Before China: Apps, eSIM, and the Mainland Phone Number Wall

Sat, 20 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Before China: Apps, eSIM, and the Mainland Phone Number Wall#

City tourism boards keep circulating “download these apps before you fly” lists. Treat them as hints, not forever gospel—names and rankings shift. What those lists usually skip is the part that actually ruins a morning: your foreign number works for Alipay and WeChat Pay main flows, then a shared bike, a queue mini-program, or a delivery driver SMS asks for a mainland (+86) number and stops cold.

SIM on China Wandering

Before China: Apps, eSIM, and the Mainland Phone Number Wall

Before China: Apps, eSIM, and the Mainland Phone Number Wall#