17 Essential Apps for Your China Trip (And 5 to Skip) (2026)

You step off the plane at Pudong, open Google Maps to find the maglev, and the screen stays blank. The coffee kiosk wants a QR code you do not have. The taxi line is forty people deep, and the only fast way out is an app you never installed.

None of this is bad luck. It is a thirty-minute problem, and you can solve it before you leave home.

Here is the one rule that matters: install everything at home, on your normal internet connection. Once you cross the border, the app stores change. Google, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook are blocked in mainland China, and many VPN apps and their websites are blocked too, so the tools you would use to download a fix are themselves unreachable (NordVPN’s 2026 blocked-sites list). Some local apps also demand a Chinese phone number you will not have until you land.

The table below is the short version. Everything under it is the long version.

The must-have apps at a glance

Part One: Install Before You Leave

These apps cannot be reliably downloaded inside China. Some are blocked, some are region-restricted, and some vanish from your home screen during an automatic update because the Chinese App Store does not carry them.

1. Alipay (支付宝)

Alipay is the closest thing China has to a universal payment system. It is accepted from luxury hotels down to street food carts, and you will use it for meals, taxis, train tickets, and groceries. It also holds mini-apps for ride-hailing, restaurant reviews, and food delivery.

Foreign visitors have been able to fund Alipay with an international card since the Tour Pass program launched in November 2019, and today you can link a Visa or Mastercard directly (Alipay’s official Tour Pass agreement). The app offers an English interface for international users.

Before you leave: download it, register, link an international card, and finish identity verification at home on stable wifi, not hunched over a suitcase in the arrival hall. Link two cards if you can, because banks sometimes flag the first China transaction as suspicious.

2. WeChat (微信)

WeChat is messaging, social media, payments, news, and customer service in one app. You will use it to reach hotels, tour guides, and almost anyone you meet. Many businesses run entirely through WeChat official accounts, and its Mini Programs are how you reach services like DiDi and Meituan without a separate download.

For payments, foreigners can set up WeChat Pay with a passport, an overseas phone number, and an international Visa or Mastercard, with no Chinese bank account required (China Briefing). WeChat Pay has an English interface. Expect a 3% fee on international-card purchases above ¥200; purchases of ¥200 or less are exempt.

Before you leave: download, register, and add a payment method. Running both Alipay and WeChat Pay covers you for the rare merchant that takes only one.

3. Your VPN client (two of them)

This is the key that opens everything else. Google, WhatsApp, Telegram, Instagram, and Facebook are blocked inside the Great Firewall, and China has removed many VPN apps from its own app stores, so you cannot grab one after you arrive (NordVPN).

Install your VPN on every device, log in, and test the connection before you fly. Carry a primary and a backup, because individual VPNs get blocked from time to time. The full breakdown is in the Best VPNs for China guide.

4. Google Maps (offline only)

Google Maps is blocked in China, but its offline mode still works. Before you leave, download offline maps for every city you plan to visit. The offline map still shows your location, nearby streets, and saved places when the live service is unreachable.

One reality check: Google Maps uses government-shifted coordinates in China, so your pin may sit 50 to 100 metres off. Use it for orientation and saved pins, not turn-by-turn walking directions. Apple Maps (which uses local Chinese map data) and AMap are more accurate once you are on the ground.

5. Offline translation: Baidu Translate (百度翻译) and Pleco

English is not widely spoken outside Beijing, Shanghai, and the major tourist sites. You will need translation for menus, signs, pharmacy labels, and conversations.

Baidu Translate is built for China and works there without a VPN. It has an English interface, supports more than 200 languages, and offers camera translation with an offline mode, so you can point your phone at a menu and read it even with no signal (Baidu Fanyi). Download the Chinese pack before you go.

Pleco is the reference tool, not a live translator. It is the leading Chinese-English dictionary for iOS and Android, runs fully offline, and includes camera lookup (OCR) and handwriting recognition. The free version ships with the CC-CEDICT dictionary covering more than 130,000 words (Pleco). When a handwritten menu or a street sign defeats the camera translator, Pleco is what decodes it character by character.

Install both. Baidu Translate handles sentences; Pleco handles individual characters.

6. Trip.com

This is the most foreigner-friendly app for booking trains, flights, and hotels in China. It works entirely in English, accepts international credit cards, and has responsive support. It also sells Hong Kong-routed eSIMs that bypass the Great Firewall without a VPN.

7. Your eSIM provider’s app

If you are using an eSIM, which the eSIM vs Physical SIM comparison argues you should, download the provider’s app before you leave. Buy the plan and, where possible, install the eSIM profile in advance. Some profiles activate automatically on landing.

8. WhatsApp and Telegram

This is how most of the world talks. Both are blocked in China. Install them, set them up, and confirm they work through your VPN before you leave.

9. A password manager with offline access

You will be logging into services from unfamiliar networks across several devices. Make sure your password manager (1Password, Bitwarden, iCloud Keychain) can reach your credentials offline. Cloud sync from inside China can be unreliable.

Part Two: Install After Arrival

These apps are available in Chinese app stores or as mini-apps inside Alipay and WeChat. Grab them once you are on the ground.

10. AMap (Gaode Map, 高德地图)

This is the map app Chinese residents actually use. It gives accurate GPS navigation, real-time public transit directions, live traffic, and taxi booking. It is more accurate than Google Maps because it uses the official coordinate system.

For foreigners there is an AMap Global version on Google Play and the App Store, billed as an English map that works in China. Two caveats: it typically wants a Chinese phone number, and the English mode drops some functions that the Chinese version keeps (AMap Global on Google Play). Baidu Map (百度地图) is the other big option, but it historically has no full English interface; Baidu launched a separate English map for Beijing in early 2025 and offers a limited Tourist Mode, and it does not work outside China.

How to get it: the iOS version needs a Chinese Apple ID, or you can use a stripped-down version through the Alipay mini-app store. On Android, the APK is on Chinese app stores.

11. DiDi (滴滴出行) — standalone or via Alipay/WeChat

DiDi is China’s ride-hailing leader; Uber exited mainland China and the app you want now is DiDi. Good news for visitors: the DiDi China app has an English interface and supports login with a global mobile number, with a built-in translation feature for messaging drivers (DiDi China on Google Play). You do not strictly need the standalone app either; open the DiDi Mini Program inside Alipay or WeChat and book taxis and private cars directly, which sidesteps the Chinese phone number problem entirely.

12. Meituan (美团)

Meituan is food delivery, restaurant reviews, movie tickets, and local services in one. The standalone app has no built-in English interface and generally asks for a Chinese mainland number to receive the sign-up code. The workable route for visitors is the Meituan Mini Program inside WeChat or Alipay, which leans on the host app’s translation and often works without a separate Chinese-number account.

13. Dianping (大众点评)

This is the restaurant review platform that actually matters in China: real customer reviews, dish photos, and rankings. Like Meituan, it is easiest to reach through an Alipay or WeChat Mini Program. For photo-led discovery of what locals are eating this week, RedNote (Xiaohongshu) pairs naturally with it — our RedNote for China travel guide explains how to use it without reading Chinese.

14. Railway 12306

The official app for China’s high-speed rail network. You can book trains in English through Trip.com, but 12306 gives direct seat selection and last-minute booking. It can be finicky with foreign passports, so use Trip.com unless you have patience and a Chinese number.

15. Pleco

Already covered above, worth repeating: the best Chinese-English dictionary, fully offline, with handwriting recognition and camera lookup. If you install only one language app, make it this one.

Part Three: Save Your Storage — Skip These

Skip 1: Uber

Uber exited mainland China years ago; its app does not work there. Open the DiDi Mini Program inside Alipay or WeChat instead.

Skip 2: Airbnb

Airbnb’s mainland listings are thin compared with local platforms. Trip.com and Fliggy give better selection and pricing.

Skip 3: Google Pay and Apple Pay (for in-store)

QR codes are the universal payment method. Nobody taps a phone at a terminal. Add your cards to Apple Wallet for transit passes in Beijing and Shanghai if you want, but do not expect widespread acceptance.

Skip 4: Facebook and Instagram (standalone apps)

Both are blocked, and even through a VPN they are data-hungry battery drainers. Use your phone’s browser if you need to check in.

Skip 5: Any free-WiFi finder app

These are uniformly scams or data-collection tools. Free wifi in China requires SMS verification through a Chinese number anyway. An eSIM is cheaper, faster, and more secure.

The Thirty-Minute Pre-Departure Checklist

Take half an hour before your flight and run through this:

• [ ] Alipay: download, register, link card, verify identity
• [ ] WeChat: download, register, set up WeChat Pay
• [ ] Two VPNs: installed, logged in, tested on every device
• [ ] Offline maps: download cities in Google Maps
• [ ] Offline translation: download the Chinese pack in Baidu Translate; install Pleco
• [ ] eSIM: buy the plan and install the profile
• [ ] Trip.com: download, create an account, link payment
• [ ] Screenshots: hotel addresses and key locations written in Chinese
• [ ] Passport photo: saved to phone and cloud
• [ ] CCC-certified power bank: packed in carry-on

The travellers who struggle are the ones who assume their home apps will follow them across the border. They will not. Install everything at home, test it before you go, and you arrive ready instead of standing in the terminal wondering why Google Maps is a blank screen.

App interfaces and English support change with updates; verify current availability at the official app pages above (last verified 2026-07-24).