We thought we'd help you students/ workers out there and give you a handy list of apps that you need to download before you come to China, as it will make your life much much easier when you're here! The majority of apps you can download in China, but you're probably unlikely to be able to access the app store for a VPN! From food places to messaging apps, we're covering it all!
WeChat:
We couldn’t create this list without having WeChat (weixin) in it. You may be asking yourself what is this Wechat? But Wechat is the leading social media/messaging platform in China, with 11 billion registered accounts with the average number of users being 570 million a day! Now that shows how used this app is! You may not have heard of it now, but when you come to China it’s an absolute must!
As you may well know the likes of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, or even Gmail is forbidden in China, so the best way for you to contact your friends and family without having to download a VPN is through getting WeChat. Everyone you see walking around on their phones, they’re either watching a movie or talking to someone through WeChat.
So what actually is WeChat?
WeChat is predominantly an instant messaging app, similar to that of Whatsapp, but has a huge array of other functions included. First of which is the ‘WeChat Moments’ which is basically a news feeds of your friends, similar to that of Facebook, you can upload text, pictures of video to share with them. Another great feature of WeChat is the ability to talk to someone via a phone call or sending them a voice clip. WeChat also has a huge database of GIFS, emoticons and stickers that you have at your disposal, you’ll soon be swapping loads of them with your friends.
Another handy little feature on WeChat is that you can pretty much do everything from it; you want to transfer money to your friends? Done. You want to top-up your mobile phone? Done. Pay for Electric/water bill? Done. Want to be able to book a taxi, train or plane ticket, hotel room or find any local deals at restaurants? Done. WeChat is incredibly useful for a huge amount of reasons, and you can now see why it’s so popular in China, and is now spreading throughout the world. You can even share your exact location to your friends if you’re lost, or they’re trying to find you! Easy.
WeChat is incredibly easy to use, it’s extremely user friendly and can be set up with a huge variety of different languages. Also when you’re in China you’ll definitely notice QR codes everywhere, and we mean everywhere! And WeChat is one of the reasons to why there are so many. WeChat has a QR scanning feature, which when you scan the QR code on the advertisement for example, it will link you directly to the company’s official WeChat account or open up offers to you directly on your phone to use. It doesn’t stop here, it can also be used to scan your friend’s QR code, so there’s none of that trying to remember your or their username!
This app is a definite must if you’re coming to China, it’s easy to set up and use, free, and everyone has it. When you download it, give our QR at the bottom of the page a scan!
A VPN:
As you’re most probably aware, the majority of apps and websites that you’ll be using right now are blocked in China thanks to the Great Firewall of China. That means that without a VPN, you’re limited to a slim choice of apps and things to go on. You won’t be able to access Facebook, Twitter， Snapchat, Instagram, Gmail, or even search via Google etc. you’ll soon be very frustrated about this, so we recommend to download a VPN to help! It would be more ideal to download it in your home country, before you come to China, as quite often you can’t access ‘VPN’ searches online.
So what is a VPN?
A VPN or Virtual Private Network is basically an app or platform that bypasses the normal route the internet would take and goes via a different ‘server’ to create a secured connection that can't be traced. This means that you’re able to connect to the internet using for example the ‘UK’ private server, so the internet basically thinks that you’re in the UK, so you can therefore access websites that are only accessible from the UK. Quite a lot of people use VPN for the extra protection when doing online banking to prevent people from stealing their information. But in China it allows you to bypass the Great Firewall of China and you can access a server perhaps in your own country and it’ll let you access the likes of Facebook, Twitter, Google etc. without a problem.
There are a huge variety of VPN’s available, but they predominantly do the same thing. But we’d advise you to download the more popular and reviewed versions, and please check which ones are still working in China before you download by looking at the reviews, as quite often many VPNs, especially the free ones are being blocked by the government. Furthermore the free VPNs are quite good, but they don’t have the added protection and features than the paid versions do. A free VPN may limit the amount of data that you can download, or perhaps may have only one server to choose from. Which a paid VPN such as ‘ExpressVPN’ allows you to select the exact server you’d like to connect to, so if you’d like access to websites that only allow a connection from within the UK, you can select the UK server etc.
An example of a pretty good VPN would be ‘BetterNet’, it’s free and doesn’t have adverts, it also allows you to select which country you’d like to connect to, but it can sometimes have really slow downloads, so you’d have to wait quite a long time for a video to load for example.
We advise to download a few of the free ones and see whether you like the functionality of each one, and if there’s an option, go to the paid version for the extra features. This means you’ll be 100% happy when you come to China as you’ll know your VPN inside out.
Most VPN’s are very easy to set up, for example the ones via the app store, most of the time only require you to download the app and accept the app to configure some VPN settings within your phone, you can then open the app and simply click connect. The ones via the desktop or laptop may require something slightly longer, but not too much, you may have to download the programme onto your computer and then access it that way, but still, it’s still very simple to do, convenient, and you can access everything that you want, but remember to download it before you come to China!
UBER/DIDI:
The majority of us have used UBER, or at least know what it is, and in China it’s the same. However recently UBER’s Chinese business has been bought by DIDI, which is basically the Chinese version of UBER. UBER’s advantage in China was that it was foreigner friendly, and the fact that it was in English, so therefore they could use it here without a problem, but DIDI is only in Chinese, so unless you can speak/read Chinese you may find it difficult to use it. However as DIDI has recently bought the UBER business which was their biggest competition, then it’s highly likely that within the soon future, the app will release more ‘foreign friendly’ versions, perhaps in English.
These kind of apps are incredibly helpful for foreigners and anyone in general, especially when travelling late at night, as it can often be quite hard to get hold of a taxi at certain times. For now, UBER is still working in China, therefore it’s really easy for foreigners to book a taxi, simply do it as if you’re doing it in your home country. But when you’re setting up your card, make sure that it’s accepted by the company, or if you’re here for a longer duration, you may want to set up a Chinese bank account. We’ll have another guide soon regarding setting up bank accounts in China.
If you’re quite happy using DIDI, you may try this, It’ll be in Chinese and the driver is likely to phone you to ask where you are, but it’s very simple if you understand Chinese, but we’ll have another guide soon on how to use Chinese-only apps. But you’ll basically be able to set your location to exactly where you are, you’ll be able to set exactly where you want to go, and you can pay via your phone so there’s no walking for miles from the subway station or carrying lots of cash with you.
Explore Metro (ExploreBeijing, ExploreShanghai, ExploreHongKong, ExploreGuangzhou, ExploreShenzhen):
This app is considered one of the best apps for students and visitors who are new to China. Explore Metro is an incredibly user-friendly subway map of the whole city that you choose, it even has the new stations on the map for when they’re completed. You can select which subway stop you’re at, and which one you want to go to and it will give you detailed instructions on how to get there, including how many stops, the duration of time, the price of the journey, and also where and how to transfer lines if it’s required to do so. It’s extremely user friendly and easy to use, especially when you’re new to a city and don’t know how to get from A to B.
The app is free to download but offers an in-app purchase where it can then give you VIP, which means the maps can be used offline, you won’t be bombarded with advertisements, you’ll be given accurate pricing for each trip, and will also be given information on the first/last train times etc. This app is definitely one of our intern’s favorite apps for getting around Beijing.
This app is fantastic for when you’re new to a city, and it will save you a huge amount of time and effort as you’ll know exactly where you need to go and how. And before you know it, you’ll be travelling on the subway like a local.
QQ, also QQ International；
QQ is another one of those apps that everyone in China uses, it’s fairly similar to that of WeChat, however this one is use predominantly as an instant messenger/email app/platform. This app is really useful as it’s quick and it allows people to send large documents to their friends, which perhaps through other emails may be too large. Also in China is essential for sending extra large documents as unfortunately we can’t access drop box here. The apps great especially if you don’t have a VPN and use emailing websites such as GMAIL, as again, because of the firewall it doesn’t work.
However, one thing that you need to note about this app is that the original ‘QQ’ is in Chinese only, and if you can’t read or write Chinese you may find it a little difficult to set the app up, so we recommend downloading and setting up the ‘QQ International’ app, which is basically the English version. And it’s incredible easy to set up, just a few details such as name, date of birth, other email, and that’s your account done! You’ll just need to be able to remember your many digit account/email number as you can then give it to others when you need something sending to you.
有道词典(youdaocidian) youdao Dictionary
We all know what it’s like when we’re travelling somewhere in a country where we don’t speak the language, and you’re trying your best in sign language and pointing to get the thing that you want, but in China you don’t have to struggle. There is a Chinese app called youdao electric dictionary, and the majority of Chinese will use it when speaking English, and will quickly search for the word they’re looking for. It’s basically an electronic dictionary, that translates from Chinese to English and English to Chinese, and one of the best things about this app is that it can be used offline.
Not only is it a dictionary, but it can also be used to translate whole sentences and phrases, which is incredible useful for if you’re lost, or you’re trying to order food, or even if you’re learning some Chinese, the translation in this app is really accurate.
Ordering online food:
As you’ll find out in China, there is food everywhere you can see, and this also includes the ways in which you can get it. A huge part of business in China, especially the larger cities include companies distributing restaurant food to people who have ordered their food online. Similar to the newly started Deliveroo in the UK, but these companies are everywhere in China, and are extremely popular. People get their food delivered to their offices, to their homes, to the exits of subways, it’s extremely convenient and useful, whether you’re local or Chinese.
The range of food available is incredible, some of the best options for you would be apps called 饿了吗 (elema) or 美团(Meituan). You can simply download the apps, input various factors such as your address, and a tip for foreigners would to write a note along the lines of ‘My Chinese is poor, please deliver straight to door’ and they won’t have any problems with this. You’ll order your food, and it will arrive at your door within 20-30 minutes, it’s extremely fast, and you have plenty of options available, in terms of restaurants to choose from, and also payment method. But if you want to pay online, you must make sure that you have a Chinese bank account or at least a card that is accepted in China such as VISA.
The person who is your delivery driver (if you don’t write a note saying your Chinese is not good) they'll likely call you to confirm that they’re maybe outside, or they’re on their way. But not to worry, they often deliver to foreigners as foreigners really do like this way of having their food delivered as it’s nice and convenient, and can be done quickly from their phone.
One extra thing about these apps is that you may have to pay a little extra for the service fee, but it’s not going to break your bank. You’ll soon have your food delivered straight to your door every time without any problems or worries.
Or scan the following QR code via wechat
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