Quick answer
What apps do I need for traveling in China?
Install these before you fly: **Alipay** and **WeChat** (payments), **Amap** (maps — Google Maps barely works in China), **DiDi** (ride-hailing, international version works with foreign numbers), **Trip.com** (trains, flights, hotels in English), **12306** (official train tickets), and a **translation app** with offline Chinese. Download offline packs on Wi-Fi — app stores and VPN sites are blocked once you're in China.
Fact-checked 2026-10-09
The essential stack
- Alipay （支付宝） — payments, subway QR tickets, DiDi rides, bike rental. Bind your foreign card before departure.
- WeChat （微信） — payments, messaging with guides/drivers, mini-programs for everything. Ask a friend to help verify a new account.
- Amap （高德地图） — the map that actually works in China. Google Maps is crippled here by the coordinate offset; Amap has English UI and transit routing.
- DiDi — ride-hailing. The international version works with foreign numbers; or use the mini-program inside Alipay/WeChat.
- Trip.com — trains, flights and hotels in full English, foreign-card friendly. Your backup for everything 12306.
- 12306 — the official railway app. Cheapest train tickets, no markup; registration with passport can take days, so do it early.
- A translation app with offline Chinese — camera-translate menus and signs when there's no signal.
Install before you fly — not after you land
App stores, VPN websites and Google Play are blocked or crippled inside China. Install and test everything on home Wi-Fi. Log into each app once so it doesn't demand SMS verification later when you're on a Chinese network.
Nice to have, not essential
- Meituan （美团） — food delivery to your hotel; Chinese-only UI, but the pictures are universal.
- Xiaohongshu （小红书） — like Instagram for discovering restaurants and photo spots locals actually go to.
- WeChat Read or a VPN — for staying in touch with home on your usual apps.
You don't need all of these on day one. The survival trio is Alipay + Amap + translation. Add the rest as the trip demands — but add them before you need them, not when you're standing confused at a subway gate.
Go deeper
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