings depending on the time of day. Given that the temperature was regularly over 100 degrees Fahrenheit with high humidity, I appreciated this guidance.
Didi: The Uber alternative
You might think, like I did when I first landed in China, that you’ll probably take public transit everywhere. Then you’ll see the price of a Didi and reconsider.
If you can use Uber (which is not available), you can use Didi – it’s straightforward, affordable and convenient. You can download it separately, but I used it as a mini app within Alipay, which made it easy to pay.
One quirk was that it didn’t automatically take the money from my card after I finished a journey. Instead, I had to manually pay after getting out of the vehicle. I often forgot to do this, but you’re not allowed to book another trip until you’ve paid for your last one. The app also prompted me to pay for my journey to the airport up front, which I appreciated, as I would’ve hated to accidentally skip town without paying.
Something to know about Didi is that the driver will confirm you’re the correct passenger by asking you the last four digits of your phone number. To overcome the language barrier, I found the best strategy was to have the last four digits saved in my notes app and to have it open to show the driver every time I jumped into a car.
Trip.com: The only booking app you’ll need
Are you an Expedia or Booking.com loyalist? Forget them both. You need one app and one app only for booking hotels in China, and that’s Trip.com.
Trip.com has a much bigger portfolio of accommodation in China than any other site or service you might use. If you’re an avid reader of reviews, you’ll also find many, many more here than anywhere else on the internet.
The app also serves as a portal for booking almost anything else you might want or need while you’re in China. I used it to book high-speed train tickets, entry to attractions and even a theater excursion. (Yes, I went to the theater, and no, I didn’t understand a word.)
Some people have also recommended Klook for booking tickets and excursions, but I can’t recommend it personally as I didn’t use it. I also liked the fact that Trip.com displayed all of my tickets and bookings in a chronological itinerary.
Rednote: For inspo
The decline of travel journalism and blogs means that many of us turn to Instagram and TikTok for inspiration when going on trips these days. You can find recommendations for China on both of these platforms, but it’s largely made by foreign visitors rather than locals.
If you’re looking for inspiration beyond the same five tourist traps or trends for every place you visit, I’d recommend downloading Rednote.
The app is a little funky to use – people post a lot of “live” pictures for a reason I can’t fathom – but the recommendation algorithm is strong. I didn’t need to spend much time searching beforeRednote started showing me content in the destinations I was visiting that was very much my vibe.
The result: I went to many excellent coffee shops and restaurants I otherwise wouldn’t have known about, and where I didn’t see another non-Chinese person.
Unlike the other apps I’ve listed here, this one is nice to have rather than essential, but I found it invaluable for curating my itinerary.
Do I need a Chinese phone number?
Many people wonder whether they’ll need a Chinese SIM card and phone number while they’re in the country. In my experience, it’s not essential and you should prioritize using an eSIM above anything else.
But if you have a spare phone you can bring, a Chinese SIM card can be worth it. I went into a China Mobile store where I handed over my passport for registration and within half an hour walked out with a free SIM card with enough data to last me until the length of my trip.
The reason I got a local SIM was that I wanted to test out a couple of things (ordering food on the train and Shenzhen’s drone delivery service) that specifically required a Chinese number. I also used the SIM to tether off on a couple of occasions when I was in more rural areas and I couldn’t get my payment apps to work using my eSIM.
By and large, most visitors won’t need a Chinese number, so don’t worry about trying to get hold of a local SIM card – especially if you’re only in the country for a short period of time.
Editors’ note: Katie Collins’ travel costs for the Honor event were covered by Honor. The judgments and opinions of CNET are our own.
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