Best mobile data ESIM & VPN apps for China firewall

This mobile data & VPN list is updated and absolutely working as of AUGUST 2024.

Like everyone else, I had to start thinking about a mobile data plan & VPN app on my first visit to China. As you know, China’s great firewall blocks many western apps and websites like Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp/Telegram, Google, Yahoo, etc. (They just won’t work, won’t connect, nothing loads.) So you’ll need to learn how to use a VPN to access them.

It all sounds like a complicated and overly-technical task but I promise it’s not. By using a VPN service, your device automatically connects to another server (aka “proxy” or “proxy server”) in order to connect to the internet service you want. It all happens behind the scenes and will appear to you on your device as if everything is working.

I’ll go over several options ranging from simple to complex, free to paid, quick to slow, and working to non-working!

1. China ESIM (mobile)

Easiest way to bypass the firewall is to buy an ESIM that already has a VPN proxy built-in.

Lucky for you, just about all 3rd-party ESIMs that you buy online will already pass through a VPN automatically. So it’ll be fast and connect to all apps and services without any issue. You won’t need to download or buy an extra VPN service or do anything else.

• Holafly – the most hassle free and cheapest priced if you plan to use lots of data everyday. Their unlimited plan costs 6 EUR/day and goes down to ~1.75 EUR/day depending how many days you buy upfront. The data runs at high speed the entire time, but caps out at 5GB/day and then seems to stop working completely (not even slow data works) until the next day.
• ESIM4travel – great site and easy to use. Very reasonable prices. Use discount code “esimdb” to get 10% off. I buy the $17 for 10GB plan. It’s fast the whole time.
• GlobalYO – I tried their unlimited plan for $10 for 7 days. The high speed data caps out at 1GB each day and then runs super slow until the next day. If you can tolerate the super slow speed afterwards, this can be a good deal for you. I haven’t tried their other plans where you buy the data outright.

Buy an ESIM for China from any of these and scan with your phone to activate it on your phone. All your regular western apps like FB, IG, WA, Google, etc will work like normal without any issues. Fast and easy. No VPN configuration or extra apps needed. It just works!

From what I understand: if you buy a data plan with an upfront specified number of GB, you’ll get exactly that amount of data and it runs at high speed the entire time. But then the data and internet stops working completely once you’ve used it up.

Now if you buy an “unlimited” plan then it’s always capped. You get a certain amount of high speed data each day and then it runs very slowly after that. So either way, you’re not going to get unlimited high speed data. Also too…the high speed plans usually have a limit to how much data can be used through hotspot (shared with your desktop/laptop), and usually it’s only 500MB/day.

Another tip I have is regarding data issues:

• Sometimes, customer support simply has to reissue you a new ESIM.
• Other times, you have to change your mobile network selection to another one. Take it off automatic and choose a different one manually. For example, CHINA MOBILE was best in Shanghai but completely unusable and I had to switch to CHN-UNICOM in Beijing.

Other option is using a local mobile service with VPN app

This route has a very slight inconvenience but can be much cheaper, and also provide you with far more data. You’ll be buying a prepaid ESIM plan from a typical local mobile service like China Mobile or China Unicom. It’s just like how you would do with most countries, buying in person at an official store (and showing your passport). Usually one of the bigger “main” stores where you take a number and wait. The smaller shops probably can’t do it.

Now the big risk with this is that sometimes, you’re unlucky and they make you wait 1-3 hours and then tell you they can’t do it. Other times, you’re lucky and they get you in and out within 15 mins. I don’t know the exact pricing specifics but it’s pretty cheap.

The main drawbacks to mobile data VPN:

• One is that it only works on your phone. Your laptop won’t be able to bypass China’s firewall unless you hotspot through your phone.
• Two is that it can be costly since you’re always paying for this data.

So of course, it’s better if you learn how to use a VPN so that you can use your hotel/hostel WIFI. And save on your mobile data plan.

2. VPN app (mobile & desktop)

So hard to find a working VPN app!

Hahaha, I became a VPN expert within my first 12 hours in China. I installed and tried a dozen options before finding the best ones. Using one is really not so hard. It requires installing an app on your mobile phone or an app on your desktop/laptop computer. The app then automatically adds a network configuration which you then enable or disable when needed.

The way the VPN app works is that it quickly configures your internet data to pass through a VPN network proxy (which means a server from within China that then connects to a server from outside China) and in that manner data from blocked sites can pass in and out of China.

Of course, this extra connection has some complications. One is that since data is passing through an extra connection, it’s noticeably slower (sometimes just a tad, other times very slow). The other issue is that sometimes the proxy network IP is discovered and banned by China. At which point, you’ll need to use another proxy IP address. And that’s basically what you’re paying the VPN service…that they maintain working IP’s and change them out when they get banned.

Can you run your own VPN proxy? Of course, you can but it’s very technical and not very time-efficient if you’re the only user. So it’s much more convenient to pay a nominal fee for another service to do it for you.

Best working VPN apps:

• LetsVPN – actually works well, super fast, easy to use, cheap price. $3/week or $8/month covers multiple devices. I am soooo happy with this.
  • If I had a complaint, it’s that the IP switches often which can break your connection and require re-login on some specific minor services (like when I do my server maintenance work). Don’t worry about popular sites like Facebook, those use cookies to maintain your session.
  • Another minor complaint is that Spotify (from laptop computer) very rarely sometimes would not work with this VPN. On mobile, it always works.
  • Regardless, you should try this VPN first and then switch to a more expensive one only if needed.
• Astrill VPN – popular and many great reviews (yes, even recent ones), it’s more costly than others ($25/month) and works well enough. As long as you pay for their plan from the browser and not via mobile app, the plan will cover multiple devices. The one is a love it or hate it experience for most people. And I experienced exactly the same. More details below:
  • At first I paid and had a bad experience, it kept disconnecting or was really slow or just wouldn’t work at all. Then after complaining to customer support, they made some change and now it works.
  • It’s definitely not as fast as LetsVPN but the advantage is the connection doesn’t change IP so much, so I’m able to stay connected to my less common service websites.
  • Some days later, it’s back to being unreliably slow again. I contacted support again and this time, they took days to reply to me. At this point, I just gave up entirely. The bottom line is that they’re not reliable enough to work every day.
  • Even if you want to try them, I highly recommend you try LetsVPN first (which are much cheaper). Since Astrill is expensive and there are NO REFUNDS.

Non-working VPN apps:

• ExpressVPN – waste of time IMO. I tried only the free version. But many people do use them, and I’m guessing they’re using the paid version. It works but disconnects a lot and/or is unreliable in other ways.
• NordVPN – great reputation and branding, but on the expensive side of $30/month. Unfortunately does not work well for China. It’s too popular and got blocked.
• Unicorn HTTPS – did not work.

In general, I would avoid any free VPN apps…they will probably be a waste of your time and not work well. They usually A) don’t work at all, and B) if they do work at all it will be very slow and/or disconnect a lot. It’s better to just save time and go straight to the paid options.

I would also add that if you DO pay, it’s best to go straight to the paid-only VPN services. As I feel they only make money by providing a working service, rather than the apps that advertise free service to bait you into a paid subscription.

I also feel that once a VPN app becomes too popular, then it gets blocked more often and always has problems.

Haven’t tried:

• ExpressVPN – this one is mostly non-working, or very flakey. Generally has bad reviews when you read online.
• Larva VPN – cool interface and price seemed reasonable but I didn’t try since LetsVPN was working so well already.
• Leaf – lesser known one with promising reviews but haven’t tried.
• OstrichVPN – lesser known one with promising reviews but haven’t tried.
• Proton VPN – heard it was bad.
• ShadowRocket – recommended by many but I didn’t even try yet. It’s more complex and requires following YouTube tutorials to setup, making it too technical for most people. Especially when cheap-enough options already exist. But people who live in China or come very often, will usually have this one.
• Surfshark – heard it’s run by the same company as Nord, so no reason to believe it would work when Nord doesn’t.
• TorGuard – heard it doesn’t work.
• VyprVPN – heard it doesn’t work.
• Veee+ – a foreign girl living in China was recommended this one and she uses it no problems. It has good reviews, many of them saying that it’s definitely better than ExpressVPN.
• Windscribe – heard great things but didn’t try. Prices seem reasonable.