How to Use Meituan in China as a Foreigner (2026): English Mode, Payment & Hotel Delivery

🎬 Companion video walkthrough (HowInCN APPS series):

By HowInCN (@HowInCN) · Chinese apps explained for visitors

Ordering food in China with Meituan? Picking dinner is the easy part. The hard part is the last 50 metres: the SMS code, the payment, the rider calling you in Chinese, and the hotel lobby. Every one of those has tripped up real travellers — and every one has a workaround.

Meituan is China's everyday app for food delivery, in-store deals and more. This guide walks through the whole chain, one wall at a time: which app to install, English mode, signing up with a foreign number, paying without a Chinese bank card, getting the address right, and what to do when the rider calls.

The 6 things that matter most

  • Install the main Meituan app before you fly. There's no separate international version for mainland China, and Google Play doesn't work on mainland networks — landing day is too late.
  • English mode exists, but it's partial. Menus and buttons switch to English; restaurant names, dishes and reviews often stay in Chinese. Keep a camera translator handy.
  • Your number must be able to receive texts. Sign-up runs on SMS codes, and a data-only travel eSIM can't receive them at all.
  • Pay through Alipay or WeChat Pay. Link your Visa or Mastercard inside a wallet app first — that's the route that works. Card options inside Meituan's own wallet may not even show up.
  • Paste the Chinese address. Copy it from your booking or the front desk. An English-typed address is how dinners end up at the wrong branch across town.
  • Your food will wait at the front desk. Most hotels don't let riders upstairs. Put a note on the order and meet it in the lobby.

1. Which app to install

Install the main app, simply called Meituan — the yellow icon. There is no separate international version for mainland China, and it's available on the US App Store too. A delivery-only Meituan app also exists, but the main app puts delivery, deals and hotels in one place.

One name to ignore: Keeta is Meituan's brand outside the mainland. It doesn't deliver in mainland China, so it won't help you in Beijing or Shanghai.

And do this before you fly. Google Play doesn't work on mainland networks, and airport Wi-Fi plus a first-time install is a bad combination.

2. Switching Meituan to English

Older guides say Meituan is Chinese-only. That's out of date: its Google Play listing, updated in October 2026, says the app now supports English, Japanese and Korean. To switch, open Me → Settings → Language and choose English.

Set expectations, though: this is a partial translation. Main menus and buttons switch over, but restaurant names, dish names and reviews may stay in Chinese, and some pages still show Chinese. Check what your own app shows, and keep your phone's camera translator ready for menus.

3. Phone number & the SMS code

Meituan signs you in with a code sent by text message. There's a country-code picker, but reports on overseas numbers are mixed — some work smoothly, some don't, and a Chinese number is still the most predictable option.

The traps, in order:

  • Data-only eSIM. It can't receive SMS at all. If that's your setup, sign up before you leave home on your regular number.
  • The code went to spam. Codes often come from numbers starting with 106 — check your spam and blocked messages before concluding anything.
  • The leading zero. If your number starts with 0 after the country code, try dropping that zero.
  • Wi-Fi vs data. Switch from Wi-Fi to mobile data, then wait before you retry — hammering resend makes things worse, not better.

4. If your account gets locked

Sometimes the app asks for identity verification or locks the account outright. Don't keep tapping retry. Travellers report that public Wi-Fi can trigger it, so switch to mobile data first.

In the support chat, type these four characters: 人工客服 (réngōng kèfú — "human agent"), then choose the overseas user verification option. After a wait, an agent may call you to verify. Meituan also lists an overseas hotline: +86 311 8654 7100.

5. Paying without a Chinese bank card

The reliable route is a wallet: link your Visa or Mastercard inside Alipay or WeChat Pay, then at Meituan checkout pick Alipay or WeChat Pay and confirm in that app.

Why not pay by card directly in Meituan? The card options inside Meituan's own wallet may not appear for your account — don't count on them. If a payment fails, try the other wallet, and note that some travellers report failures with a VPN switched on, so turn it off while paying. Wallet and bank fees are separate from the food price, so check your card's terms too.

6. Getting the address right

This is where many orders go wrong. Use the Chinese address copied from your booking or the front desk. In the app, open your delivery addresses and add a new one — then check two things: the map pin, and the exact branch. Chains often have several locations in one city, and the pin decides which one gets your order.

Add your building and room number. Before you pay, you'll see the delivery fee and the packaging fee — and you can choose no cutlery if you don't need it.

7. Hotel pickup: the front desk is the finish line

Your food is on its way — but will it reach your room? Many hotels don't let riders go upstairs, so food often waits at the front desk or a lobby shelf. Paste a note on the order so the rider knows:

请放在酒店前台，谢谢。 — Please leave it at the hotel front desk. Thank you.

And a spice tip from travellers: even mild （微辣） can be properly hot. If you want gentler, add a note asking for 比微辣再少辣一点 — less spicy than mild.

8. When the rider calls in Chinese

Meituan uses number protection, so calls go through a relay number — and a relayed call to a foreign number may not connect at all. So don't rely on the phone call. Use the in-app chat instead, and let your phone translate the messages.

Add a note to your order so the rider knows to write, not call:

我不会说中文，请发消息。 — I don't speak Chinese. Please send a message.

Then head to the lobby when the rider is close.

9. Group-buy deals: eating out for less

Meituan isn't only delivery — group-buy deals can make eating out much cheaper. Buy the deal in the app. At the restaurant, open your orders, find it under To be used, and staff scan or enter the code.

The expensive mistake: a voucher code is not a payment code. Show the wrong one and you could pay twice. Also know what you bought — a set meal covers only the listed items, while a cash voucher has a set value and may need a minimum spend. Buying a voucher doesn't reserve a table, either. Before buying, check the branch and the dates, and show the code only when you're being served: once it's redeemed, it counts as used.

10. Refunds

Plans changed? Look for two labels on the deal page: 随时退 (refund anytime) and 过期自动退 (auto-refund when expired). Redeemed vouchers don't qualify. With the auto-refund label, unused vouchers are refunded within seven working days after they expire, and the money then takes one to seven working days to reach you. You get back what you actually paid. Coupons follow their own rules.

For a delivery problem, keep the order in the app and use its help flow — that's where the record of what happened lives.

11. Plan B if Meituan won't work

Still stuck? Three backups. Meituan also runs mini-programs inside WeChat and Alipay (they may still ask for a phone number, though). Inside Alipay you can also try Ele.me or Taobao Flash Sale for delivery. And for restaurant deals, Dianping shares one account with Meituan — if one app knows you, the other does too. When all else fails, it never hurts to ask your hotel's front desk for help.

Quick fixes for common problems

  • No SMS code? Check spam/blocked (codes often start with 106), drop the leading zero after your country code, switch to mobile data, then wait before retrying.
  • Everything switched back to Chinese? Me → Settings → Language → English. Dish names and reviews may stay Chinese regardless.
  • Payment declined? Pay via Alipay or WeChat Pay instead, try the other wallet, and turn your VPN off.
  • Account locked? Mobile data, not public Wi-Fi; type 人工客服 in support chat and choose overseas user verification.
  • Food not in your room? It's almost certainly at the front desk. That's normal — go down and get it.
  • Rider calling nonstop? Answer in the in-app chat; the relay call may never reach a foreign number anyway.

Before-you-fly checklist

  • Install the main Meituan app (yellow icon) — not Keeta.
  • Switch the language to English; keep a camera translator for menus.
  • Sign up while your number can still receive SMS codes.
  • Link your Visa/Mastercard to Alipay or WeChat Pay.
  • Save your hotel's Chinese address for copy-paste.
  • Save the two notes: 请放在酒店前台，谢谢。 / 我不会说中文，请发消息。

That's the last 50 metres, fixed: install early, pay through a wallet, paste the Chinese address, and meet your dinner at the front desk. Do those and Meituan stops being the app everyone warns you about.

More China app guides on our official site: howincn.com

Follow us on X: x.com/HowinCN

Sources

  • Meituan Google Play listing (updated October 2026) — supported interface languages, app identity
  • Meituan rules center and customer hotline page — overseas hotline, refund and verification rules
  • Shanghai municipal government English guide to Meituan — ordering and delivery basics for foreign visitors

App menus, supported languages and payment options change between versions and accounts — information as of October 2026; always check what your own app shows. Points described as traveller reports aren't official Meituan statements. Not sponsored by Meituan. Some lifestyle scenes in the companion video are AI-generated illustrations; app screenshots are real. Narration in the companion video uses an AI-generated voice.

*HowInCN (@HowInCN) · series: HowInCN APPS — Chinese apps explained for visitors.*

#Meituan #ChinaTravel #FoodDelivery #ChinaApps #ForeignersInChina #HowInCN

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