WeChat is China's everything-app — messaging, social, and one of the two dominant ways to pay. WeChat Pay lives inside it, so many travellers end up using it simply because their contacts and mini-programs do. Here's how to set it up as a visitor, where it tends to get stuck, and a steadier alternative.
WeChat Pay works by QR code, just like Alipay, and is accepted at much the same enormous range of merchants. Because WeChat is also how people chat and use mini-programs, payments are woven into everyday interactions — splitting a bill, paying inside a chat, topping up a service. For a visitor, though, it's a payment tool first.
The steps mirror Alipay: install WeChat, create an account with your home number, then open WeChat Pay (Wallet) and add an international card (Visa or Mastercard). You'll complete real-name verification with your passport — a passport-page photo and a live facial scan — before you can spend. WeChat is generally fussier than Alipay at this step, so it's worth setting up both. As with Alipay, do this before you travel — verification can take a few attempts and is far less stressful from your sofa than from a shop counter.
To pay, open WeChat Pay and either scan the merchant's QR code or show your own payment code to be scanned. Small vendors typically show a static code; you scan it and enter the amount. When everything is verified and your card is happy, it's seamless — the trouble is keeping it that way.
WeChat Pay is known for occasional friction for foreigners: identity or security checks that can temporarily lock payments, foreign cards that get declined, and limits on how much you can spend by card. Some travellers sail through; others spend an evening wrestling with verification. It's a great convenience when it works, but not something to be your only way to pay.
A UnionPay card sidesteps the single-point-of-failure problem. It's accepted directly across China on the domestic network, and an overseas UnionPay card can also be added to WeChat Pay for QR payments — so if WeChat is being awkward, you simply tap or insert the card instead. Altery issues one to UK residents with minute onboarding, GBP top-ups and the card posted before you fly.
This guide is for general information only and is not financial advice. Payment acceptance, app features and fees in China change over time, so check the latest details before you travel.
Setting up Alipay as a visitor, paying by QR, the catches to expect, and a simpler way to pay.
Where foreign cards work, what the Alipay and WeChat workaround actually involves, and the simplest way for UK travellers to pay.
