Guide · Verified 2026-08-15
The 7 Apps That Make China Work
China runs on about seven apps, and the difference between a smooth trip and a stressful one is mostly whether you installed them before takeoff. No filler here — this is the actual stack, what each one does, and the one thing people always get wrong (setting them up after landing).
The stack, in order of importance
Alipay — Payment — the non-negotiable one
You will open this app more than any other, because in China the phone is the wallet: restaurants, taxis, metro gates, temple tickets, a ¥3 bottle of water. Foreign cards link directly, the interface speaks English, and it has translation, DiDi ride-hailing, and train booking tucked inside as mini-apps. Set it up at home, not in the arrivals hall — our walkthrough shows every screen. Alipay setup guide →
WeChat (+ WeChat Pay) — Messaging & backup wallet
China's everything-app. You'll want it for payments the day an Alipay terminal misbehaves, and for scanning the QR menus some restaurants only serve through WeChat. It's also how you'll message any local contact — guides, hosts, that friend of a friend in Shanghai. Registration has a verification quirk or two; do it before you fly. WeChat Pay guide →
Amap (Gaode) — Maps that match reality
China's dominant map app, now with an English mode. Bus lines, metro exits (the right exit matters — stations are huge), walking routes through hutongs, and real-time transit that's actually real-time. Search works best with the Chinese name pasted in, so copy addresses from your hotel booking or our city guides.
DiDi — Ride-hailing without negotiation
China's Uber. English interface, fixed price before you get in, driver plate number shown — which is exactly the armor you want against the airport 'flat fare' crowd. It lives inside Alipay as a mini-app too, so you can skip the separate download and still have it everywhere.
Trip.com — Trains, flights & hotels in English
The easiest way for foreigners to book China's high-speed rail: English interface, foreign cards accepted, passport details saved for the mandatory real-name tickets. Hotels and domestic flights too. A small booking fee on train tickets buys you a lot of convenience.
Railway 12306 — The official rail app
China Railway's own app now has English and takes foreign passports. No booking fees, first crack at tickets during busy seasons, and it's the source of truth when a train time changes. Slightly more setup friction than Trip.com — worth it if trains are the backbone of your route.
A translator that works offline — For menus, signs, and everything else
Apple Translate (download the offline Chinese pack) handles camera menus and conversations well on iPhone. Pleco is the classic Chinese dictionary and worth having for anything precise. Alipay's built-in translator covers you in a pinch. Whichever you pick, download the offline language pack before boarding — don't gamble on airport Wi-Fi.
Do you need a Chinese phone number? Almost never.
This is the question that keeps people up the week before they fly, and the honest answer is that it's the wrong question. Nothing on this page is gated on a +86 number as such. What actually gates things is which layer you're trying to reach, and there are only three.
- Reading. Maps, restaurant ratings, reviews, timetables. No account, no number, no verification. Most of what a visitor needs lives here.
- Paying. Alipay and WeChat Pay want your passport and a card — not a Chinese number. This is where people expect a wall and don't find one.
- Transacting inside a Chinese platform. Group-buy deals, remote queue tickets, some venue bookings. This is the one layer where a local account, and in practice a local number, starts to matter.
| App | To read | To pay | What it actually asks for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alipay | Not needed | Not needed | Passport verification, foreign card |
| WeChat / WeChat Pay | Not needed | Not needed | Registration takes an overseas number; a existing user may need to vouch for you |
| DiDi — standalone app | Not needed | Not needed | Overseas number and an international card both accepted |
| DiDi — inside Alipay / WeChat | Not needed | Not needed | Nothing beyond the host wallet, but pays only from it |
| 12306 (rail) | Not needed | Not needed | English mode and foreign-passport registration |
| Dianping / Meituan — reading | Not needed | Not needed | Browsing, ratings and reviews open without an account at all |
| Dianping / Meituan — buying | Needed in practice | — | Group deals, remote queueing and reservations sit behind a Chinese account |
| Amap / Baidu Maps | Not needed | Not needed | Navigation works logged out |
So the practical answer: a local number is a convenience, not a key. It buys you two things — drivers can phone you, and the third layer opens up — and both are worth about the price of a data eSIM with a number attached. What it does not do is decide whether you can pay for lunch.
Rows above reflect what we could verify on the date at the top of this page. App sign-up rules change without announcement and vary by passport country — treat any single row as a starting point, not a guarantee, and check before you build a plan on it.
What not to depend on
Some Western apps you use daily are unreliable to unavailable on mainland networks — Google services being the big one. The winning move isn't to fight it; it's to not need them. Amap navigates better in China than any foreign map ever did, Apple Translate's offline pack reads menus without a connection, and everything on the list above works the moment you land. For getting online at all, sort your data out first with our eSIM guide.
The winning move isn't to fight it; it's to not need them.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the single most important app for a China trip?
- Alipay, and it isn't close. It's the wallet, and in a near-cashless country the wallet is everything else's prerequisite. Set it up with your foreign card before you fly — it takes about 15 minutes at home and considerably more patience in an arrivals hall.
- Do Google Maps and Google Translate work in China?
- Don't build your trip on them — Google services are unreliable to unavailable on local networks in mainland China. Use Amap for navigation and Apple Translate or Pleco with offline packs for language. Plan around apps that definitely work rather than hoping.
- Do I need both Alipay and WeChat Pay?
- Need? No — Alipay alone covers 95% of situations. But WeChat Pay costs nothing to set up and rescues you at the occasional WeChat-only QR menu or a terminal having a bad day. Redundancy in payments is the cheapest insurance a China trip has.
- Should I book trains on Trip.com or the official 12306 app?
- Trip.com for ease (English-first, smooth foreign card handling, small fee), 12306 for zero fees and first access when tickets are tight, like holidays. Many travelers use Trip.com for the whole trip and never think about it again.
- When should I install and set everything up?
- One to two weeks before departure. Payment apps involve card verification that's much less stressful on your sofa, and offline map and translation packs are big downloads. The plane is too late; the arrivals hall is much too late.
Verified 2026-08-15. App features shift constantly — the payment and rail apps especially. Tell us if a step no longer matches.