Free Apps for Foreigners in China Can't Live Without！
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China has a whole universe of awesome apps that you may not have ever heard about, but once you land here, you’ll find them indispensable! For everything from online chatting to making payments, finding great restaurants to hailing a taxi, these apps will help you navigate China like a local!
WeChat 微信
The one app to rule them all: WeChat is an essential app for daily life here in the Middle Kingdom. Far beyond just a powerful chat app, WeChat provides countless functions to manage life in the Middle Kingdom.
You can use your WeChat Wallet to pay for almost anything: from restaurant meals to clothing in shops, movie tickets to flight tickets.
Some restaurants don’t even have menus anymore, you just scan a QR code on WeChat to order food on your phone. China has gone practically cashless, many people don’t carry real wallets anymore as you can use your phone to pay your bills, transfer money to friends, or even buy from a street food vendor. WeChat is the app you’ll open most for everything from communication to retail therapy.
WeChat is one of China’s most popular social media platform: through WeChat Moments people share photos and stories, similar to Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. You can also follow your favorite company to stay updated with news, promotions and events.
Other handy functions on WeChat include a tool to share your location in real time or use Friend Radar to meet and add people nearby to your contacts.
Alipay 支付宝
Alipay is China’s second major digital payment app, together with WeChat Wallet. You can use it to pay for goods and services, make direct transfers and pay bills. Through long-term use of the app, you can earn a credit score based on your purchase history. You can open an Alipay account at a local bank in China with your passport number and Chinese phone number. Just about any place of business in China will accept both Alipay and WeChat Wallet payments.
What can you use Alipay for?
Shop on most Chinese websites, including Taobao
Transfer money to other people
Pay credit card bills
Pay phone bills
Invest in Alibaba’s mutual fund (only for people with a Chinese national ID)
Check your bank balance
Shop at supermarkets, restaurants and vending machines
Hail a taxi
Taobao淘宝
It is like China's Amazon.
Taobao is an online marketplace where you can buy anything you need or want. It is also a platform for selling items, and each seller has a rating based on feedback from previous customers.
If you live in China and need something delivered quickly, Taobao is the go-to place to find it.
Although the app is in Chinese, with some practice and knowledge, you can learn how to use it even if you only know English.
DIDI 滴滴
DiDi is the Chinese equivalent of Uber or Lyft and is essential to hailing a car on rainy nights or during rush hour when taxis are scarce. The app is available in English and you can pay for your rides using your WeChat Wallet, Alipay account, an international credit card or cash.
Similar to Uber, Didi provides a choice of cars, such as Express, Taxi, Premier and Luxe. Luxe cars can only be booked through the reservation, and they come with well-trained and suited up drivers. Luxe cards are ideal for picking up business clients at the airport or taking a date out for a special occasion, while Express cars are the most economical choice.
The DiDi app provides comprehensive safety services, such as the option to add emergency contacts, audio recording, privacy screening (which blocks your phone number from drivers’ view) and more. You can even program the app to send a message to your emergency contact when you enter a vehicle and to continuously provide your contact with your GPS real-time location.
Pleco
Pleco is one of the best English-Chinese translator apps that can help you learn, improve your chinese or at least get by with your daily life in China. A great feature that Pleco has is that you can take pictures of Chinese characters and it will be able to indentify them and translate them for you in English in real-time.
Dating - Tantan(探探)
China’s answer to Tinder, Tantan is the biggest dating app in China. It works through the location-based service mechanism and matches you with the person that has been to the same place you’ve been to. The app pushes the match based on user’s common tags: same hobbies and interests as well as visiting the same places, according to this inside report.
Google Maps & Baidu Maps
Google Maps is the best comprehensive maps service throughout China, as it is fully available in English and makes it easy to navigate around.
Ele.me 饿了么/ Meituan
Ele.me and Meituan are the leading food delivery apps in China, but you can buy practically anything you need including flowers, electronics, makeup.
Google translate
It can help you with sticky situations.
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Editor: CH
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