9️⃣ Nifty Apps for Exploring China

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Going to China? 

Hooray! You’re in for a real treat!

Although I had been to almost 50 different countries, traveling to China took more planning and prep than any other place I’ve been. I highly HIGHLY!! recommend it. As we traveled around, we both kept saying, “It’s not what I expected!” –  in a good way – a really, really good way! 😍

I read countless blogs, articles, and Reddit posts, and joined numerous Facebook groups to learn about traveling to China, so I thought we were prepared and ready to go…as it turns out, we still struggled a bit to make it happen once we were there.

Most of the people who travel to “The Sleeping Giant” (as China is nicknamed) use a travel agency or join a tour of China with a group, but we don’t roll that way! My partner (Piu, aka “The Frenchman”) and I have very specific ideas about what we want to do, when we want to wake up or call an end to our day, and frankly, we are far too cheap to pay for tours…that’s probably the biggest reason!  We decided that we could make it happen on our own. 

But…

China is ginormous.

Huge. 

Massive. 

Seriously big! It’s larger than the contiguous/Lower 48 states of the USA – so keep that in mind when you decide where – and how much time – you want to travel. We decided to spend a month exploring Yunnan and Sichuan provinces in the south of China, and I’m happy to share places to go and things to do in those areas if you want to contact me! But this post is about the apps you’ll need and how to travel in China with the least amount of stress (hopefully!) 

What we learned is that our usual “toolbox” of travel apps was more or less useless in China. Google Maps? Nope. Uber? Lyft? Nope. ApplePay? Again, nope. 

Here are the essential apps I’d recommend you add to your phone – and many of them need to be added before you get to China. A few (the financial ones) take some time, as you’ll need to connect to your bank or credit cards to enable them properly. 

So without further ado, 

9 APPS TO DOWNLOAD BEFORE YOU HOP ON A PLANE

Technologically, China is extremely sophisticated and very much ahead of the rest of the world, IMO. The country is nearly 100% electronic when it comes to paying for things – hotels, trains, scooter rental, cafes and restaurants – even street market vendors selling a single apple! Every time you need to pay for something, you’ll have two main options –

AliPay and WeChat. 

Although some places will take cash, most will display a QR code for AliPay (usually a blue placard) and another for WeChat (a green card) that you will scan in order to pay. 

WeChat is used for so many things besides point-of-sale payment! China doesn’t use (or allow) WhatsApp, so WeChat is similar to WhatsApp or Messenger for sending texts and communicating. 

And besides offering a messaging platform,  WeChat makes it easy to order taxis through DiDi (the Uber of China), is a digital wallet for payments, and allows locals to pay their utilities, phone bill, etc. 

WeChat also has a translation camera app similar to GoogleTranslate – perfect for figuring out what’s on the menu! (Mostly. Sometimes the translations are hilariously wrong – after a couple of mishaps, we ended up trying to find places that had photos of the food on the wall or on their menu!) 

AliPay is also a payment processing platform but lacks the messaging component; otherwise, it’s a good option to have as well. Definitely helpful for a backup payment plan if your WeChat gets wonky now and then!

Piu and I both decided to set up AliPay and WeChat on each of our phones —sometimes, one of our apps would glitch, decline the purchase, or ask for bank verification (which can be frustrating if the wifi is slow and others are waiting to pay for their purchases!) so it was nice to have both options available.

You’ll need to add these payment apps to your phone before you get to China. You will create an account in each app and connect your bank card (credit or debit) to the app. It’s time-consuming and can be frustrating to do so, and you’ll need some patience. My partner thought his WeChat account was ready to go, but the first few days, he had issues with it and was lucky to find a helpful Chinese local to spend a few minutes with him to send and receive a code in order to get his app to work correctly.  

DiDi App

DiDi is the ride-share app used most commonly in China. It’s similar to Uber and Lyft, but more popular. And unlike the two apps above, DiDi is relatively simple to download and use. It is built into the AliPay app, so if you’re going to use AliPay you don’t really need the separate DiDi app. 

KLOOK and TRIP.COM

We booked all our stays – hotels, bed & breakfasts, and hostels – on Trip. Easy to use and similar to Booking.com, you’ll find reviews, photos, and all the usual info you need to choose where to sleep.

You’ll also find great prices on SIM cards and eSIMS on both Trip.com and Klook. (If you’re not sure what SIM cards are all about, you can check out my article which explains them – for the longest time I was really intimidated by them, but they’re easy peasy!) I highly recommend you get a SIM, and buy more data than you think you’ll need. You will be online and connected most of your waking time.

Trip.com even sells train tickets throughout China! Although there is a dedicated train app for China called “12306”, it’s in Chinese (naturally!) and more difficult to use. We did download that app, but were happy to use Trip and see all our options in English and pay the small upcharge on Trip.com to purchase the train ticket there. 

And BTW, Trip and Klook are not just for China – they’re very useful apps for much of the world. I found them both to be extremely helpful in South Korea and elsewhere. 

A VPN – a Must!

As you may already know, Facebook, Instagram, and other social media platforms, as well as Google, Google Maps, and many of the “tools” we use every day in the Western world are blocked or prohibited in China behind “The Great Firewall”.  If you want to check your SM (social media) accounts or use The Google while you’re traveling through China, you’ll definitely need a VPN. (You may be wondering why Chinese people don’t just get a VPN to access these sites, but their phones are manufactured and sold in China with imbedded software that blocks these websites and makes a VPN difficult – but not impossible – to add.)

There are free VPNs like Tunnel Bear, or you can get NordVPN, or the highly acclaimed Surfshark. Here’s a referral link for Surfshark – I love having it because I can use it on unlimited devices. I’ve got it on my laptop, my SmartTV, my iPhone, and my partner’s phone! 

Some SIM cards and eSIMs can route your connection through Hong Kong and avoiding China and thereby eliminating the need for a VPN specifically for this trip; however, I find that having a VPN on my devices at all times provides good protection against viruses, data leaks, and more. 

As with the WeChat and AliPay apps, you must download the VPN to your phone before you go. 

AMAP

If you’re like me and use Google Maps, you’ll save a lot of frustration if you download Amap for your trip to China. Why? Haha, you know why! Because Google products do not work in China without a VPN, and Google Maps is not very built out for China, lacking lots of data points. Apple Maps does work, but it’s not exact. It will get you “almost” there…but you’ll need to wander around a bit once you’re in the general area.  

Amap is much more precise! It also works wonderfully with the subway system in the major cities, and you can search for coffee, dumplings, and more along your route, just like you do on Google or Apple Maps. 

Another mapping app you may want to download is called Baidu. It’s very useful as well, and like the two payment apps I talked about earlier, I recommend downloading both Amap and Baidu in case one fails and you need a backup plan. 

PAPAGO TRANSLATE

Although Google Translate is an option, you’ll need to be on your VPN to make it work properly, because it’s one of the suite of Google products banned in China. As with the mapping and payment apps, I do recommend you add the Papago app to your phone for Chinese translations.  We spent a lot of time in the countryside and outside of the big cities, and we didn’t find many English speakers at all. Having a translation app was a lifesaver. 

OK! Whew! It’s a lot, isn’t it!? Traveling through China is more challenging than anywhere else I’ve traveled because most of the “tools” I use on the daily aren’t permitted. It definitely takes a little time to get accustomed to these new apps, but you’ll be rocking it in no time! Having these useful apps on your phone will make your time in “the Middle Kingdom” more fun, less stressful, and absolutely amazing.  

Be prepared to be blown away and have your preconceived ideas shattered – China was magnificent! 

一路顺风，玩得开心！(Bon voyage and enjoy!) 

“Are you asking me how restless I am? I’ll never be content to stay forever in one place. I’m too madly in love with the places I haven’t been, the people I haven’t met, the food I haven’t tried…and the streets I haven’t danced on.    ~ Keith Siddell