Easy answer: to keep in contact with friends who are of Chinese origin. For example any international friends you made in college who moved back home after

It's really useful for note taking. I'm logged in on my phone and main computer, and as I watch lectures I can screenshot useful slides and send it to the file transfer contact. I can also send a text message, and later its search feature lets me go to the context where my query appeared. The messages are stored locally on your devices so the query is lightning fast (unlike if I were using slack).

I'll use it to evict stuff from my head so I can concentrate on other things (a "oh yeah I'm running low on tomatoes" thought results in a message for me to go back to later).

Since the UI is in the style of a messaging program then it's really low friction to enter stuff, as opposed to a dedicated note taking application. It's UI is also so clean and of a design not seen anymore.

Its QR code scanner is really good as well.

It should be noted that I'm also using it to message other people on the platform, but half the time I switch to the application I'm not using it to communicate with other people.

Someone may criticize sending so much data to "scary China" but I'm aware of what data I send through the platforms that I use. You wouldn't send your company's private information to a random server, and there's no reason why any other non company sponsored platform should be trusted.

I'm not into discussing controversial topics so the most scandalous message I've ever sent probably revolved around defending an unpopular bubble tea shop. I have alternative contact means so it's not like I'm being restricted in what I talk about. There's a proper time and place for everything. (and in the west there's memes about landing on a list for viewing an edgy meme or source).

But why WeChat? Any other chat app will do the same, without being monitored by the Chnese government.

Really? Messenger can't. Whatsapp can't. Snapchat can't. Zalo can't. GroupMe can't (maybe I could create a solo group chatin it?. I don't remember telegram having it. At some point app fatigue sets in and you don't want to install even more apps.

I'm not setting up a second account just to have something to send it to. Additionally the messages won't be available on my computer.

Telegram allows you to chat and send messages to yourself. The search is decent and searches through the rich text description of links you sent too (so you can look for the title of a YouTube video despite having only sent the link).

You can definitely chat with yourself in Messenger. (also Slack)

With conversations.im or other XMPP clients it is also possible to chat with yourself :-)

Messenger can. Telegram can. Slack can. Signal can. Whatsapp can.

You can send yourself messages with iMessage and have them sync to your computer, if you use an iPhone and Mac. If you don't, then of course this isn't much of a solution, but that's how many people solve it.

Slack and most XMPP clients can do this.

While inside China, it is virtually impossible to work in any capacity, in any field, without using WeChat.

Outside China, it is the most reliable means of communication to people without access to unrestricted internet. This has become even more difficult within the past year with the blocking of Shadowsocks proxies. You are unlikely to have friends with the ability or knowledge to install v2ray+vmess+websocket+tls for a reliable, unrestricted connection.

Your next best option is Facetime/iMessage, in my experience.

Does vmess still work? I haven’t been to China for 2 years but that’s what I relied on then to binge watch youtube

I can confirm that this method worked at least until early March of this year.

WeChat calling works amazingly well in low/bad data situations.

In places where I have almost no signal, a WeChat call will still sound good.

To talk to friends or family that are in China.

> To talk to friends or family that are in China.

I'm assuming you mean of not-Chinese origin, basically expats. Yes?

Are there no other options? Are no non-Chinese messengers allowed in China?

Yeah WhatsApp, Facebook, Reddit, Google Hangouts all banned in China. Pretty much anything not owned by a Chinese company, or anything that didn't go through all sorts of hoops to meet Chinese censorship criteria (and even then it's not a guarantee), is banned. Even github was banned until Chinese developers complained that it made their jobs impossible

I was aware basically every expat used a VPN/roaming cell service. Your home internet is unusable if you don't.

No, VPNs are slow and unreliable. Many expats go without. After paying yearly fees for a couple of VPNs that stopped working a couple of weeks after the fees were paid, I gave up also.

You learn to live inside the Chinese internet. Video sharing sites in China have ripped most everything off of YouTube anyways, and there is less enforcement of copyrights.

VPN's are becoming increasingly difficult to use.

Sounds like a Sophie's choice - WeChat vs the alternate

My partners' family, who aren't citizens of PRC (nor live there), use it a lot. That's apparently the best app in Chinese language for tech-illiterate people.

Our buying team communicates with sellers and their agents in China almost exclusively, they all love WeChat and use it in lieu of anything else.

To talk to family members who have chosen to permanently live in China. :'(