Alipay/WeChat Pay in China

[auriga]

Anyone has any recent experience with setting up wechat/ alipay? (as a foreign visitor to China)
I was able to set up Alipay, and linking an Aust credit card to it.
But I did not have to verify my passport.
Just wondering if there is a step missing, cos someone mentioned needing to verify passport.

 

[Peso]

I setup WeChat Pay for a family member back in Dec. The WeChat Pay feature required me to go to a hidden menu, submit passport for verification before the pay features were even visible.

I think Alipay doesn't require ID to start with, but you will need to verify your account at some point, a la PayPal. If you go to the app settings (top right corner in Account tab), under Account Security, you'll find your verification status and steps to get ID verified.

 

[kamchatsky]

I have both WeChat Pay and AliPay. Both are linked to my Australian credit card.

For AliPay, I did not have to provide my ID/passport to verify. But I have to do it for WeChat Pay.

I used both WeChat Pay and AliPay in China two months ago, during my stay of two weeks. WeChat Pay is more widely used than AliPay.

Another thing, for some transactions, I experienced that the bank sending me a MastercardPass PIN via SMS for verification when trying to pay using AliPay. I didn't have my Australian mobile number with me so ended up not be able to pay on AliPay but could do on WeChat Pay.

Also I have to say, without WeChat Pay and/or Alipay, you will struggle to pay for a lot of things. They still take cash but reluctantly, and some don't even have change available as hardly anyone uses it.

 

[Daver6]

There is no way I'd be installing those apps on my main phone. I'd be using a secondary phone with nothing else on that I care about if I was to make use of those apps.

 

[tomlee1986]

There is no way I'd be installing those apps on my main phone. I'd be using a secondary phone with nothing else on that I care about if I was to make use of those apps.

i would not add it onto my main phone either... only on a burner phone to dump after

 

[odysseus]

When you delete it, on iphone, all vestiges are gone. Aside from device details which won't do much good unless you come back to China again, in which case you'd need to install again anyway. As long as it's not a work device...

But if you're handing over passport and credit card details, they already have more information on you.

 

[elanshin]

Anyone has any recent experience with setting up wechat/ alipay? (as a foreign visitor to China)
I was able to set up Alipay, and linking an Aust credit card to it.
But I did not have to verify my passport.
Just wondering if there is a step missing, cos someone mentioned needing to verify passport.

Wechat needed that I believe.

As long as alipay is set up you're good to use it for all sorts of things from payment to ordering food / didi / transports.

Just note that this is only set up as a payment transaction gateway and not a "wallet" where you can send and receive "cash". So for some things they still won't work properly like buying internet on China Eastern.

Also for all those about chinese data security - personally i don't see it as just China being big bad about data. Have you noticed how if you talk about a random topic with friends and then you're suddenly bombarded by ads? I have . Google / Apple already know everything they need to about you and sell your data already. Even your smart appliances are listening these days and then tell google or apple to send you ads or anything else they want to do with your data.

I remember reading about US secret bases being found in the middle of nowhere because people looked at strava data.

 

[Daver6]

When you delete it, on iphone, all vestiges are gone. Aside from device details which won't do much good unless you come back to China again, in which case you'd need to install again anyway. As long as it's not a work device...

But if you're handing over passport and credit card details, they already have more information on you.

If you're confident a state actor isn't installing other spyware on your phone, sure, go for that. Everyone has a different risk appetite.

 

[odysseus]

If you're confident a state actor isn't installing other spyware on your phone, sure, go for that. Everyone has a different risk appetite.

I said iphone. Apple rigorously controls all software put on the app store to ensure there is no other spyware installed with it. What a state actor wants has nothing to do with it.

But sure, if you want to believe everything is a conspiracy, or that Apple have no idea how to control what goes on the app store, feel free.

 

[Forg]

I said iphone. Apple rigorously controls all software put on the app store to ensure there is no other spyware installed with it. What a state actor wants has nothing to do with it.

But sure, if you want to believe everything is a conspiracy, or that Apple have no idea how to control what goes on the app store, feel free.

I don‘t think you’d need to be a conspiracy theorist to think that the CCP can get past that.

For example, there’s a TikTok app for iDevices.

 

[Daver6]

I said iphone. Apple rigorously controls all software put on the app store to ensure there is no other spyware installed with it. What a state actor wants has nothing to do with it.

But sure, if you want to believe everything is a conspiracy, or that Apple have no idea how to control what goes on the app store, feel free.

You're being niaive to think state actors can't get around this. I mean heck, the Saudis got into Jeff Bezo's iPhone just iwth a malicous video sent to his whatsapp!

What would I really know though. I've only got a software development background working in cyber security now.

 

[kamchatsky]

You're being niaive to think state actors can't get around this. I mean heck, the Saudis got into Jeff Bezo's iPhone just iwth a malicous video sent to his whatsapp!

What would I really know though. I've only got a software development background working in cyber security now.

And that is the thing, you do NOT need any app made from certain country for your phone to be spied on. Does adding Alipay or WeChat increase the chance? Maybe. But then it doesn’t mean not having those apps would decrease the probability to zero.

Being a good human firewall is far more important these days.

The reality is that if you don’t want to install these apps, best if you do not go to China at all, as you will find it very difficult to pay for anything in China without having those apps. Even if you don’t have those apps and try to pay using cash, they can track you anyway with their array of cameras everywhere.

 

[Daver6]

And that is the thing, you do NOT need any app made from certain country for your phone to be spied on. Does adding Alipay or WeChat increase the chance? Maybe. But then it doesn’t mean not having those apps would decrease the probability to zero.

I'd say definitely increases the chances

Being a good human firewall is far more important these days.

100%!

The reality is that if you don’t want to install these apps, best if you do not go to China at all, as you will find it very difficult to pay for anything in China without having those apps. Even if you don’t have those apps and try to pay using cash, they can track you anyway with their array of cameras everywhere.

Hence my original comment on this would be to use a second phone that doesn't have any of your other personal stuff on. Just use it for paying and nothing else.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

I am interested in exactly what State Secrets the concerned brethren have on their phones that the CCCP might just want to access?

 

[tomlee1986]

I am interested in exactly what State Secrets the concerned brethren have on their phones that the CCCP might just want to access?

Assuming this is company phone… of course any business secrets - CCP wants to know because they want to steal the company secrets for various reasons, from making a ransom to your company to attempt to seized the technology your company has, plenty reasons, and all they need is a loophole.

As to personal phones: Your life is what CCP wanted.
You would be a handy bargain chips,just like the 2 Michaels from Canada , or academic Yang Hengjun NOW sentenced to suspended death sentence for anti CCP!

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-...tralian-writer-an-outrage-pm-says-2024-02-05/

 

[Forg]

I am interested in exactly what State Secrets the concerned brethren have on their phones that the CCCP might just want to access?

Dunno that the old Soviet Union have much interest, at least without a time machine.

The Chinese Communist Party, however; that’s not just a government, it’s an entire economic system. They’re happy if they can know what you buy, so they can purchase the most popular companies & hence own money-making sources. They’re happy to know what you buy so they can advertise to you the goods & services made by the companies they own. They’re happy to know your preferences so they can adjust the clickbait articles you see on your home-page. Etcetera. To influence something you don’t need to push a massive change of behaviour, you just have to push a really minor change to a large number of people.

They’re not doing anything any different to what Amazon or Google or YouTube does, they just have longer-term end-goals.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Is that paranoia I sniff in the air? Mind you we all prefer different airlines huh?

 

[kamchatsky]

Back to topic, now it is easier for foreigners to use AliPay by increasing the limits for tourists.

China is making it much easier for foreigners to use mobile pay

Foreign visitors to China can now spend up to $2,000 a year using the mobile app Alipay without having to register their ID, up from the previous limit of $500.

www.cnbc.com

That alone won't bring many more tourists to China. They have to get rid of the Visa requirement before anyone thinks about going there if they do not already have a connection (family, business etc) there.

 

[tomlee1986]

Is that paranoia I sniff in the air? Mind you we all prefer different airlines huh?

I have no major preference on airlines - in fact I couldn’t care less… But I am saying this to try to prevent people losing their personal or company information to CCP as a weapon against you or the democratic western world

 

[RealtimeY]

That alone won't bring many more tourists to China

I'd be very surprised they intended this to boost tourism. All it is is returning the payments system to some normal level of accessibility for foreigners... long overdue.