Will Google and my other apps work in China?

What is blocked and what works

Blocked: every Google service including Maps, Gmail and Translate, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, X, Reddit, Wikipedia in all languages, Netflix, ChatGPT and most Western news sites. Working: Apple's services (iMessage, FaceTime, iCloud, the App Store), Bing (redirected to its Chinese edition, with results filtered), Microsoft Outlook and Office in general, and Chinese apps of every kind. LinkedIn and video-meeting services are inconsistent; do not count on them for anything that matters. None of this applies in Hong Kong or Macau, where the open internet works as at home.

Roaming and travel eSIMs

Mobile data that enters the mainland through a foreign carrier is not filtered, which is why roaming on your home plan, or a travel eSIM whose China plan exits through Hong Kong, Singapore or elsewhere, lets you use Google Maps and WhatsApp as normal. Buy and install the eSIM before you fly; activation needs the provider's app or site, which may be blocked on arrival. Read the plan page: it should say that foreign services work (sellers phrase it as "no VPN needed"). A China-specific eSIM or a local SIM is filtered like any Chinese connection.

VPNs sit in a grey area. Regulations require internet services to be licensed and the enforcement over the years has aimed at unlicensed providers; visitors using one are not known to have been penalised, but the apps themselves are often unreliable and you must install one before you arrive. With a roaming plan or an international eSIM you can usually skip the question.

Buying a local SIM

China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom have counters and vending machines at the big international airports, where your passport is scanned for the real-name registration the law requires. Tourist packages of a week to a month with 10 to 30 GB cost roughly RMB 50 to 150. A local number is useful, since some apps, hotel Wi-Fi logins and ticket systems insist on one, but the data is filtered, so many travellers run a local SIM for the number and a roaming eSIM for the internet on a dual-SIM phone.

The apps to install before you go

• Alipay: payments, metro codes, Didi, train tickets, maps and a built-in translator, all as mini programs, in English. See the paying guide.
• WeChat: messaging, payments, and the official ticket mini programs of museums and sights. It translates messages and photographed menus.
• Amap (Gaode): the standard map, with an English edition since January 2025 that works without a Chinese number; it has the metro, bus and walking directions Google cannot give you here.
• Apple Maps works on the mainland with turn-by-turn and transit directions; Google Maps is blocked and even over roaming its street layer sits a few hundred metres off the satellite layer, so do not navigate by it. Baidu Maps is Chinese only.
• Didi for taxis and rides, in English, paying with a foreign card; Trip.com for trains, flights and hotels; the 12306 app if you want the official rail booking in English.
• Translation: Apple Translate handles Mandarin offline; Baidu Translate and Youdao are the local standards. If you use Google Translate, download the offline languages before you arrive.
• Meituan and Dianping, the food-delivery and review apps, are Chinese only and may refuse a foreign number; ask your hotel to order for you.

Wi-Fi, power and small things

• Hotel Wi-Fi is a Chinese connection and filtered. Airport and public Wi-Fi usually log in by SMS to a Chinese number; the big airports have kiosks that give foreigners a few hours of access against a passport scan.
• Power is 220 V. Sockets take flat two-pin plugs (the North American shape, without the earth pin) and angled three-pin plugs (the Australian shape); European two-pin plugs usually fit too. Bring one universal adapter.
• Download offline maps of your cities and keep your hotel's name and address in Chinese on your phone for taxi drivers.

Official sources

The rules above change; these are the pages to check before you travel, and the ones this guide was checked against on 2026-10-25.

• UK Foreign Office: China travel advice, safety and security blocked services and the licensing rule, updated August 2026
• Beijing government: getting connected on arrival SIM counters, airport Wi-Fi kiosks, app notes
• Shanghai government: Amap's English edition January 2025
• Apple: iOS feature availability Maps and Translate coverage for China mainland
• Google Maps Platform: coverage details what Google's data covers in China
• Wikipedia: websites blocked in mainland China the maintained list; not official, but current

Related guides

• Paying for things
  How do I pay for things in China without a Chinese bank account? Updated October 2026
• Trains and 12306
  How do I book train tickets in China with a foreign passport? Updated October 2026
• Book popular sights early
  Which sights in China need booking in advance, and how? Updated October 2026

Start planning

Pick the places you want to see on the illustrated map, add them to a trip, and the planner lays out the days and the trains between them.