1. 微信 WeChat (iOS/Android) It's a must-have App for living in China.It is mainly for instant messaging and e-payments. Equivalent to WhatsApp + PayPal/Venmo + Facebook + Instagram. You can get health code in wechat in the time of covid-19. Wechat has become a major means for people or businesses to communicate in China It has a lot of other functions such as phone credit top-up, transferring money to friends, hotel booking, train booking etc. A lot of enterprises in China uses wechat to
2. 支付宝 Alipay (iOS/Android) It is a must-have APP for living in China e-payment and the only e-wallet for shopping on taobao, Tmall and xianyu. You can get health code in wechat in the time of covid-19. It has a lot of other functions such as phone credit top-up, transferring money to friends, hotel booking, train booking etc.
3. 淘宝 TaoBao(iOS/Android) Chinese version of Amazon. It is the biggest online shopping platform in China.
4. 天猫 TMall (iOS/Android) Chinese version of premium Amazon. It is the gathering of official brand shop and premium sellers.
5. 京东 JD.com (iOS/Android) Alternative of Taobao & Tmall. More expensive than Taobao & Tmall in general but usually with faster delivery service.
6. 美团 MeiTuan (iOS/Android) Major food delivery platform but it also provides several other services: cinema tickets, hotel booking, train tickets, taxi etc,
7. 饿了么 Ele.me (iOS/Android) Similar to Meituan, you can order food from a vast selection of restaurants and have them delivered to your place.
8. 大众点评 Dàzhòng diǎnpíng (iOS/Android) Chinese version of Yelp/Tripadvisor. You can give reviews for almost everything. Particularly useful for finding places to eat, from the high end to the hyper local. If you’re anywhere in China and looking for a place to eat, this app will help you find something amazing. Can also book movie tickets, and order food to your doorstep, and loads more.
9. 滴滴出行 DiDi Taxi (iOS/Android) Chinese versiob of Uber. There are a variety of vehicles for you to select for your trip. If you have a low budget, you can choose the carpool option in the APP. Stand in very clear places and make sure your location pin matches where you are. You can also schedule taxi’s in advance.
10. 百度翻译 Baidu Translate (iOS/Android) Google translate isn’t blocked in China but Baidu translate might be better. Not for translation quality but rather for ease of use. Especially on iPhone, you can share highlighted text directly to the translation app.
11. 高德地图 AMaps (iOS/Android) One of the best maps apps in China
12. Trip.com, formerly Ctrip (iOS/Android) Great app for booking flights and train tickets in China. Has a higher booking fee than other apps but is super easy to use. Until you’re confident with your chinese skills we recommend it.
13. Expressvpn, important APP to unblock youtube, Instagram, facebook, google and so on. However slightly more expensive. It charges for 60USD for 6 months. I have configured a vpn by myself which charges only 40USD for 6 months.
