Do You Need a Chinese Phone Number as a Tourist? What Works Without One

The short version

You do not need a Chinese phone number for a normal holiday. The apps that matter most work with your own number:

• Alipay and WeChat Pay for payments
• DiDi for taxis
• 12306 and Trip.com for trains, flights and hotels
• Metro and bus QR codes inside Alipay

A Chinese number helps with:

• food delivery on Meituan and similar apps;
• some mini-programs for restaurant queues, tickets and reservations;
• parcel lockers, shared power banks and other small services that send a code by text;
• long stays and repeat visits.

Two things matter more than a Chinese number:

1. Keep your home SIM active so you can receive codes from your bank, Alipay and WeChat.
2. Have mobile data from the moment you land. See China eSIM vs SIM card.

The rules for buying a SIM in this guide come from official Chinese government guidance, checked on 30 September 2026. How individual apps treat foreign numbers changes often and is not officially documented, so that part is based on travelers’ reports.

What works without a Chinese number

The hard ones: Meituan, Dianping and Taobao

These three are the apps travelers ask about most, and the honest answer is “it depends, and it changes”.

Food delivery (Meituan and others)

Travelers’ reports in 2026 fall into three groups:

• It worked, with a foreign number, in the Meituan app or its mini-program.
• It failed at sign-up or verification, with a request for a Chinese number or Chinese ID.
• The order went through, but delivery failed, because the rider could not call the foreign number, or the food was left in a locker that needs a code sent to a Chinese phone.

What helps:

• Try the delivery service inside Alipay. Several travelers report that the Alibaba-owned delivery app, formerly Ele.me, works with a foreign number when opened from Alipay.
• Write a delivery note in Chinese, such as: 请不要打电话，放在酒店前台，房间号 1208 (“Please do not call. Leave it at the hotel front desk. Room 1208”).
• Ask your hotel first. Some hotels send a robot to your room, some keep deliveries at the front desk and some ask you to meet the rider outside.
• Let the front desk order for you. This is the simplest route, and staff are used to it.
• Pick it up yourself. Order at the counter and say dǎbāo (打包, takeaway).

See how to order food in China.

Dianping

Dianping is China’s main restaurant review app. You can use its most useful part, the photos, ratings and prices, without an account. Logging in is only needed for deals, queue tickets and bookings. If login fails, use it as a guide and order in the restaurant.

Taobao

Taobao can deliver to a hotel, and some visitors shop there with a foreign number. The weak point is again delivery: the courier phones or texts the number on the order, and lockers need a code. If you want something delivered, ask the hotel front desk whether you can use the hotel’s address and phone number, and allow several days.

When a number is not enough

Some services need a Chinese ID card as well as a Chinese number. A SIM card will not unlock those. When you hit one, use the international version of the service, an English booking platform such as Trip.com, or a person: hotel staff, a ticket window or a guide.

How to get a Chinese number

What you need

According to official guidance from China’s telecom regulator:

• Your passport.
• To go in person. Nobody can buy a SIM for you with your passport. Staff scan the passport and take your photo.
• An operator’s own store: China Mobile, China Unicom or China Telecom.
• A phone that supports 5G or VoLTE, and is not locked to your home carrier.

Each person can hold up to five active SIM cards with the same operator.

Where to go

• Airport counters. Many major international airports have operator counters in the arrivals hall, selling tourist packages for about 7, 15 or 30 days. They are convenient, and often cost more than city stores.
• Large main stores in city centers. Travelers report that big flagship stores, sometimes called business halls (营业厅), handle foreign passports easily, while small neighborhood shops may say they cannot. If one store refuses, try a bigger one.
• Find a store in the operator’s app, or ask your hotel to point you to the nearest main branch.

Allow 20 to 30 minutes, and bring a translation app. Useful sentence: 我想办一张手机卡，我有护照 (“I would like a SIM card. I have my passport.”).

Check your phone first

• Is it unlocked? A phone locked to your home carrier will not accept a Chinese SIM.
• Does it have a physical SIM tray? Chinese operators mainly give visitors physical SIM cards. Some phones, including iPhones sold in the United States since the iPhone 14, have no SIM tray. With one of those, getting a Chinese number is difficult, so plan to travel without one.
• Does it have two SIMs? The ideal setup is below.

The best setup: two lines

On a Chinese SIM alone, blocked apps stay blocked. See WhatsApp, Instagram and ChatGPT in China and VPNs in China.

Most phones hold two lines at once, so you may need to switch your home line on only when you expect a code.

Who should get one

Keeping a number between trips

Chinese mobile numbers are prepaid. If the balance runs out and the number is unused, the operator cancels it and later gives it to another customer.

Frequent visitors say they:

• switch to the cheapest monthly plan before leaving;
• top up from abroad through the operator’s app or Alipay;
• ask the store to enable text messages abroad, so that codes still arrive at home.

Plans and rules differ by operator and city, so ask in the store.

Important: if you lose a number that your Alipay, WeChat or other accounts are registered to, you can be locked out, and the next owner of the number may receive your codes. For accounts you want to keep, register with your home number, not a temporary Chinese one.

What not to do

• Do not borrow or rent a number from a stranger. Chinese SIM cards are registered to a real person. Your accounts, payments and codes would be tied to someone else’s identity.
• Do not buy “virtual Chinese numbers” online. Alipay and other apps reject many virtual numbers, and you can lose access at any time.
• Do not cancel or switch off your home number for the trip. Bank and wallet codes go there.
• Do not request codes again and again. Repeated requests can trigger a temporary block. Wait a minute between tries.

DiDi and the last four digits

When you get into a DiDi, the driver may ask “shǒujī wěihào?” (手机尾号). They want the last four digits of the phone number on your DiDi account to confirm that you are the right passenger.

• It is your own number, foreign or Chinese.
• Say the four digits, or show them on your screen. The app displays a reminder during a booking.
• Numbers in Chinese: 0 líng, 1 yāo, 2 èr, 3 sān, 4 sì, 5 wǔ, 6 liù, 7 qī, 8 bā, 9 jiǔ. On the phone and in taxis, 1 is usually said yāo, not yī.

See DiDi in China.

Common problems and fixes

Help when you need it

Most “Chinese number” problems are solved by a person who can make the call for you. Hotel front desks do this daily. If you would like someone to set things up on your first day, see our local guide service, or ask our free trip planning service to arrange tickets and bookings in advance so that you do not need local apps at all.