Using TikTok in China and Hong Kong

Why Google works but TikTok does not

An app sees your connection by the address where the data reaches the internet, not by the tower your phone is on. Our China eSIMs are roaming profiles: the phone uses Chinese towers, but the data goes back out to the internet in Hong Kong, so mainland China's filtering never touches it. That is why Google, Instagram, WhatsApp, YouTube, Facebook and LINE work with no VPN.

TikTok is the exception for a different reason. In July 2020 TikTok withdrew from Hong Kong after the security law took effect, and since then the app refuses connections from Hong Kong addresses: the feed stays empty or black. In mainland China TikTok has never operated at all; Douyin, a separate app from the same company, takes its place. In both cases it is TikTok's decision, not a network block.

Option 1: roam on your Thai SIM only while TikTok is open

A Thai SIM on roaming sends its data home first, so TikTok sees a Thai address and works normally. It is the simplest option and needs nothing installed, but roaming data costs far more, so keep the eSIM as your main data line and switch to the Thai SIM only while TikTok is open.

1. 1Buy a roaming pack from your Thai operator before you leavePrices and allowances differ a lot by operator; check AIS, True or dtac directly and pick a pack that covers both China and Hong Kong if you visit both.
2. 2Make the eSIM your default data lineiPhone: Settings › Cellular › Cellular Data › choose the eSIM. Android: Settings › Network & internet › SIMs › choose the SIM for mobile data.
3. 3Turn off "Allow Cellular Data Switching"Left on, the phone may quietly fall back to the Thai SIM when the eSIM signal drops and run up roaming charges.
4. 4Switch data to the Thai SIM for TikTok, then switch backThe switch takes a few seconds. Close TikTok and switch back to the eSIM right away so other apps do not eat roaming data.

Option 2: run a VPN over the eSIM

A VPN makes TikTok see your connection as coming from the country of the VPN server. Pick a server in Thailand, Singapore, Japan or any country TikTok serves and the app works normally on our eSIM, using the data you already bought, with no roaming charge.

• Install and sign in to the VPN before you reach mainland China; many VPN websites and store listings are unreachable from inside China
• On a Hong Kong-exit eSIM the VPN connects normally, because the connection never passes China's filtering
• Mainland China restricts unauthorised VPN use; using one there is your own call. Hong Kong has no such restriction
• A VPN uses a little more data and slows video slightly; switch it off when TikTok is closed

Option 3: prepare before, post after

If you would rather not pay for roaming or set up a VPN, record clips to the phone and upload them from the next country or from home. Drafts saved inside TikTok will not open while you are in China or Hong Kong, so save to the camera roll instead.

What does not help

• Buying a nonhkip China package: it uses a Chinese address, where TikTok does not operate, and Google and Instagram get blocked on top
• Installing Douyin instead: a different app with different content, and it usually needs a Chinese number to register
• Changing your App Store region or TikTok account country: TikTok decides by the connection's address, not the account's country

Crossing the border: why Hong Kong and Shenzhen are not the same network

When you walk across the border at Lo Wu, Futian or Shenzhen Bay, or fly into Hong Kong and then take the high-speed rail on to Guangzhou, your phone leaves Hong Kong's mobile network and joins mainland China's. What that means for the apps you can open depends on which eSIM you are carrying, not on which side of the border you are standing on. A China eSIM built to exit through Hong Kong keeps working the same way no matter which mainland city your phone is camped on: the phone talks to a Chinese tower, but the data still tunnels back out through Hong Kong before it reaches the internet, the same routing described above. A plan sold as a Hong Kong-only eSIM, by contrast, is designed for Hong Kong coverage and may drop to no service at all the moment you cross into Shenzhen.

This is why travellers doing a one-day loop — Hong Kong in the morning, Shenzhen or Guangzhou in the afternoon, back to Hong Kong for dinner — need to check which of the two eSIM types they are holding before they leave the hotel. A Hong Kong-exit China eSIM covers both sides of that loop with no change in behaviour: Google, Instagram, WhatsApp and YouTube keep working the whole day, and TikTok stays black the whole day, border or no border. A Hong Kong-only eSIM covers only the Hong Kong half of the loop and needs a second plan, a VPN-free mainland arrangement or roaming for the Shenzhen and Guangzhou half.

What keeps working without a VPN, and what does not

Two facts matter more than any single app's status. First, anything that already works on a Hong Kong-exit China eSIM without a VPN keeps working exactly the same way on the mainland side of the border, because the routing never changes. Second, a VPN only restores the apps that mainland filtering blocks on a mainland-IP connection — it does nothing for TikTok, because TikTok's Hong Kong refusal is the app's own decision, not a filter a VPN can get around.

• Maps: Google Maps loads and gives directions on a Hong Kong-exit eSIM, but live traffic and transit data can lag in mainland cities because Google's local data coverage there is thinner than in Hong Kong
• Ride-hailing: Uber and Grab do not operate in mainland China; local apps such as Didi usually ask for a Chinese phone number to register, which a travel eSIM does not provide
• Messaging: WhatsApp, LINE, Telegram and iMessage all work on the Hong Kong-exit route; regular SMS and phone calls depend on your home carrier's roaming agreement, not the eSIM
• Payments: card payment apps tied to a foreign bank generally work; apps that expect a mainland bank account or a Chinese ID do not, eSIM or not
• Email: Gmail, Outlook and iCloud Mail rely on the same servers as other Google, Microsoft and Apple services, so they follow the same rule — they work on a Hong Kong-exit eSIM without a VPN, and need one on a nonhkip mainland-IP connection

Mistakes that catch travellers out

• Downloading or updating a VPN app after already crossing into mainland China: the app stores and VPN provider websites that mainland filtering blocks are the same ones you would need to reach to get the VPN in the first place, so install and test it in Hong Kong or before departure
• Assuming hotel Wi-Fi is a shortcut: hotel networks in mainland China are subject to the same filtering as any mainland connection, eSIM or not, so switching to Wi-Fi does not bring TikTok back and does not skip the VPN step for blocked apps
• Leaving automatic carrier switching turned on, so the phone quietly hops onto a local mainland SIM slot's signal or a roaming partner instead of staying on the eSIM, with no warning shown on screen
• Buying a China eSIM without checking whether it is the Hong Kong-exit or nonhkip version, then being surprised afterwards that Google and Instagram work or do not work the opposite way from what was expected
• Expecting Hong Kong airport Wi-Fi or an inbound flight's Wi-Fi to behave like the Hong Kong-exit eSIM: some public Wi-Fi in the region routes through mainland infrastructure and inherits mainland filtering even though you are technically still in Hong Kong

Macau, Guangzhou and the rest of the Greater Bay Area

The Greater Bay Area links Hong Kong, Macau, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and several other mainland cities by bridge, ferry and high-speed rail, and it is easy to cross two or three of them in a single day. Macau sits on the Hong Kong side of the filtering line, not the mainland side: like Hong Kong, its networks are not subject to mainland China's blocking, so Google, Instagram, WhatsApp and YouTube should reach the internet normally there too. Whether TikTok treats a Macau address the same way it treats a Hong Kong one is not something we can promise either way — TikTok's Hong Kong withdrawal was a specific, announced decision, and nothing in that announcement covers Macau, so test it early in the day rather than assuming.

Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai and the other Greater Bay Area cities on the mainland side are full mainland China for network purposes, no different from Beijing or Shanghai: a Hong Kong-exit eSIM behaves exactly as described throughout this guide, and a VPN or the Thai-roaming option is what brings TikTok back, not which mainland city you happen to be in. If your route crosses the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge or takes the ferry between Hong Kong and Macau, treat each crossing like the Shenzhen border: check that you are still on the eSIM you expect, not a local network your phone has picked up automatically.

Test your setup before you reach the border

Before you leave the airport or your Hong Kong hotel, open Google, Instagram and the VPN app once to confirm everything already works. If your eSIM is the Hong Kong-exit version, TikTok will already be black at this point — that is normal, not a sign something is wrong. Seeing the black screen in Hong Kong first tells you that the same black screen after you cross into Shenzhen is the same behaviour continuing, not a new problem caused by the border. Five minutes of testing at the gate saves a confusing half hour later, once you are already on the mainland side and cannot easily reach a VPN provider's site to fix a login that failed silently.

Unlike a physical SIM, which would need its tray swapped if you wanted mainland-only service, an eSIM profile is already installed before you ever leave home, so there is nothing to change at immigration. The difference is entirely about how the plan you bought routes its data, not about the act of crossing the border. Some travellers assume they need to do something to the phone at the checkpoint; in reality there is no extra step at all.

Before you cross: a quick checklist

• Install, sign in to and test the VPN app at least once while still in Hong Kong or your home country, not after you have crossed the border
• Know for certain whether the eSIM you are holding is the Hong Kong-exit version, the nonhkip version or a Hong Kong-only eSIM, because the three behave very differently once you cross the border
• Turn off automatic cellular data switching before you set off, so the phone does not quietly change to another SIM or network while you are crossing the border without you noticing
• Download offline maps and any important documents in advance, in case the app store or website you would need is unreachable once you are inside mainland China

See China eSIMs

See Hong Kong eSIMs