What's blocked in China? The complete list
Most of the Western internet, but not all of it, and the exceptions matter. The Great Firewall blocks Google, Meta, and nearly every Western social and messaging app outright; streaming services mostly fail for their own geo-reasons; Apple and Microsoft services work because both companies operate inside China; and a handful of things, Google Maps and Uber among them, stay broken even with a VPN. The table below covers 55 apps and sites. Each row links to the full guide, and every verdict was written to be true rather than convenient.
Messaging
| App | Works? | The short version |
|---|---|---|
| No | Blocked since 2017, calls included. iMessage and WeChat work. | |
| iMessage & FaceTime | Yes | Apple operates in China. Watch for green-bubble SMS roaming costs. |
| Telegram | No | Blocked since 2015. Public proxies are unreliable. |
| Signal | No | Blocked since March 2021. |
| Line & KakaoTalk | No | Both blocked. Carrier roaming works on cellular only. |
| Viber | No | Blocked for years, Viber Out included. |
| Discord | No | Blocked since 2018. Voice needs a low-latency private server. |
| Facebook & Messenger | No | Blocked since 2009. Breaks "Log in with Facebook" too. |
Social
| App | Works? | The short version |
|---|---|---|
| No | Blocked since 2014; can't reinstall from inside. | |
| TikTok | No | Never operated there; Douyin is a separate app. Works fine on a VPN. |
| X (Twitter) | No | Blocked since 2009; t.co links die. |
| Threads | No | Blocked since launch (Meta). |
| Snapchat | No | Blocked; streaks die without a plan. |
| No | Blocked since 2018; no offline mode. | |
| No | Blocked since 2017. | |
| No | Wound down; global site unreachable since 2023. | |
| Tinder, Bumble, Hinge | No | Blocked, and Facebook/Google logins break separately. |
| App | Works? | The short version |
|---|---|---|
| Google Search | No | Blocked since 2014; reCAPTCHA breaks other sites. Bing works. |
| Gmail | No | The 2FA-and-bookings trap. Forward to Outlook or iCloud. |
| Google Maps | No* | Blocked and offset 50–500 m even on a VPN. Use Apple Maps. |
| Google Drive & Photos | No | Blocked since 2014. iCloud and OneDrive work. |
| Google Play | No | No installs, no updates, broken Android push notifications. |
| YouTube | No | Blocked since 2009; embeds break sitewide. Downloads play. |
Streaming & entertainment
| App | Works? | The short version |
|---|---|---|
| Netflix | No† | Never launched there. Downloads play; private IP beats the proxy error. |
| Disney+ | No† | Never launched; fill the iPad before you fly. |
| Amazon & Prime Video | Split | Shopping mostly loads; Prime Video is geo-blocked. |
| Hulu, Max, Peacock | No† | US-only by design; they fail anywhere abroad. |
| Spotify | Barely | Unlicensed and throttled. Apple Music works. |
| Twitch | No | Blocked since 2018. |
| Steam | Partly | Playing works; store and Workshop don't. Keep gameplay out of the tunnel. |
| Roblox | No | Unreachable; the Chinese version shut in 2021. |
Work & productivity
| App | Works? | The short version |
|---|---|---|
| Zoom | Mostly | Works via local partners. Google Meet is blocked. |
| Microsoft Teams | Mostly | Works; failures are usually tenant policy. |
| Outlook & Hotmail | Yes | Microsoft operates there. The travel inbox. |
| iCloud | Yes | Photos, Drive, Mail, Find My all sync for foreign accounts. |
| Slack | Barely | Not formally blocked; throttled to uselessness. |
| Notion | Barely | Slow, flaky, thin offline mode. |
| GitHub | Slowly | Not blocked; throttled, raw downloads fail. |
| Dropbox | No | Blocked since 2014; shared links dead for recipients. |
| ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini | No | Blocked and unsupported by the providers. DeepSeek works. |
Payments & money
| App | Works? | The short version |
|---|---|---|
| Apple Pay | Not really | Runs on UnionPay; foreign cards rarely work at tills. Use Alipay. |
| US banking apps | Yes, but | Not blocked. SMS 2FA and fraud-flagged Chinese IPs are the traps. |
| PayPal & Venmo | Mostly / No | PayPal is licensed there; Venmo is US-only everywhere. |
| Coinbase & exchanges | No | Banned and blocked; Hong Kong has its own regime. |
| Alipay (setup guide) | Yes | Works with foreign cards. The 15-minute fix for paying anywhere. |
| WeChat (setup guide) | Yes | Works; register before you fly. |
Travel & reference
| App | Works? | The short version |
|---|---|---|
| Uber | No‡ | Sold to Didi in 2016; a VPN won't summon a car. Use Didi. |
| Airbnb & Booking.com | Sort of | Apps load; Airbnb has no China listings. Trip.com is the tool. |
| Wikipedia | No | All languages since 2019. Kiwix works offline. |
| News (NYT, BBC, Bloomberg…) | Mostly no | Major outlets blocked; newsletters get through. |
| Adult sites | No | Banned outright as a category. |
The pattern behind the table
Three rules explain nearly every row. Google and Meta are gone entirely, and so is anything built on them, which is why reCAPTCHA logins, "Log in with Facebook," and Android push notifications break as collateral. Apple and Microsoft work because they operate licensed infrastructure inside China, which makes iMessage, iCloud, Outlook, and Teams the reliable stack. And streaming services fail for their own reasons: Netflix and Disney+ never launched there, Hulu quits at the US border, and all of them block shared VPN IP ranges, which is where a private server with an IP only you use earns its keep. Everything blocked is unblocked by a VPN that genuinely connects from inside China; the two exceptions marked above are the ones honesty requires.
Everything on this list breaks before you can fix it. VPN sites and app stores are unreachable from inside, which is why the pre-flight checklist exists: seven setup jobs, ninety minutes, done at home.
Frequently asked
Does a VPN unblock everything on this list?
Everything the firewall blocks, yes, provided the VPN actually connects from inside China. The exceptions are structural: Google Maps' data is offset even on a VPN, and Uber has no drivers there. Streaming services additionally block shared VPN IP ranges, which a private server avoids.
Which apps work in China without a VPN?
Apple's services (iMessage, FaceTime, iCloud, Apple Maps, Apple Music, Apple TV+), Microsoft's (Outlook, Teams, OneDrive), Zoom, Bing, and all Chinese apps: WeChat, Alipay, Didi, Amap. Banking apps generally load too.
Does this list apply to Hong Kong, Macau, or Taiwan?
No. The Great Firewall applies to mainland China only; in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan everything here works normally without a VPN.
How current is this list?
Reviewed September 2026. Blocks in China rarely lift once imposed, so the 'No' rows are stable; the 'in between' rows (Slack, GitHub, Spotify) are the ones that shift, and each guide notes what to expect.
