7 Must-Have Apps To Help You Survive In China (+ What eSIM To Get)

Traveling to China can be a bit of a tech maze, especially if you’re not aware of what works differently there. Is there preparation that needs to be done? YES. So much prep work!

I had to do loads of research for my very own China trip this year. With the help of friends who had been to China before, my dad’s endless hours of watching Chinese YouTube videos, and gathering intel from discussion boards for the best recommendations, I was able to get my whole family set up (technologically) for our China trip.

It was a lot, but the effort was worth it. We didn’t have a single issue in China because we were so well prepared with our Plan A, B, and even C’s to prevent running into roadblocks!

In this guide, we’ll cover the must-have apps that make exploring China easy and enjoyable—think navigation, translation, buying tickets, and finding local gems without the hassle.

These are the apps you absolutely don’t want to skip downloading to help you get around, order food, and communicate like a pro.

In the second half of this guide, we’ll dive into essentials like VPNs (whether you need one or not) and which eSIM to get so you can stay connected from the moment you land.

With the right apps and a solid plan for accessing the internet, your trip to China will be smooth like butter and as stress-free as can be!

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7 Must-Have Apps For Your China Trip

1. Alipay

China is super digitalized. People rarely use cash. They use Alipay (and WeChat) instead.

Alipay is China’s go-to app for payments. Almost everyone accepts Alipay — luxury stores, grocery stores, taxi drivers, restaurants, and even street food vendors.

The Alipay app itself can also help with a ton of other stuff like ride-hailing, taking the subway, scanning QR code menus at restaurants, paying restaurant bills, and more.

If you’re in China, not having Alipay is like showing up without money or your phone.

ACTION ITEM: To get set up on Alipay, you’ll need to verify your identity with your passport and connect your credit card before entering China. If you wait til the last minute or do it when you’re in China, it might glitch and make things more annoying for you.

You don’t need to fill your ‘wallet’ in the app. To pay, there are two main options: scan the vendor’s QR code and input the amount you need to pay OR have them scan your QR code. Your credit card will be charged for these payments.

Other features you’ll probably be using the most:

• The built-in Google translation app – I love this because it reduces the need for a ton of separate apps on your phone.
• The built-in DiDi Travel app – China’s version of Uber.
• The Transport feature (metro QR code) – With Alipay, you don’t need to buy physical train tickets — just activate the metro card QR for every city you enter and scan it when entering the metro. (Note: Be sure to activate the QR for the current city you’re in; otherwise, it won’t work.)
• Scan feature (Scanning menus at restaurants) – Many places have a QR code in place of physical menus. Alipay allows you to order and pay without interacting with the servers whatsoever.

NOTE: On rare occasions, Alipay may glitch or refuse a payment. This is rare, but we like to have a second form of payment on hand as backup (cash or WeChat). Over 98% of our payments went through Alipay without issues.

2. WeChat

Most of us probably know WeChat as a messaging app. In China, it’s way more than this. WeChat is also part social media and part payment method.

Most tourists will use WeChat to pay for things and scan menus, similar to Alipay.

It’ll also be the primary way to connect with and communicate with any locals you meet along your trip (this includes contacting your hotel, making appointments, booking services, etc.). We personally used it for our travel group chat (since WhatsApp is banned in China).

Download WeChat in addition to Alipay. In the cases where Alipay glitches or chooses not to work (it probably will happen to you at some point too!), you’ll have WeChat as a backup payment method.

ACTION ITEM: The process is pretty similar — verify your identity and connect your credit card. You don’t need to fill your ‘wallet’ with local currency. Just pay with the QR code.

As of mid-2023, they’ve made this app WAY more foreigner-friendly. You no longer need to verify yourself with the help of two pre-existing WeChat users. That tedious process is gone!

WeChat also has an in-app translation feature, which makes it much easier to communicate with Chinese people through text. (Like making massage appointments, haircut appointments, contacting your tour guide, etc.)

Things we used WeChat for:

• Texting each other in our family group chat
• Checking our place in line after grabbing a number at popular restaurants
• “Following” and joining the mailing lists of retail businesses for first-time user coupons
• While it was also supposed to be our backup payment method, I never once needed it during my 3 weeks in China.

3. A maps app

Half of us here are probably accustomed to using Google Maps. If you’ve tried looking up China destinations during your trip planning, you’ll notice that Google Maps is spotty and subpar.

In fact, Google Maps is outdated and entirely offset, so using it for navigation is going to be a problem in China. This means that any location within Google Maps will be slightly off by about 200 meters. Not helpful when you’re looking for the entrance of a specific restaurant or museum.

Go with Apple Maps instead — this was the app I used to get around on foot + with public transportation. While I can’t speak for all of China, I can say that it worked perfectly in all of the destinations we visited (Shenzhen, Xi’an, Chengdu, and Chongqing).

We used it for walking directions and for accessing public transportation info (routes, costs, and timetables), including which subway exit # to get off at. This complete version of Apple Maps is only available while you are in China.

If you’re traveling with people who can read/write Chinese, Gaodeditu (高德地图) is a highly recommended app. Even better than Apple Maps. Right now, it’s in Chinese only, but it operates exactly like Google Maps.

If you want to find good spots to eat, translate into Chinese the type of food you’re interested in, and use the maps app to look at restaurant ratings. 

Kind of a pain in the butt that it’s all in Chinese, but it works really well if you are traveling with people who can read Chinese!

To download, search for “gaode map” in your app store. The name might be in Chinese, but the app’s logo is a blue paper plane.

4. DiDi

DiDi is China’s Uber alternative and the easiest way to get around cities. DiDi offers ride-hailing, carpooling, and even chauffeur services at extremely affordable rates.

For our trip to China, we traveled as a group of 4, which made the cost of calling a car (instead of taking public transportation) so much more worth it.

It’s a must-have app if you want a quick, reliable way to get from point A to B without relying on taxis or dealing with language barriers—most drivers use navigation in-app, so minimal communication is needed.

Pro Tip: If you have the standalone DiDi app, link it to Alipay or WeChat for smooth, cash-free payments. Otherwise, Alipay has a built-in DiDi mini app you can access to call for rides.

5. Trip.com

Trip.com is like China’s version of Expedia, Viator, Klook, Trainline, and TikTok for travel planning — all rolled up into one.

This website (and app) covers flights, trains, hotels, and even local tours.

For our 3-week China trip, we used it to book 3 hotels, all of our high-speed train rides, and most of our activities which included dinner shows, face-changing shows, Chengdu Giant Panda Base tickets, Terracotta Warriors entry tickets, and other tourist sites.

Yes, there are a bunch of other international apps you can use to find flights, hotels, and tours, but Trip.com is so much more comprehensive for China.

For hotels, you’ll find so many more China-specific options that international apps often don’t have (like this super nice aparthotel we booked in Shenzhen for 6 nights). Most times, room rates are actually cheaper than your average hotel aggregator site (Expedia, Booking.com, Hotels.com, etc.)

For attractions and tickets, Trip.com is one of the only sites that does NOT require a Mainland China phone number to make advance reservations/purchases.

The site is in English, so you’ll have no issues navigating through it and booking tickets/hotels. It’s a little clunkier compared to some of the super streamlined/user-friendly apps we’re used to, but it gets the job done.

6. Translation App (Your Choice)

If you have an international eSIM that allows you to bypass the firewall, you can stick with Google Translate.

Google Translate’s offline download feature allows you to translate things into Mandarin and vice versa even when you don’t have internet access.

It has a text mode and a conversation mode. You can use its camera function to translate menus and signs in real-time too.

We also like Baidu Translate because you can speak English and it’ll translate what you say into Chinese.

7. 大众点评 (Dàzhòng Diǎnpíng)

Having trouble researching restaurants and non-touristy things to do?

I totally get it—browsing the travel websites recommended by Google sucked. The same historical attractions and temples were being recommended. Where were the hidden gems, the hip neighborhoods, and the local spots???

I ended up discovering two apps that made it easy to find those local spots that most travel sites don’t mention: Trip.com and 大众点评 (Dàzhòng Diǎnpíng).

I already mentioned Trip.com for booking tickets and hotels, but it’s also a go-to for travel info and recommendations (there are user-generated videos categorized by city, user ratings and reviews for places, and even tips in English).

大众点评, known as the “Chinese Yelp,” is where locals rate everything from street food stalls to niche shops, and it has insider details you’d miss otherwise.

Even though it’s mostly in Chinese, there is a translation feature (though it’s not perfect by any means). Reading the translations is sometimes tough and not all pages translate into English, but I personally think it’s more valuable to have than not.

I used this app SO much during my trip. Here are some scenarios I used it for:

• Browsing through popular restaurants to decide where to eat
• At a restaurant, seeing what special set menu options and promotions are offered before ordering
• Looking up spas and comparing them based on their special offers
• Watching other people’s content (organized by city) to decide on additional places to visit

With these two in your toolkit, you’ll have cracked the code of China’s best-kept secrets.

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VPN and eSIMs: Everything You Need To Know

There’s a thing called the Great Firewall. No Google, no Facebook, no TikTok, etc.

China’s internet is heavily restricted by what’s known as the “Great Firewall,” which blocks popular western sites we’re all accustomed to. This is part of the government’s control over online content.

This includes Gmail, Google, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Twitch, Reddit, LinkedIn, NYT, Discord, etc. You can check out the whole list here.

You have two choices.

• Live without them for the duration of your trip (you can use Bing for searches)
• Get an international eSIM to bypass the firewall

To get past the firewall, get an international eSIM for your phone.

eSIM research is such a beast to tackle. After hours and hours of deep research for my own trip, here are my takeaways to save you time.

An international eSIM will bypass the Great Firewall, which means you will be able to access Western websites on your phone.

Do not get an eSIM from within China. Otherwise, you’ll be blocked from all your international faves (those sites listed above).

Hong Kong-based providers are fine. In fact, they are way cheaper than Western-based eSIM providers.

I went with 3HK, a Hong Kong-based provider because it was one of the best values when I was comparing eSIM options. Hong Kong SIMs will give you access to most of the Western apps. This is the data plan I got: 30-Day Pass – Greater Bay Area 30GB.

Even though I love Airalo myself, I found them to be pretty expensive compared to local HK eSIM options. Having said that, tons of travelers to China have used Airalo and have reported great data coverage/internet access. Airalo has fewer restrictions compared to HK-based providers (i.e. TikTok, ChatGPT).

The bottom line: If you get an eSIM anywhere outside of China, you’ll be able to access Google, YouTube, Facebook, IG, and most of the other restricted apps while in Mainland China.

Bringing a laptop? Get a VPN or try hotspotting.

If you need to do heavy computer work with internet access while in China, you’ll want a VPN.

LetsVPN is a highly recommended VPN provider. While I avoided using my laptop in China (so that I didn’t need to buy a VPN), many travelers reported that LetsVPN works perfectly throughout China without issues.

You can also try hot-spotting with your eSIM data to access firewalled sites on your laptop. I did this a few times with my phone’s eSIM to check Google Flights and it worked perfectly.

Don’t connect to the wifi in China if you need to access blocked sites.

Connecting to regular Wi-Fi networks (yes, even at your hotel) will block sites like Google, Facebook, or Instagram as they’re subject to the country’s internet restrictions.

You can either use a VPN or just use your eSIM data the whole time. If you don’t plan on guzzling data throughout your trip, I find the latter to be the cheaper option.

Switching to an eSIM won’t log you out of Alipay or WeChat.

In regards to Alipay and WeChat, don’t worry about potentially resetting anything after activating your eSIM or SIM card. You won’t be asked to log back in on your device.

And that’s all I can think of for now. If you have any specific questions, feel free to leave a comment or send me a message and I can do my best to help you out with what I know!

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