Using gadgets in China

Hi all,

next year I will be going to a vacation in China. I know there are certain restrictions on using your smartphone etc. there. What do I need to know? I plan to bring my iPhone for communication (Gmail? WhatsApp? iMessage? Facebook?) and taking pictures, and my Nintendo Switch for some occasional gaming (probably not much, and also exclusively single player). I am a German national.

The thing I would be worried about is something getting on your iPhone especially if you plan on connecting it to any wifi while you're there or buying a local SIM. I personally would factory reset the phone before you go and only have info that you would want anyone to see on the device. Then when you get back reset the phone (preferably with a fresh image from iTunes) and restore it from a backup from before you left. Same thing but doubly true if you're bringing a windows laptop or macbook. No idea on the Switch, it runs FreeBSD on the backend so I just wouldn't connect it to anything.

As for online services some hotels that are targeted to westerns have access though the Great Firewall, but 99% you will be behind the Firewall. Gmail and Facebook are blocked, iMessage is open (all communications are recorded though), not sure about WhatsApp.

You can get around the Firewall by subscribing to a VPN, the only issue with this is that a VPN is technically illegal to use in China and they have been starting to block VPN traffic. I would recommend some VPN providers but I couldn't say if they work in China or not.

Anything related to google and Facebook are blocked, which then includes gmail, YouTube, Instagram. Oh, twitter is blocked as well and WhatsApp was blocked as of this year. iMessage works just fine.

I’ve not noticed any real restrictions on the use of gadgets in the few years I’ve been here, though android phones may have some issues due to not having access to google play store and other google services...

Hey, OP. When and where in China are you going to be? China is a big country so you're going to get a wide range of regional variations.

The GFW in general blocks just about all Google services with the exception of Google Translate. You will have some trouble with certain apps that use blacklisted networks. VPNs are illegal, but you can get away with using certain providers, currently Lantern and Astril still work. Also, you will get no porn unless you know where to look. And no foreign SNS like FB and stuff.

Gaming is okay for the most part, but you might experience some instability when connecting to foreign servers.

Not going to go into too much detail because the internet situation is getting weirder by the day here, and I know my name is already on a list somewhere. My office connection is mostly fine, but that's because it's a corporate line. Home internet can be pretty jacked at times. Randomly not being able to access something is the norm here.

Reddit's still alive and well. Can be a little slow sometimes. Just... don't talk about really sensitive stuff and you'll be fine.

GLHF.