In China, the most popular apps aren’t the giants you’d expect from Google and Meta, and, in fact, there’s a nice change you’ve probably never heard of. The FBI warns Android and iPhone users to avoid certain apps that could allow the Chinese government to access user data, but using the “Great Firewall of China” it also engages in censorship of the Internet, including smartphone apps. This resulted in the replacement of ubiquitous Western apps such as Instagram, DoorDash, and YouTube with Chinese apps Rednote, Bilibili, and Meituan, respectively, as the most popular options among users.
Additionally, China has a unique structure of apps, some of which are known as “super apps”, such as Wechat and Alipay. On these platforms, you not only communicate with family and friends, but you can also use it to pay for gifts, watch videos, get train tickets, and much more. We’ve already put together a list of the 14 best apps you should download, but here’s everything you need to know about some of the most popular apps in China and how they compare to options available in the West.
Red note
Rednote, also known as Xiaohongshu, has grown from a niche travel PDF to a global lifestyle app. It was founded in 2013 and, at the time, was used as a guide for Chinese buyers traveling abroad. She quickly pivoted her business to combine community feedback with a transparent marketplace. With around 350 million monthly active users, its features focus on multi-image and video posts with long captions, making it a visual search engine, similar to Instagram.
The app functions as a “utility” platform as it has found success with users trying to get their latest skincare routines, travel itineraries, or other fashion trends before making a purchase. The app itself refers to its users as “villagers,” because it views the world as a “global village,” where people can connect and communicate. Compared to Instagram, it is possible to see that Rednote is far ahead with its social shopping features, while the Meta app is still exploring these capabilities. After all, Instagram is all about scrolling and seeing what friends and celebrities are up to. Rednote, on the other hand, takes a bit to focus on how users can discover new products, places to travel and eat, and share experiences all in one platform.
Meituan
A super-app for local services, Meituan was founded in 2010 as a group buying site and quickly became a lifestyle titan. By 2024, the app had nearly 800 million users transacting annually and more than 14 million active merchants, and it combines a mix of local commerce, such as Meituan Waimai, which is the country’s largest food delivery service, and Meituan Instashopping, offering on-demand grocery and pharmacy delivery. As a super app, it also includes other products such as bike sharing, power bank rental, and hotel/travel reservations, as well as generative AI to facilitate users’ travel itineraries and local discovery.
The app could be considered a combination of several Western apps such as DoorDash, Uber Eats, Yelp, Expedia, Groupon, and Lime, as the Chinese app’s biggest strength lies in its all-in-one integration. That said, someone could read restaurant reviews, reserve a table, order a taxi there, and even pay for the meal, all within the same app. The app is essential for shopping for local products online and enjoying enjoyable experiences around town whenever you need to get around, power your phone and much more.
Bilibili
Bilibili is China’s leading video sharing platform, which combines professional user-generated content and a community of animation, comics and games. Launched in June 2009, it began as a sanctuary for anime fans, but has now reached a broader demographic and become a dominant cultural hub for Generation Z users. As of early 2026, the platform had approximately 376 million monthly active users.
In addition to consuming videos, the platform offers Danmu, a system in which user comments scroll horizontally across the video in real time, synchronized at specific moments. The idea behind this feature is to provide a sense of camaraderie, as viewers can feel like they are watching content with multiple other people simultaneously. What’s cool about this feature is that users have to pass a 100-question membership exam to ensure they can comment on these videos as well.
To its Western counterparts, Bilibili would be described as a hybrid of YouTube, Twitch and Netflix, as it is a creator-first platform. It has a large live streaming ecosystem rooted in gaming and esports, but Bilibili also acts as a major production house and distributor of professional anime and documentaries.
WeChat could be the Chinese “app”. Launched in 2011 by Tencent, it was originally a mobile messaging service designed to disrupt traditional SMS. Fast forward to 2026, WeChat has 1.41 billion monthly active users, and it’s practically mandatory for anyone in China to talk with friends, colleagues, and family members. In addition to chat capabilities, WeChat also offers Moments, a social feed with Instagram Reels-like videos, WeChat Pay, which is a mobile wallet, and Mini-Programs, which are sub-apps that run within WeChat and can allow users to order taxis, make medical appointments, or play games without a separate download.
Of the Chinese apps mentioned above, WeChat is the only one I actually use because it’s the best way to communicate with my China-based friends, do PR, and much more. To compare this platform with a Western option, we would talk about something like WhatsApp, although the platform offers many more features than WhatsApp. While Mark Zuckerberg continues to make WhatsApp a super app because you can pay in the app, watch status, create communities, and more, WeChat is also a mix of Paypal, Amazon, and Yelp because it integrates all the key features of those apps into its own software. Not only that, but WeChat is not only a social media, but even your digital ID and utility bills can be managed within the platform.
Alipay
Alipay is another giant Chinese app. It is the world’s first digital payment and lifestyle platform, established in February 2003 by the Alibaba Group. At the time, it was designed to solve the problem between buyers and sellers on the e-commerce site Taobao. However, the app quickly evolved, and as of 2026, Alipay connects more than 1 billion active users to more than 80 million merchants in China. If we consider Alipay+, which integrates with international e-wallets, we are talking about 2 billion user accounts worldwide.
With Alipay, users can chat, make payments, use mini-programs for local services like insurance and utility bills, and even use the new AI Pay feature, which is an agent commerce that allows users to authorize payments via voice and AI agents for a hands-free experience.
The most similar experience for Western users would be to combine PayPal and Apple Pay, but neither service embraces the huge platform that Alipay has become, as it is not just a digital wallet, but an all-in-one app for everyday needs, communicating with friends, paying bills and everything in between.