Does Google work in China?

The short answer

No. On a normal mainland Chinese connection — hotel Wi-Fi, a Chinese SIM card, a café hotspot — Google is blocked, and not just the search engine. Hong Kong and Macau are not affected; the block starts at the mainland border.

There are three ways people end up using Google anyway: roaming on their home SIM, some travel eSIMs, and a VPN. Each is covered below, along with the things that go wrong even when one of them is working.

What stops working

• —Google Search, Gmail, Google Drive, Docs, Sheets and Google Photos
• —Google Maps (see below — it is worse than just blocked)
• —YouTube and Google Translate
• —"Sign in with Google" on other apps and websites, which quietly breaks login to services you might not think of as Google
• —On Android phones: the Play Store, and push notifications for most apps from outside China

The last two are the ones that catch people out. You can live without Google Search for a week; being unable to log in to your airline or hotel app because it uses Google sign-in is a different matter.

Roaming, eSIMs and VPNs

Roaming on your home SIM sends your data back through your own carrier at home, so Google generally works. The catch is the price: roaming data in China is expensive on many plans, and it only covers your phone, not your laptop.

Many travel eSIMs sold for China route their data through Hong Kong or another country, which has the same effect. Many is not all — check how the one you are buying works, and test it as soon as you land.

A VPN works on any connection, including hotel Wi-Fi and laptops, but it has to be installed before you arrive: VPN websites and app-store listings are not reachable from inside mainland China.

Google Maps is unreliable even when it loads

With a VPN, Google Maps will open, but it is not very useful in mainland China. Map detail is thin compared with what you are used to, and the blue dot showing where you are can sit noticeably off the streets it should be on.

On an iPhone, Apple Maps works in China without a VPN and uses local map data, which makes it the easiest option for most visitors. Locals use Amap (Gaode) and Baidu Maps. Whichever you choose, save your hotel address in Chinese characters too — showing it to a taxi driver beats spelling it out.

Before you fly: do not get locked out

Most of the pain on a China trip comes not from Google being blocked but from Google deciding it does not recognise you. Sorting these out from home takes ten minutes:

• —Set up an authenticator app or print backup codes for your Google account — security prompts that go to "your phone" depend on Google services that may not reach it
• —Set a password on any account you normally open with "Sign in with Google"
• —Download offline copies of tickets, bookings and documents you keep in Gmail or Drive
• —In Google Translate, download the Chinese language pack for offline use
• —Install your VPN and sign in to it, then test it on Gmail and Maps while you are still at home

Using Google through a VPN

With a VPN running, Gmail, Drive, Search and YouTube behave normally. Two habits help. Leave the VPN on rather than switching it on only when you need it, because email and messaging notifications only arrive while it is connected. And use a VPN that keeps Chinese apps such as WeChat, Alipay and Didi on a direct connection, so payments and ride-hailing are not slowed down or flagged for coming from abroad.

DopeVpn does that split automatically: Chinese apps and websites connect directly, everything else — Google included — goes through the VPN.