The smartphone has transformed expat life, giving us access to information and services wherever we go. Here are a few of the most useful apps to help you survive and thrive in Beijing.

WeChat

Forget Facebook, Twitter, and Whatsapp – in China, WeChat is king. Beijingers use it for networking, sharing and gossip, and even pay their bills on it. Get used to the idea of scanning QR codes instead of exchanging phone numbers. It also has WeChat Wallet (click here for a set-up guide), a portable payment system where you can top up your phone, pay utility bills, order a taxi, or book a table for dinner.

Alipay

WeChat may dominate social media, but when it comes to website payments, the competition is Alipay. It’s more than just a Paypal equivalent — you’ll see more locals paying for their shopping and dining with their smartphones than with cards. Go to pg 43 for details on how to set up Alipay.

Pleco

Whether you’re serious about learning Mandarin or just want to get by, Pleco is an outstanding language app for Chinese. The basic package is free, but you can buy and download other added functions. Particularly useful is its feature to read characters with your phone’s camera. Pleco even indicates the tones for characters, with a crafty color coding system.

Baidu Translate

Need to translate short words or long paragraphs? Baidu Translate is a must have for that. Its handy camera function can help you decode daily things in a world full of Mandarin, from operating your washing machine to replying to messages sent by your Chinese contacts.

Air Matters

Brace yourself for polluted days in Beijing. If you want to know how dirty the air you breathe is, Air Matters is the harbinger of bad news. You can opt to put the current air quality index reading as an app notification.

Apple Maps

From simple searches to transport options, Apple Maps is a viable tool to help you survive daily commuting and traveling in the city. Just don’t forget to close the app after using it, or else your mobile data might be drained by the app’s real-time use of Global Positioning System (GPS) location services

MetroMan Beijing

This handy subway app includes a search function and will tell you which stations are close to you, as well as a map of the whole subway system. It also gives users estimates about travel time and distance, number of transfers, and prices.

Three apps we wish were in English

Baidu Maps

Even if Google Maps can bypass the Great Firewall, it just isn’t accurate in Beijing. GPS location is “offset,” meaning that it’s out often by hundreds of yards. Baidu Maps is an up-to-date counterpart of Apple Maps, and offers 3D searching, traffic information, street view, and more – as long as you can read Chinese.

Taobao

Taobao, its upmarket sister site Tmall and wholesaler Alibaba are at the heart of the Chinese obsession with e-commerce (though newcomer JD.com is taking them on in the cities at least.) But while the Taobao app is less intimidatingly busy and complex than the website, it’s still for the fluent and/or determined only.

Didi

Just a year ago, we had Uber cars circulating the city. But after a mega merger between Uber and Didi, the car-hailing game in Beijing has changed, making taxi hailing a much more difficult way of traveling compared to just riding a bus or taking the subway.

This  article originally appeared on p 32-33 of beijingkids May 2017 Home & Relocation Guide.
Download the digital copy here.

Transportation in Beijing is convenient and relatively cheap if you can get around the traffic. However, newcomers might shy from hailing taxis on their own due to the language barrier (the prospect of having to speak Mandarin), or a fear of being rejected by a cabbie (due to his fear of having to speak English). Fortunately, ride hailing and rental transport mobile apps have become more commonplace. In this guide, we outline the basics of the most foreigner-friendly private ride hailing and bike rental apps in Beijing.

Despite what seems to be a complicated system, Beijing’s public transportation is fairly accessible and cheap. Besides taxi (出租车 chūzūchē), the Beijing Subway (北京地铁 Běijīng dìtiě) and public buses (公共汽车 gōnggòng qìchē) are your best bets when traveling, especially they have English transliteration of subway and bus station names and signs (though they’re mostly poorly translated). When riding buses or taking the subway, you need 一卡通 (Yīkǎtōng or a public transportation smart card).

Didi Chuxing (Didi) 滴滴打车

Didi and its American rival Uber completed their multi-billion dollar merger in August 2016. Since then, Uber has been in limbo as it discontinued support for its English app in China. It’s been reported that Didi will roll out a basic English interface on its app in summer of this year.

Pros
– Integration into WeChat wallet.
– Most convenient way to order a licensed taxi.
– Easy input of GPS location and addresses.
– Professional chauffeurs or carpool.

Cons
– Communication with drivers might be a hassle especially for foreigners who don’t speak Mandarin
– Some cars might smell of smoke

Bike sharing apps have taken Beijing roads by storm, having become one of the most convenient ways to commute in the city. For only a minimal rent, you can just scan a QR code on a bike then go. The three-way battle in the bike sharing realm is just getting more and more competitive, but so disruptive that it’s only a matter of time before authorities regulate it or worse, impose a crackdown.

Pros
– Easy “scan and go” model for a minimum rental price of RMB 1 (but you need to register on your app of choice and deposit money for as low as RMB 99)
– As bikes come with built-in locks, you don’t need to bring your own.
– Bikes can be located via GPS tracking

Cons
– Beginner or dilettante bikers just ignore traffic lights and laws.
– Many users park bikes in wrong places, or even lock them up!
– Issues with refunding deposits
– Several authorities said misplaced bikes are an “eyesore” and “nuisance” and banned parking on roads

This article originally appeared on p 56-57 of beijingkids May 2017 Home & Relocation Guide.
Download the digital copy here.

Featured photo provided by International School of Beijing (ISB), Lauren B., Grade 9, first published in JingKids March 2017. Other photos provided by Andy Penafuerte III