Apps to download when moving to china

However, you can get around the wall by installing a VPN, or virtual private network. It allows you to create a secure connection to another network over the internet, that is, you can break the block and access to your favorite sites again by using the VPN application.

Therefore, the VPN might be one of the best apps when you travel or live in China. And it is highly recommended to buy a paid and legitimate VPN service considering the data security. Although the Chinese people are getting better and better at English, you cannot expect that people will speak English well. So, if you are not proficient in Chinese, a translate app will facilitate communication with the locals. Another translating app — Baidu Translate is not blocked and is a good backup plan. Pleco is one of the most popular English-Chinese dictionary and the best language-learning apps, which allows different ways of input, including Pinyin input, English words, handwriting, and it supports OCR Optical Character Recognition , that is, you can look up unknow Chinese words using phone camera, or tap-lookup words in a still image.

The native speaker pronunciation can be very helpful to those who are interested in picking up Chinese and practice pronunciation. It is like a combination of WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, and more. You can use WeChat to do almost everything, such as sending text, audio and video messages, sharing pictures and videos, ordering food, booking flights and hotels, etc.

One of the best features about WeChat for foreigners is the translation in the messaging system. All the messages sent through WeChat can be translated into Chinese and English though sometimes not very accurate. One is Alipay, a smartphone-based system that was invented for Taobao, an online platform backed by Alibaba, a Chinese e-commerce giant. Using Alipay or WeChat is the easiest way to pay for things in China.

Keep in mind though that you can only connect the payment apps to Chinese bank cards. Baidu Maps and AMap are the most used map apps, and they are more accurate, up-to-date and reliable for traveling the whole country.

The apps will show you the routes to get you where you need to be. They even do food and a whole variety of seasonal drinks. At first, the metro can feel a tad overwhelming, huge maps, lots of Chinese characters and exits everywhere you look etc. China Metro allows you to download the Metro maps for all of the Chinese cities that have one. The next tier cities have very easy system to follow.

For example, Shenyang city in the north east of China has just two lines, and Harbin even further north east has just one at the time of writing. Winner winner. They are available in part two of our best Chinese apps right now. Enjoying our App talk? The Chinese really do get it right when it comes to technology. WeChat would be the most popular and used app in China due to the fact it provides so many services.

WeChat is a messenger app just like Whatsapp but provides more than just this, making it more extensive in what it provides the user. To find out how to use Alipay for foreigners follow our video tutorial and blog. Also to discover how to use Alipay, check out our video. For example the taxi app Didi is generally available on most app stores in English, but apps like Baidu, will only be in Chinese. Google maps is banned in China but you can access it through using a VPN.

There are a number of Chinese dating apps which foreigners can sign up to. We cover a couple in part II of this blog and we also show you how to say I love you in Chinese.

Yes, if you are registered to the US App Store for example, you can still download apps from this app store in China. We give plenty of handy information on learning Chinese, useful apps to learn the language and everything going on at our LTL schools!

Zoe is one of the more well travelled individuals we've met at LTL. A former and sure to be future student with us , Zoe now blogs for LTL when she gets spare time.

She has a wealth of knowledge across so many subjects as her full time job is a tour guide. You will get a reply from us Your email address will not be published. Name and Email are required. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Thanks for this super-useful collection of Apps, Zoe! They'll be useful when I get to Bejing in September. They change so fast! The yellow is still prominent, but Meituan rather than Ofo of which they are looking battered and bruised these days!

Thank you very much! I'm away right now, so I will get back to you by email as soon as possible. Please review your email above, if it is incorrect we cannot contact you. If your email was typed incorrectly just simply message us via the Contact button at the top of the screen with your correct email.

Thanks and talk soon :. All About LTL. Reviews and Testimonials. LTL Influencer Programs. Useful Links Back to Main Menu.

All Useful Links. Free Online Classes Every Week. Chinese Public Holidays. So you tried to get a taxi and got stuck in one of those traffic jams of epic proportions for which Chinese cities are known. Enter bike rental apps. Mobike and ofo are the biggest players on the market but there are many other options such as Bluegogo and these dazzling golden bikes equipped with phone charging.

On Apple: ofo , Mobike. On Android: ofo , Mobike. To use all of most of these great apps, you will need to set up your Alipay wallet. The difference between Alipay and its arch-nemesis WeChat Pay is that the former one is a standalone app. Among other features, Alipay offers bill payments, hospital registration, and even international money transfers.

Unfortunately, the last option is available only to Chinese nationals or foreigners with a Chinese green card. Alipay also comes with integrated services like Taobao, Airbnb, and Uber and right now it is testing its own mini-apps.

On Android. Masha Borak is a technology reporter based in Beijing. Write to her at masha. Pitches with the word "disruptive" will be ignored.

Read a good book - learn some more adjectives. More by Masha Borak.