The Apps You Actually Need
For China
Five apps cover everything. Alipay is the one to install first — it bundles payments, maps, the metro QR, translation, DiDi, train tickets and attraction bookings into mini-programs with a real English mode. Amap (高德地图) replaces Google Maps, which is blocked and, even over a VPN, offset by China's mandatory GCJ-02 coordinate shift with years-stale points of interest. DiDi replaces taxis and removes the city's one persistent scam. Dianping is the restaurant filter — Chinese-only interface, but a 4.5+ rating is the local quality bar. WeChat for everything social and for the museum reservations. Install and test all of them before you fly.
What to install, and why
| Need | App | The honest note |
|---|---|---|
| Payments + everything | Alipay 支付宝 | Best English support of any Chinese super-app. Bundles maps, transit QR, translation, DiDi, taxi, train and attraction tickets as mini-programs. The single highest-leverage install. |
| Maps | Amap 高德地图 | Google Maps does not work in China — blocked, and even via VPN the base map is GCJ-02-offset with stale POIs. Amap has a genuine English mode with transit directions. Baidu Maps has better POI data but is Chinese-only. |
| Ride hailing | DiDi 滴滴 | English UI in the international app, and it also runs inside Alipay and WeChat. Fixed quote up front, GPS-tracked route, no meter tampering, no language barrier. Cheaper and safer than a street taxi in Guangzhou. |
| Restaurants | Dianping 大众点评 | Chinese-only UI but the de facto Yelp. Ratings of 4.5+ are the local quality filter. Use with camera translation. |
| Social, bookings, museums | WeChat 微信 | The free museums reserve through WeChat mini-programs — Guangdong Museum, Bai'etan, the Cantonese Opera Art Museum. Not optional if you want those. |
| Hotels, flights, trains | Trip.com | English, foreign cards, and effectively the only easy way a foreigner buys China Railway tickets. It also filters for hotels that accept foreign passports. We have no affiliate relationship with them and therefore no link — go direct. |
| Translation | Baidu Translate, or Alipay's built-in; Pleco offline | Google Translate needs a VPN and is unreliable. Camera translation is what actually solves QR menus. |
| Discovery | Xiaohongshu / RedNote | Now the dominant discovery channel for inbound tourists. Guangzhou ranks #2 on its most-searched-by-foreigners city list — behind Shanghai, ahead of Beijing. |
The eSIM and firewall question, answered honestly
Sources genuinely disagree on this, so here is the distinction that actually matters rather than a confident wrong answer.
What is blocked: Google (search, Gmail, Maps, Drive), YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, X, Telegram, Signal intermittently, and most Western news. Critically, VPN providers' own websites are blocked too — you cannot download a VPN after you arrive.
The nuance on eSIMs: a foreign SIM roaming in China is typically home-routed — your data tunnels back to your home carrier's gateway and breaks out there, so mainland filtering never sees it. That is why international roaming on your own carrier usually works. A China-local SIM does not, because it breaks out locally. And travel eSIMs vary: some provision onto China Mobile or Unicom with local breakout (blocked), while others deliberately route via Hong Kong or Singapore (not blocked). The routing is the buying criterion, and almost nobody explains it.
Publish-ready version: eSIMs routing through Hong Kong or Singapore, or your own carrier's roaming, generally get you past the firewall; a locally-bought China SIM will not. Bring a VPN as backup regardless.
VPN status 2026: a legal grey area — unauthorised use is technically prohibited, but enforcement against foreign tourists is effectively nil, with no documented tourist prosecutions. Reliability degraded through 2025–26 as firewall rules were updated; obfuscated protocols survive best; expect 30–60% of normal speed. Hotel Wi-Fi is generally filtered more heavily than mobile data. Install and test before you fly. This is non-negotiable. Typical travel eSIM pricing runs US$4–6 for 1GB/7 days and US$15–22 for 5GB/30 days.
eSIM, with the routing caveat attached
Buy on the routing, not on the price. If the plan provisions locally onto a Chinese carrier you will be behind the firewall; if it routes via Hong Kong or Singapore you will not. Check the plan detail before you buy — and bring a VPN either way.
Questions people actually search
Does Google Maps work in China?
No. It is blocked, and even over a VPN it is close to useless — China mandates the GCJ-02 coordinate system, so the base map is offset from reality, and the points of interest are years out of date. Use Amap (高德地图), which has a genuine English mode with transit directions. This site prints the metro line, station and exit for every location for exactly this reason.
Do I need a VPN in China?
If you want Google, Instagram, WhatsApp or Western news, yes. Install and test it before you fly — VPN providers' own websites are blocked inside China, so you cannot download one on arrival. Enforcement against tourists is effectively non-existent, but reliability has degraded; expect 30–60% of normal speed and use obfuscated protocols.
Will my eSIM work in China?
It depends entirely on routing, which is the thing most eSIM listings do not tell you. Plans that route via Hong Kong or Singapore, and ordinary roaming on your home carrier, generally bypass the firewall because the data breaks out abroad. A China-local SIM or a locally-provisioned eSIM will not. Check the plan detail, and carry a VPN as backup.
What apps do I need for China as a tourist?
Five: Alipay (payments plus a dozen mini-programs), Amap (maps), DiDi (rides), Dianping (restaurants) and WeChat (social and museum reservations). Trip.com for trains and hotels. If you install exactly one, make it Alipay — it substitutes for most of the others in a pinch.
Can I use WhatsApp in China?
Not on a Chinese network without a VPN — it is blocked, as are Instagram, Facebook, X and Telegram. Roaming on your home carrier or an eSIM routed through Hong Kong usually gets around it. WeChat is what everyone in China actually uses, and it is worth installing for that reason alone.