Do You Need a Chinese Phone Number?
Connectivity and a +86 number are two separate problems. Which apps genuinely require one, which do not, and how to get a number if you decide you want it.
Most people asking this question are actually asking two questions at once, and separating them is the whole answer.
"Will my phone work?" is about connectivity — data, signal, coverage. That is solved by roaming, a travel eSIM or a local SIM, and it is covered in the SIM versus eSIM guide.
"Do I need a +86 number?" is about identity. A Chinese mobile number is a credential that unlocks certain apps, and no amount of data solves it.
You can have excellent connectivity and no Chinese number. You can also, in principle, have a Chinese number and terrible data. They are different purchases.
The honest answer
For a short trip to major cities: no, you do not need one.
The things a tourist actually does — pay, travel, book, navigate, translate, eat — all work without a +86 number in 2026. This was not true five years ago and a lot of advice online still reflects the older situation.
A Chinese number removes friction rather than unlocking the trip. It is worth having if you are staying more than two or three weeks, if you are travelling independently through smaller places, or if you want the bike-share and food-delivery layer of daily life.
What works without a Chinese number
Alipay. Registers with a foreign mobile number and works with a bound foreign card. This is the important one and it is the reason the answer is now "no". See the Alipay guide.
12306, for rail booking. Foreign passport registration is supported, with an international number used for the verification step. Booking, real-name verification and station collection all work. See the rail guide.
DiDi. Ride-hailing accepts foreign numbers, and it also runs as a mini-programme inside Alipay, which avoids a second registration entirely. See the DiDi guide.
Amap and Baidu Maps. Usable for navigation without an account for most purposes.
Hotel check-in. Your passport is the document that matters. A phone number is requested and a foreign one is accepted.
Attraction bookings at most major sites, where passport-based real-name reservation is the mechanism rather than a phone number.
WeChat, with caveats. Registration accepts foreign numbers but has its own verification hurdles, sometimes requiring an existing user to vouch for you. See the WeChat guide.
What generally needs a Chinese number
Meituan and Dianping. Food delivery and the restaurant review platform both expect a +86 number at registration. Dianping in particular is the best restaurant research tool in the country and it is the strongest single argument for getting a number — see how to use it.
Bike-sharing apps. Registration, deposit and identity steps for Hellobike, Meituan Bike and similar are built around a Chinese number and a Chinese ID, and foreign users hit friction here more than anywhere else. The bike sharing guide covers current workarounds.
Some local service mini-programmes — municipal transport cards, certain museum or park booking systems, local government service platforms.
Delivery to a hotel. Ordering anything that requires a courier to call you.
Assorted verification loops. Occasionally an app will accept a foreign number at registration and then demand a +86 number for a specific action later. This is the most irritating failure mode because it happens after you have committed.
The rule of thumb
Tourist activities: no number needed. Living-like-a-local activities: number needed.
If your trip is museums, mountains, trains and restaurants you walk into, skip it. If your trip involves ordering delivery to an apartment, renting bikes daily, or staying for a month, get one.
How to get one
What is required
Real-name registration is mandatory for every SIM sold in China, and since December 2019 that includes a biometric facial recognition check — a live capture of your face matched against your passport photo at the point of sale.
The practical consequences:
You must appear in person with your physical passport. There is no remote purchase, no delivery to your hotel, and no way to have someone else register a card for you.
You cannot buy a Chinese SIM before you arrive. Anything sold to you online as a "Chinese SIM card" shipped abroad is either a travel eSIM operating on a foreign account, or something you should be suspicious of.
Where to buy
Airport carrier counters. Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and other major international airports have China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom desks in the arrivals area, with plans posted in English and staff who handle foreign registration daily.
This is the easiest option by a wide margin. You have your passport in hand, you have just cleared immigration, and the staff at these counters do this all day.
Carrier stores in the city. Larger branches handle foreign registration. Smaller neighbourhood outlets sometimes cannot, and you may be redirected. Bring your passport and expect the process to take 20 to 40 minutes.
Convenience stores sell top-ups, not new registrations.
Which carrier
China Unicom is generally the most straightforward for foreign visitors. Their international department tends to have some English capability and their tourist plans are designed for short stays.
China Mobile has the largest network and the best rural coverage. If you are going to smaller towns and mountain areas, this is the coverage argument.
China Telecom is the third option and works fine.
For a city trip any of the three is adequate. For the Yunnan or Silk Road routes, coverage matters more and China Mobile is the safer choice.
What it costs
Tourist plans vary by carrier and package. Airport tourist packages have commonly run in the region of ¥200 for around 30 days with a substantial data allowance and some call minutes, with larger data packages at higher prices, and cheaper data-only options at the low end.
Prices and package structures change frequently. Compare at the counter rather than relying on a published figure.
eSIM: the important limitation
Mainland Chinese carriers do not generally offer eSIM provisioning to foreign tourists. The real-name and biometric registration process is built around in-person physical SIM issuance.
What this means:
A travel eSIM from an international provider gives you data, often routed through a foreign network, and frequently no Chinese number at all — or a number that will not pass +86 verification on Chinese apps.
A travel eSIM is a connectivity solution, not an identity solution. It is often the better choice for data, and it does not answer this article's question.
If you specifically need a +86 number, you need a physical SIM, bought in person, in China.
Keep your home number able to receive texts
This is the failure that catches the most people, and it happens after they think they have solved the problem.
You set up Alipay at home with your own number. You fly to China. You put a local SIM in your phone. Two days later an app asks for a verification code sent to your registered number — the home one — and you cannot receive it, because that SIM is in a drawer in your hotel room or, worse, at home.
How to avoid it:
Use a dual-SIM phone or an eSIM alongside your physical SIM, so your home number stays active for SMS while a local SIM or travel eSIM carries the data. Most phones sold in the last few years can do this and it is the cleanest solution.
If you have one SIM slot, keep your home SIM in and use a travel eSIM for data, rather than replacing the physical card.
If you must swap the physical SIM, keep the original somewhere you can reach it in ten minutes and know that you will occasionally need to swap back.
Before you fly, check that your home number can receive international SMS while roaming — some low-cost carriers restrict this — and that you have not set up any account with SMS-only recovery to a number you are about to disable.
The related point: do not register anything important with a temporary Chinese number either. That number will lapse.
Sharing a number in a group
One person's Chinese number can register one account per app in most cases. It does not extend to the rest of the party.
For a couple or family, this is usually fine — one Dianping account and one Meituan account cover a group eating together. For bike-sharing it is not, because each rider needs their own registered account and each unlock is tied to it.
If bikes are a priority for a group, plan on one SIM per person, or accept that only one of you will be riding.
Regional note: Xinjiang
Purchasing a SIM card with a foreign passport is reported to be unavailable in Xinjiang, and travellers there generally rely on a card bought elsewhere in China or on an international eSIM.
If Xinjiang is on your route, buy your SIM before you arrive in the region. Note also that Xinjiang sits outside the 240-hour visa-free transit permitted area, so this only applies to visa holders.
Keeping the number
Prepaid tourist SIMs expire. Validity is typically tied to the package — 30 days is common — and the number is recycled after a period of inactivity.
If you have used that number to register apps and accounts, those registrations become orphaned when the number lapses. For a single trip this does not matter. If you expect to return within a few months, ask at the counter what keeps the number alive, and expect that a small periodic top-up is required.
Do not use a temporary Chinese number as the recovery number for anything important, such as a bank or email account. When it lapses, so does your recovery route.
What to do
Short city trip, one to two weeks: skip the Chinese number. Use roaming or a travel eSIM for data, set up Alipay before you fly, and accept that Dianping and bike-sharing are closed to you.
Two to four weeks, or independent travel through smaller places: buy a China Unicom or China Mobile SIM at the arrivals hall of your entry airport. It costs an hour of your first day and removes a category of problems.
A month or more, or repeat visits: definitely get one, and ask specifically about a plan that keeps the number alive between trips.
Travelling to Xinjiang: buy elsewhere in China first, or use an international eSIM.
Official sources
- China Unicom international customer information: https://www.chinaunicom.com.hk/
- China Mobile: https://www.10086.cn/
- China Telecom: https://www.chinatelecom.com.cn/
Registration requirements, tourist package pricing, eSIM availability and regional restrictions all change. Confirm at the point of purchase.
Last reviewed: 30 July 2026.