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China travel internet checklist (2026)

Moving to China or planning a long trip? Getting your digital life sorted before you land saves hours of frustration. This checklist covers what we wish we had known: phone service, payments, apps, backups, and keeping your connection private so you can stay in touch with family, work and banks back home.

1. Before you leave: accounts and backups

• Turn on two-factor authentication with an authenticator app, not only SMS. If your home SIM is off or roaming is expensive, SMS codes can be hard to receive. Save backup codes offline.
• Keep your home number active. Many banks, brokers and government portals still send codes by text. A cheap "keep-alive" plan or number-porting to a low-cost carrier is worth it.
• Download offline copies of important documents: passport scans, insurance policies, visa paperwork, vaccination records. Store them encrypted on your phone and in at least one other place.
• Tell your bank and card issuers where you are going so purchases and logins from abroad are not flagged.
• Update every device and install the apps you will need while you still have fast, familiar app stores.

2. Phone service: SIM, eSIM or both

You have three common choices:

• Roaming on your home plan. Easy, but often expensive for long stays and sometimes slow.
• A travel eSIM. Great for the first days or for short trips. Buy and install it before departure so it works the moment you land. See our eSIM vs VPN guide for what an eSIM does and does not do.
• A local SIM. The best value for long stays. You usually need your passport to register it in person. A local number also makes deliveries, ride-hailing and local apps much easier.

Many expats keep a dual-SIM phone: local SIM for data and daily life, home number for bank codes.

3. Payments

Daily life in China runs on mobile payments. Set up the major wallet apps before you go and link an international card where supported. Carry a little cash and a backup card anyway; foreign cards don't always work everywhere, and a dead phone battery can leave you stuck. A small power bank belongs in every bag.

4. Apps to install in advance

• A translation app with offline language packs.
• A local maps app (international maps can be less detailed locally).
• Ride-hailing and food delivery apps.
• Your messaging apps for staying in touch with home, signed in and tested.
• Your banking, email and work apps, signed in with 2FA confirmed working.
• A trusted VPN, installed and tested at home before you travel.

5. Privacy on hotel, café and airport Wi-Fi

Public Wi-Fi is convenient and often unencrypted. Anyone on the same network may be able to see which services you connect to, and badly configured hotspots can be spoofed. A good VPN encrypts traffic between your device and the VPN server, which keeps your browsing private from the network you are sitting on. Treat it like locking the door: a basic habit, not paranoia.

What to look for in a VPN for long stays abroad:

• Servers close to you, such as Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan, for lower latency on video calls.
• Servers back home, such as America, so your streaming, banking and work tools see a familiar location.
• Private, dedicated servers rather than overcrowded shared capacity, which matters for speed at peak hours.
• Multiple connection protocols and an automatic mode that picks the best one for your network.
• Human support you can actually reach, ideally by live chat.
• A free trial so you can test on your own networks before paying.

6. Staying connected with home

The hardest part of living abroad is often the time zone, not the tech. A few tips:

• Schedule a regular weekly call with family so it doesn't depend on luck.
• Use a shared photo album so grandparents see daily life without needing a call.
• Test your video calling setup on your home Wi-Fi in the evening, when networks are busiest, and switch VPN locations to find the smoothest one.
• For smart TVs and streaming boxes that can't run apps, look at a travel router for whole-home Wi-Fi.

7. Work and remote access

If you work remotely for a company back home, ask IT in advance which tools are allowed from abroad and whether they require a company VPN. Some corporate systems block logins from unfamiliar countries; getting an exception approved before you leave is easier than fixing a locked account from twelve time zones away. Keep a second device signed in to your authenticator app in case one phone is lost.

8. Your first-week checklist

1. Local SIM registered and working.
2. Payment apps verified with a small purchase.
3. VPN connected on phone and laptop; test video call home.
4. Bank login and 2FA tested from your new location.
5. Emergency numbers and your embassy contact saved.
6. Apartment Wi-Fi router password changed from the default.
7. Backups running automatically.

Frequently asked questions

Should I install my VPN before I travel?

Yes. Install it, sign in and test it at home. App stores and websites can be slower to reach from abroad, and you don't want to set things up on a jet-lagged first night.

Do I need a VPN if I use an eSIM?

They solve different problems. An eSIM gives you mobile data; a VPN keeps that data private and lets you choose your server location. Our eSIM vs VPN guide explains the difference.

Which server location should I pick?

For calls and general browsing, the nearest server (often Hong Kong or Japan) usually has the lowest delay. For services that expect you to be at home, choose America.

Living abroad is easier when the basics just work. Take an afternoon before your trip to work through this list and you'll spend your first weeks exploring instead of troubleshooting.

More guides

• eSIM vs VPN: what travelers actually need
• Travel routers for private whole-home Wi-Fi
• All guides