China: helpful free apps
These apps are great to have installed before you go so they are ready to use as you need a VPN to do so once you are there.
Pro-tip: Make sure your VPN is installed and working before going to China (see more about that here).
General apps that are very useful
- Google translate: translates Chinese to English in your phone’s camera –https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.translate
- WeChat: can be used to communicate in each person’s language and used for payments
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tencent.mm - Grab: similar to Uber but in much of Asia
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.grabtaxi.passenger - trip lingo – phrasebook, translator, culture info, it’s all in here
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.triplingo.enterprise
Beijing Specific Apps
And if you are going to Beijing, these are wonderful to have on hand as there aren’t handout maps at places like this like there are in many other countries.
- Beijing metro planner
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.xinlukou.metromanbj - Great Wall guide
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.greatwallforum.guide - Beijing Travel Guide
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tripwolf.miniapp_2114_free
Apps for other cities
If you are going to other cities or attractions, just do a search on google to see if there are similar apps, as I found that many places do have these because of the lack of paper brochures in China. You can also search out maps while you are home and load them to google docs, which really helped me a lot at many attractions in China.
