On the Shanghai Maglev, believe it's now permanently 300kph, and every 15min.
So its often quicker just taking L2 Metro which is every few minutes, and a lot cheaper.
And if wanting to get to the West of the city, the new AirportLink line is definitely quicker (and will add more connecting lines over the next few years).
And I wouldn't be surprised if the Maglev gets quietly stopped in a few years with demand dropping.
For short trips think you can get away with just Alipay, and a roaming SIM (so no VPN needed). (My recent trip used trip.com Mainland China SIM). WeChat more for communications. I used the separate Didi China app, but can also do inside.
But once you get beyond the basics apps, you often find you need a Chinese number for registrations.
