Alipay

Alipay (Hangzhou) Technology Co. Ltd

About this app

Alipay is a leading open platform for payments and digital services in China.

Users with a Chinese ID and bank account can use Alipay to make payments online and in person at various merchants outside of China as they travel for leisure, business, or study.

Foreign visitors to China can connect their credit card to take advantage of Alipay’s widespread acceptance by tens of millions of merchants across the country. Alipay is not designed or intended for use by foreign users in their home country or anywhere outside of China.

Ratings and reviews

Unfortunately, this app is a necessary evil if you want to purchase anything in China (cash is definitely not king) the app is like a virus popping up when you dont want it with no option to change this behaviour (I can't wait to uninstall it!) like everytime you try to do anything, sometimes multiple times while in a different app causing your app that you're using to fail (how can developers be this bad in this day and age) also make sure you download while playstore is available.

Very useful app in China, but the ctrip integration is terrible and lags a lot. Try booking a train from Guangzhou to Shenzhen, the results page is a laggy mess and just freezes the whole app. Unusable.

Works well for travelers in China without a mainland China bank account. HelloRide and DiDi mini-apps are useful for getting a bicycle, moped or car ride-sharing with all charges set to the credit card entered into the AliPay app. The translate button is helpful. You can also make payments by scanning a merchant QR code or getting them to scan yours, if they have a scanner terminal.