Amap (Gaode) Guide for Foreigners 2026

Google Maps barely works in mainland China, and Apple Maps quietly swaps to local data the moment you land. The app Chinese people actually use is Amap — known locally as Gaode (高德地图). It has the deepest map data in the country: every alley, metro exit, and tiny restaurant. The good news for visitors is that Amap now has an English mode and offline maps you can download before you lose signal. Pair it with Didi for rides and you can get around almost any Chinese city without speaking the language. Here is how to set it up and use it the way locals do.

Switch Amap to English

Amap's English mode is not perfect — some small place names still show in Chinese — but it is usable for navigation. Open the app, tap the profile icon, go to Settings → Language, and pick English. If the option is missing, set your phone's system language to English; Amap usually follows it. There is also a dedicated "Amap Global" build for overseas users with a fully English interface if you want the cleanest experience.

Download offline maps before you lose data

This is the single most important step, and you should do it on hotel Wi-Fi before a big day out. Tap the profile icon, then Offline Maps, and download the cities you will visit — Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an, Chengdu, and so on. Each city package is modest (often 50–250 MB), and once saved you can search places and get turn-by-turn walking and driving directions with no internet at all. For a full step-by-step on saving offline regions, see our Amap offline maps guide. What will NOT work offline is live traffic and real-time transit timing, so plan those for when you have a connection. Our connectivity guide explains how to stay online affordably with an eSIM or roaming.

Riding buses and subway with real-time info

Amap's transit feature is what makes it indispensable. Enter a destination, choose public transit, and Amap lays out subway and bus routes with walking directions to the right entrance. For the metro it even shows crowding on some lines — green means seats, red means packed — and tells you which exit to use (missing your exit in a Chinese metro can mean a 10-minute walk back around). For buses, the "real-time radar" shows the approaching bus moving along the route and estimates "3 stops away, about 8 minutes," which is far more reliable than guessing from a printed timetable.

Amap vs Baidu Maps

Baidu Maps is the other major Chinese map and close in quality, but Amap is the better daily pick for visitors: cleaner English, better transit data, and Didi built in so you can hail a ride without leaving the map. Baidu's street-view and some review content are stronger, so keep it only if you have a specific need. On iPhone, Apple Maps (which runs on Amap's data and shows English) is a fine lightweight backup for simple routes.

Saving places you will return to

Before you travel, drop pins for your hotel, the airport, and must-see sights, and save them as favorites or star them. Amap keeps them in a list you can open offline. Even better, copy the Chinese name and address of your hotel into a notes app or a messaging app — when a taxi driver or passer-by doesn't speak English, showing the Chinese characters resolves everything in one glance. Many travelers also save a couple of nearby places to charge devices and rest spots for long days out.

Sharing a pin and your live location

Amap makes meeting people easy when nobody shares a language. Long-press any spot on the map and choose to share the pin via WeChat, SMS, or another app — send it to a friend, your hotel, or a tour guide and they see the exact location. While a Didi is on the way, the app already shares your live position with the driver, but you can also share your moving location with a contact for safety. For walking meet-ups, the "AR navigation" mode (where supported) overlays arrows on your camera view so you know which way to walk at a tricky junction — genuinely useful in a maze-like hutong or a giant transit hub.

A few local tricks

Use the "Nearby" search to find the closest public toilet (always carry your own tissue, as many lack paper), pharmacies, and ATMs. If a place name won't translate, paste the Chinese address straight into the search bar — Amap matches characters far better than English spellings. And remember that during Chinese holiday weeks transit gets crushingly busy, so build extra time into every trip.

Last verified: August 2026 · by the China Trip Plans editorial team.