Essential apps for daily life in China

The non-negotiables

Five apps are functionally essential for daily life in China. If you have nothing else, have these:

• WeChat (微信): messaging, voice calls, video calls, group chats, contacts, payment (WeChat Pay), mini-programmes for ordering food, booking taxis, paying utilities, and accessing government services. The operating system of Chinese social and commercial life. Every person you meet will ask for your WeChat rather than your phone number.
• Alipay (支付宝): the parallel payment platform from Alibaba. While WeChat Pay covers most situations, Alipay hosts many government mini-programmes (health codes, identity verification, social insurance enquiries) that WeChat does not. Having both is not optional.
• Didi (滴滴): the dominant ride-hailing app, similar to Uber. The international version has an English-language interface. Essential for getting taxis anywhere outside your immediate neighbourhood. Link a payment card during setup.
• Meituan (美团): food delivery, restaurant booking, hotel booking, in-city grocery delivery, attraction tickets, massage bookings, and a half-dozen other categories. The everything-delivery platform. If you live in China and are not on Meituan, you are doing more legwork than necessary.
• Pleco: the Chinese-English dictionary. Includes OCR (point the camera at text to look up characters), handwriting input, example sentences in context, and a built-in flashcard system with spaced repetition. Invaluable at any stage, even for those with no Chinese learning goals — being able to photograph a menu item and get an instant translation is a basic quality-of-life tool.

Getting around

• Amap (高德地图 / AutoNavi): the dominant domestic map app. Covers public transit, walking, driving, cycling, and taxi hailing. English language mode is functional; the Chinese-mode interface is more complete. Accuracy is significantly better than Google Maps in China, which is deliberately offset by the Chinese geodetic coordinate system.
• Baidu Maps (百度地图): the older dominant map; Amap has largely overtaken it but both are used. Personal preference divides users.
• Google Maps: not blocked in China (unlike Google Search), but the coordinates are offset due to the GCJ-02 coordinate system used in China for national security reasons. Physical locations will appear slightly incorrect. Use with VPN for more accurate results; Amap for reliable navigation.
• 12306 (China Railway app): the official China Railway ticketing platform. Foreigners can register with a passport number. Books high-speed rail tickets; also useful for checking train schedules. Interface is in Chinese; browser auto-translate is useful. Third-party apps (Trip.com, Ctrip) also sell rail tickets with English interfaces, often with a modest booking fee.

Shopping

• Taobao (淘宝): Alibaba's main consumer marketplace. The largest single marketplace in China. Extremely cheap; quality highly variable. Use the Taobao app rather than web; most sellers on Taobao communicate via built-in chat. Interface is in Chinese — browser auto-translate is adequate for browsing.
• Tmall (天猫): Alibaba's brand and official-store platform. Slightly higher prices than Taobao, significantly higher average quality and counterfeit protection. International brands operate Tmall flagship stores. A good default for items where authenticity matters.
• JD.com (京东): the major alternative to Alibaba's ecosystem. Strong on electronics, large appliances, and name-brand goods. JD handles its own fulfilment for most products — delivery is fast (same-day in tier-1 cities for many items).
• Pinduoduo (拼多多): the third major platform, focused on bargain group-buy deals. Very cheap; quality inconsistent. Used widely in lower-tier cities and for commodity purchases.
• Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book / 小红书): originally a shopping-review platform, now a social-media hybrid. Useful for: finding local restaurant recommendations, neighbourhood reviews, second-hand goods, expat community advice, and curated product reviews. Many expats use it as a China-specific Instagram with commerce integration.

Food and dining

• Meituan: leads food delivery; the most complete restaurant selection in most cities.
• Ele.me (饿了么): the Alibaba-ecosystem food-delivery alternative. Similar coverage, slightly weaker outside the largest cities. Useful to have both if a favourite restaurant is only on one platform.
• Dianping (大众点评): the Yelp of China, now owned by Meituan. Restaurant reviews, ratings, photos, menus, queue number systems (great for popular restaurants), reservations, and group discount coupons. Invaluable for exploring food in a new city.

Travel and accommodation

• Trip.com (携程 / Ctrip): flights, trains, hotels, airport transfers, activity bookings. The largest OTA in China; also one of the largest internationally. English interface. Accepts foreign credit cards.
• Fliggy (飞猪): Alibaba's travel platform; used by Alipay ecosystem users for hotels and flights.
• Airbnb: operates in China but with limited inventory in many tier-2 and tier-3 cities, where domestic platforms (Tujia, Meituan Hotels) dominate.
• Ctrip Hotel: the hotel-booking module of Ctrip is extensive; local hotels that do not appear on international booking engines often appear here.

Health

• WeDoctor (微医): telemedicine consultations, appointment booking at major hospitals, prescription management. Widely used by expats for non-emergency situations.
• Pingan Good Doctor (平安好医生): similar telemedicine service with a larger panel of specialists in some categories.
• Hospital apps: major hospitals (Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Ruijin Hospital, West China Hospital, etc.) have their own apps for appointment booking and results access. More reliable than third-party apps for these specific hospitals.

Utilities and local services

• State Grid / local utility apps: electricity top-up and bill payment are available through WeChat or Alipay mini-programmes without needing the utility company's own app.
• SF Express (顺丰): the higher-end courier; parcels can be sent, tracked, and received via the SF app.
• China Post: useful for international mail and economy domestic parcels.
• Zhifubao (Alipay) government services: many administrative tasks — health insurance record lookup, social insurance balance, travel health code — are accessible through Alipay mini-programmes. These vary by city.

News, search, and information

• Bing: works without VPN; reasonably English-friendly. Search quality is adequate for most queries.
• Baidu: the dominant Chinese-language search engine. Chinese results, Chinese web; limited English content. Useful for researching China-specific topics in Chinese.
• Toutiao (今日头条): ByteDance's news aggregator; curated feed of Chinese-language news and content. More useful once you have functional Mandarin.

Setup sequence for new arrivals

On your first day or two in China, in this order:

1. Get a Chinese SIM card (UnionCom, China Mobile, or China Unicom; any of the three). 2. Register WeChat with your Chinese number. 3. Link a payment card to WeChat Pay and Alipay (foreign Visa/Mastercard works for this; a local bank card is better once you have one). 4. Download Pleco, Didi, Meituan, and Amap. 5. Find your local expat WeChat group (ask your employer or landlord).

The rest — Taobao, JD, Dianping, 12306 — can wait until you need them. But having the five essentials active within 48 hours of arrival makes the first week substantially less disorienting.