Top 20 Apps in China

Turbocharge your experience in China by adding these apps to your arsenal. If you haven’t noticed already people in China’s lives are dominated by their mobile phones, from mobile payments to transport, your mobile phone can be used to do almost anything here in China.

想要获得在中国的生活及工作的深度体验，常常需要将一些本地应用程序添加至移动设备中。如果你还没有注意到当代人的生活已经被手机主宰，承认吧，从移动支付到交通出行，你的手机几乎可以做任何事情。

The best way to access all the best features in China is through mobile apps and there are plenty to choose from. 

通过众多移动应用程序，你可以最大程度地体验和了解中国。

下面我们整理了一些生活在中国的必备软件。

Below we have compiled the top must-have apps in while living in China. 

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Communication and Services

即时通讯及服务工具

What would a list of Chinese Apps be without mentioning WeChat. You are likely to have heard of this app and you are most likely already using it. With its main function as a messaging and calling tool, this app offers so much more than just that. While you might not need another app for any form of communication among friends and colleagues, WeChat’s Groups function is where this app really comes alive.

必备应用程序一定少不了微信。你可能听说过也可能已经在使用它。微信是作为传递消息和呼叫的即时通讯工具，不过它提供的远远不止这些，微信的群组功能（用于朋友或同事）才是它真正发挥作用的地方。

WeChat also allows you to make payments on almost anywhere from large shopping centers to international chains and even your local street vendor. This and Alipay (支付宝) “zhifubao”, are the only payment apps that Chinese people need and payments can be used by just scanning a QR code. Also, you can very easily send and receive money between your contacts in which will be deposited into your “WeChat Wallet” or your Chinese debit card if you bind with the account . Did you know that you can also pay for things such as your phone bill and utilities using WeChat?

微信还允许在各地付款，从大型购物中心到国际连锁店，甚至是本地街头的小贩。它和支付宝是中国人首选的移动支付应用，只需扫描二维码就可以使用支付及收款功能。此外，你还可以快速与联系人收发红包或转账，金额将存入你的“微信钱包”或绑定的中国储蓄卡。你知道也可以用微信支付话费和水电费吗?

Also, did you know that through WeChat you have access to many other features such as booking Rail & Flights, Hotels, Movie Tickets, Ride-Hailing, and more. To access them just go to your profile and select the WeChat Pay option as you normally do when making a payment. Then, just scroll down and you will notice different options such as the ones shown in the image below. 

此外，微信还有许多其他功能，如预订铁路和航班、酒店、电影、叫车等等。想访问它们，只需要去到菜单栏“我”-“支付”，然后向下滑动，就可以看到不同的功能选项，如图所示。

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Ride-Hailing

叫车软件

Welcome to China’s answer to Uber with the app completely dominating the ride-hailing market in China. With this app, you can either use your phone to hail a DiDi driver or hail an official city taxi for you, or you can reserve a car for a specific time. The drivers are rated which provides a level of accountability which you can trust.

欢迎来到中国版优步，这款应用几乎主导了中国的叫车市场。有了它，你可以用手机叫滴滴司机，也可以呼叫出租车，还可以提前预约等待。司机会被乘客评级，作为评价其特点及靠谱程度的参考。

Don’t worry if your Chinese isn’t that strong as you can use English names of places or show the driver the location, they all use navigation, so you don’t have to worry about giving directions. It will also be able to sync with your WeChat account and select automatic payments for ultimate ease, with functions such as the app being able to remember where you tend to go at certain times or on certain days and suggest the location for you.

如果你的中文不是很好，可以用英文地名或GPS定位，司机都会使用导航，所以你不用担心交流问题。它还可以绑定你的微信账户，让支付变得更加方便。应用程序也能记住你在特定时间或特定日期的常去目的地，并为你提供建议。

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Navigation
导航

For navigation, Baidu and Gaode Maps are the equivalent of Google maps in china. Offering far better insight and knowledge into all of the streets and city networks, they also provide the times and routes by bus, subway, bike and more. Despite the app being in Chinese, its user-friendly interface is still simple to use and can help you get familiar with Chinese names of places.

在导航方面，百度或高德地图相当于中国的谷歌地图。它们提供了对所有街道和城市网络的线路地图，还包括公交车、地铁、自行车等公共交通工具的时间和路线推荐。尽管是中文的，但它的界面简单易用，可以帮助你熟悉中文地名。

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Train and Flight Bookings

铁路及飞机票预订

If you are looking to go slightly further and book yourself some train and plane tickets then these app is perfect for you, and even better, they have hotels and travel packages for you if needed. 

如果你想走得更远一点，为自己预订一些火车票和飞机票，那么携程非常适合你，更好的是，它也提供酒店及其他旅行所需套餐供你选择。

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Food and Drink Delivery

外卖服务

If you are familiar with apps like Uber Eats or Deliveroo in Europe and the US then look no further than to these Chinese equivalents. You have probably seen a lot of food delivery guys rushing around the city, these are known as ‘Waimai guys’. In Modern Day China, you can get whatever you want delivered to your door. Choose a restaurant from the app, select the food you want and pay with WeChat or Alipay, the app will remember your address and your order history, and you can even order things from a supermarket or pharmacy, they usually came with coupons as well. 

你不需要怀念Uber Eats或Deliveroo，因为中国也有类似的应用。城市里很多送餐员跑来跑去，他们被称为“外卖员”。在中国，任何东西都可以送货上门。打开软件，选择一家餐厅，选好你想要的食物，用微信或支付宝付款，软件会记住你的地址和订单历史，你也可以从超市或药店进行选购，应用程序还常提供优惠券供你使用。

This is the Alibaba company’s new chain of mobile-forward supermarkets, filled with fresh meat and produce and lots of other snacks and surprises. What’s even better about these supermarkets is that they integrate the online shopping experience with an in-person one. This means you can shop for all your essential groceries from the comfort of your home, you can also use the Taobao app or the Hema app however they only take Alipay.

盒马是阿里巴巴的移动前沿超市新连锁店，里面有新鲜的肉类和农产品，还有许多其他的小吃和食材鲜蔬等。它将网上购物体验与亲身体验相结合。这意味着你可以在舒适的家里购买所有的必需品，但只接受支付宝支付。

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Improve Your Chinese Language

学习中文

If you are looking to brush up on your Chinese knowledge and access to terminology, look no further than apps like Pleco. This app allows you to either write in the stroke order of Chinese characters and get a definition or even speak It into the app and it will convert this into the characters and provide you with the pinyin and definition.

如果你想温习中文知识和术语，那就看看Pleco吧。这款应用程序可以让你按照汉字的笔画顺序书写并得到释义，还可以语音识别并转换，并为你提供拼音读法和定义。

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Online Shopping 

网上购物

Buying your groceries and other stuff has been aided by a number of apps to make your shopping experience better.

使用这些应用程序帮助你足不出户即可获取良好的购物体验，购买各类物品。

Alternatively, JD.com’s app Jingdon Dao Jia will fill the void nicely. Rather than focusing on one supermarket chain this provides access to a range of different supermarkets as well as smaller specialty shops like local fruit and produce markets.

另外，京东也支持一系列不同的超市以及小的专卖店线上购物体验，京东到家可以保证物品在短时间内按时送到。

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Additional Apps

更多

To finish this list of the top apps that you can’t live without in China we have provided a shortlist of additional apps that we believe might be useful. 

为了充实清单，我们还提供一些可能有用的附加软件。

This social media works similar to twitter and operations like a live feed. You can find what’s the top discussed topic for Chinese netizens, and it is a great way to learn hot words and slang. 

微博作为社交媒体，类似于推特，你可以通过它了解中国网民的热议话题，并且了解当下热词和俚语。

Air quality by plume make sure you are aware of the pollution levels wherever you are.

通过监测空气质量指数，为你明确所在地的污染程度。

Known as TikTok Outside of China, this app is one of the most downloaded apps in China providing hours of entertainment of user-made content.

这个应用程序就是TikTok的中国版本，它为用户提供自制内容娱乐。

kitchen stories is a video-based, user-friendly, and design-oriented cooking app.It provides videos and high-quality step-by-step photos from all catagories, the best thing to use this app is that you can learn Chinese while making your familiar food. 

厨房故事是一个基于视频、贴近用户，专注美学的厨艺软件，你可以通过图片或视频按照步骤制作食物，或是自己上传菜谱。它广泛的类别和丰富的内容使你可以在做熟悉食物的同时也学习中文。

NetEase Cloud Music is one of the most common used music APP in China, there you can listen to all genres of music and find your favorite playlist. 

网易云音乐是在中国最常用的音乐应用程序之一，你可以听到各种流派的音乐，并且收藏自己喜爱的歌单。

This APP is like Yelp, it helps you to find information of eating, drinking and other life services recommendation, each store also come with reviews by consumers.

大众点评提供吃喝玩乐信息及各类生活服务推荐，通过消费评论的聚合，帮你选到满意商家。

Get the perfect filter for your favorite selfies.
为你的自拍进行后期处理的应用程序。

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Which app do you use most? 

你最常用的应用程序是什么呢

Any other apps we missed that you love? 

​有没有清单里没有包含的？

Let us know in the comments below!

欢迎留言告诉我们！