Ask China: How immersive is WeChat into your lifestyle?
buy a movie ticket
- Done<p>check the air quality
- This isn&#x27;t built into the client, but via accounts you can add.  Inferior to a dedicated app which almost everyone has<p>pay for street food
- Done, but scanning a QR code and getting confirmation that&#x27;s been scanned is more time consuming than handing over a 10 Yuan note and getting change<p>publish articles
- Done.  There&#x27;s also a microblog feature which has far surpassed Weibo, the twitter-like app<p>report an incident to the police
- Not done but see the usefulness.  Non-emergency things reported as text could really help police workflow here<p>release an app
- Done.  Banking stuff too, and a lot more is coming in 3rd party financial services<p>order groceries
- Done, kinda.  Order lunch and get it delivered.<p>connect to Wi-Fi
- Confused.  The phone connects to WiFi, WeChat uses the phone&#x27;s WiFi connection<p>check the queue time for a restaurant
- Not done.<p>open an online store
- Not done.  Do you mean use the microblog function to advertise wares; that&#x27;s common? various middleware linking to escro services etc?<p>add money to your phone plan
- Done.  In most cities, all utility bills can be paid.<p>donate to charity
- Well, you can donate&#x2F;send funds to anyone<p>find a lost child
- Not done<p>become an internet celebrity
- Not done<p>WeChat has achieved a critical mass surpassing even QQ (they&#x27;re made by the same company).  Not through absolute destruction; QQ is still big on both phone and PC while the PC app for WeChat is limited compared to PC-based QQ.<p>I mentioned banking above.  While WeChat offers payment services at the moment, it&#x27;s seen by many as a toy compared to AliPay.  This will change over the next 6-12 months as behind the scenes Tencent are courting banks (and others I&#x27;m sure, but banking sector is my thing) about advantages WeChat offers, for example tracking success of marketing campaigns - instant &#x27;big data&#x27; feedback.<p>Some more things I use WeChat for, almost exclusively.<p>Office circle
- Everyone in my office has to be in a circle where office announcements are made, from at the weekend &#x27;is anyone in, I forget my access card&#x27; to sharing teambuilding photos&#x2F;video instantly to starting a chat between a few people by creating a new group chat<p>International calls
- Video call a colleague in Singapore?  Use WeChat and office WiFi.  Free and easy.<p>Helpline
- Instant texting, send pictures, video, chat.  No &#x27;run in background, share screen&#x27; function as far as I know yet, only share via camera.  Not technically hard given everything else.<p>Events
- Subscribe to accounts offering new events.  I have no idea why Tencent have not yet added calendar functionality.<p>Discount cards&#x2F;offers
- Shared socially or from subscribed accounts<p>Lucky money
- Like sending money, but randomly distributed.  Common for teambuilding<p>LinkedIn&#x2F;Facebook
- Integrates these services on a very basic level<p>Other stuff that it does:<p>Stickers<p>Look Around
- feature for people nearby that are bored and want to chat&#x2F;hook up;<p>Shake
- for people 1000s of km away that are bored and want to chat&#x2F;hook up;<p>Bottle
- feature so if you are bored and want to chat&#x2F;get something off your chest&#x2F;hook up you can throw a bottle and someone can reply.<p>--<p>tl&#x2F;dr At least 30% of smartphone time in China is on WeChat.  Often in travel time.  But probably not chatting.  Reading a post&#x2F;posts, watching a video someone linked, browsing online shops, it&#x27;s just in a massive payment &amp; contact-linked type iFrame.<p>A:  &quot;What&#x27;s the first thing you do when you wake up?&quot;
B:  &quot;Open my eyes&quot;
A:  &quot;The second?&quot;
B:  &quot;Check WeiXin.&quot;