this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2025
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People have said that is exactly what happens. Some had full phone scan, other requirement is installing a china app and keeping it on your phone for your stay
I have never heard of that happening. surely that'll take ages if they had to stick an app on every foreigner's phone
Foreigners will most likely have Alipay at least if you want to pay for stuff and use ride share.
True, although you can just sandbox it and refuse to give it permissions.
https://www.mic.com/impact/china-monitors-tourists-by-putting-surveillance-apps-on-their-phones-according-to-new-report-18168434
That's only for Xinjiang.
Elsewhere in China, phone inspections may not be standard but targeted. Although broader surveillance like the National Anti‑Fraud Center may be used.
Aka I ain't travelling there
Your choice ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
You have no idea how small these snooping apps can be. Like less than a megabyte and all your traffic goes through a server controlled by the pla and logs everything in and out of your phone whether your on mobile or Wi-Fi.
Yeah but the process of taking a phone, getting the unlock code, installing it, etc.
Lol you just flew half way around the world to get there and now you're going to not give them your code. And yeah, they probably don't need it anyways.
"bUt YiDdIsH, wHy NoT sNeAk YoUr DeVicE iN¿"
You go ahead and try that, let us know how it works out for you if you make it back.
Simple solution to every other dumb shit question you're going to ask; just bring a fucking burner device not logged into anything!
Jesus, I got this fence post out in my yard if you wanna continue this non argument.
You could just delete your sensitive stuff on your normal device if you cannot afford a burner. VPN certificates and logins can be revoked.