Being immersed in the world of WeChat did require some getting used to. From automatically pulling up a restaurant’s menu after the app geo-located me to placing all of my transportation options from A to B on a single screen, WeChat simplified my digital life down to nearly a singular app. Experiencing WeChat as more than just a messaging and social media app made me understand what true digital convenience could look like. In 2018, I had the opportunity to travel to China for the first time while studying abroad at Tsinghua University in Beijing. (Due to data privacy reasons, WeChat downloaded outside of China is slightly different and lacks many features of the domestic version.) And most importantly, I also lacked the ability to read enough Chinese to understand the features.
Scanning WeChat QR codes became as common as a handshakeĭuring my first year at Indiana University, I was excluded from many of the features that WeChat had to offer due to my lack of a Chinese bank account in addition to possessing the international version of the app. But in China, this kind of deep cross-functionality is taken for granted. If you haven’t explored WeChat, using a single app for the majority of your screen time might seem preposterous.
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Paying in physical stores is as simple as scanning the cashier’s QR code or holding your account’s barcode in WeChat to be scanned by the barcode reader. These include (but are not limited to) food delivery, bike rentals, train tickets, utility bills, health certificates, car buying, investments, charity donations, and thousands of miniature apps that extend WeChat’s capabilities to nearly every service imaginable. With all of this information directly integrated into WeChat’s functions, the app’s capabilities extend to nearly every service imaginable. WeChat’s true power lies under its “Me” tab within the wallet, which combines a user’s bank accounts, identification cards, and most recently, health information. While the majority of businesses and apps represented are domestic Chinese, major brands such as Airbnb, Lego, Yves Saint Laurent, Aldi, Air New Zealand, and thousands of other foreign brands use these mini programs to directly connect with their Chinese customers, allowing one to completely avoid the company’s website for browsing or ordering altogether.
The rest of WeChat’s many other features can be found tucked within “Discover” and “Me.” The Discover section includes the social media feed, verified accounts from companies and individuals, and thousands of mini programs that act as apps within WeChat, ranging from bike rentals and online shopping to travel and package delivery. For users not based in China, WeChat may simply serve as a messaging app for contacting friends currently living in China. Thousands of miniature apps extend WeChat’s capabilities to every service imaginableĪt its core, WeChat is a messaging and social media app that includes features from nearly every app currently on your phone. As I learned more of the language and became more entrenched in local Chinese student life, WeChat became a portal into an alternate Bloomington, where thousands of Chinese in southern Indiana come together to create their own social communities and economies entirely via WeChat channels. The only non-Chinese people who use it are usually those who have a specific connection to China. Was this it?įor most non-Chinese college students, WeChat is relatively unknown. I already knew WeChat was a cornerstone of Chinese online life - arguably the most powerful app in the world. Even basic navigation was illogical and confusing. The media feed was limited to low-quality photos for reasons I didn’t understand. The design looked outdated, drenched in a hideous shade of green. When I opened up WeChat for the first time during freshman orientation at Indiana University (IU), I was amazed at how haphazard it was. For an app with over a billion users, WeChat doesn’t make a very strong first impression.
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