I Chat, You Chat, WeChat

October 25, 2024

China’s “Everything App”

A few weeks ago, I traveled to China. One thing I noticed upon entering mainland China (outside of a lot of my apps not working) was that a majority of my phone usage was tied into one app. That app was WeChat and it did everything. Every time I paid for something, I used WeChat Pay. Whenever I needed a ride, I used DiDi (which is similar to Uber). Everything I used was fully integrated into the app. Even when I just wanted to swipe through some content, I used Channels. I rarely left this app—it's integrated into every aspect of life in China.

Normally, my screen time is split pretty evenly between YouTube, Messages, Telegram, Instagram, and TikTok (and maybe Yahoo if I need to check my Fantasy team). For almost two weeks straight, WeChat made up 60-70% of my screen time. We’ve heard rumors of apps trying to become the everything app before, but to have actually tried one while in China was an interesting experience.

How did I pay for things?

It didn’t matter if it was dining, transportation, supermarkets, or hotels—I used WeChat Pay for everything. From restaurants to hot dog vendors on the street, everyone expected you to pay with the app. Part of this is because China is almost entirely cashless. There’s also another payment app called Alipay, but since I was using WeChat for everything else, I figured I’d just stick with it.

How did I get around?

DiDi (often called the “Chinese Uber”) is also fully integrated into WeChat. I never had to download a separate app—I’d just enter my address and destination, and someone would show up to pick me up. It wasn’t just cars, though—you could rent bikes and scooters by pressing a single button.

How did I watch videos?

Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, X, and Snapchat are all banned in mainland China. Instead, they have multiple video platforms that have millions of users. You’ve all heard of Douyin which is what TikTok is called in China, but there’s also apps like BiliBiliI, Xigua, Tantan, and Tencent QQ. There are so many more video apps in China. WeChat had a video platform (Channels) and videos are getting millions of views on this platform.

What did shopping look like?

There are a ton of shopping apps built into WeChat. It looks very similar to Temu or Alibaba, and almost anything you can think of buying here was available there. You find something you want, click once, and it's already on the way to your front door. You can even pay your bills too.

The Big Takeaway

In America, I’d say roughly 6-7 apps dominate our screen time. Before I went to China, I knew how popular WeChat was, but I was surprised to discover that you never have to leave the app to get everything you need. Obviously, with so many of the apps we use banned in China, there’s little to no competition.

Hopefully, you all found this as interesting as I did, here’s a picture of me at Tencent:

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