WeChat is the social networking app launched during 2011 in China. Over the years the parent company Tencent realized the potential and expanded the usage to multiple services like taxi payment, paying split bills within groups and mobile top up. Currently the situation in China is that you do not need to carry a wallet anymore and WeChat is sufficient to do payments for most of the general purpose needs. Since you can switch the language of the app to English, it is also one of the best app for expats living in China. In this article we will discuss how to top up mobile using WeChat for you own or any other number.
How to Top Up Mobile Using WeChat?
When you have balance amount in your WeChat account, you do not need to go to any shop for recharging your mobile phones. We will explain the top up process with WeChat iOS app for iPhone and the steps are same for Android app as well.
Step 1 – Installing and Registering WeChat App
Go to App Store or Android store in your mobile phone (note that there are too many Android versions in China and Google Play Store is completely blocked) and download the WeChat app. After downloading the app, register for an account using your local phone number and activate the account. If required, you can also switch the language to English under “Me > Settings > General > Language” section.
Step 2 – Add a Bank Card
For using mobile top up, you should first enable WeChat Pay service and added a valid bank card. Learn more on how to setup WeChat Pay and payment password. You can any time add additional bank cards to your WeChat account by navigating to “Me > Services > Wallet > Cards” section. First enter your payment password and then add debit card details to instantly start paying from your bank account.
Once the card is added, go to “Balance” section and tap on the “Top Up” button to add amount to your WeChat account. Though it is not necessary to keep the amount under your WeChat account balance, it is easy to use the balance instead of paying every time from your bank account. You can withdraw the amount back to bank account any point of time later. It is also a good idea to request your Chinese friends to send red packet or just transfer money to your WeChat account. This amount will be available as balance and can be used for mobile top up without adding the bank card.
Note: Withdrawal from WeChat to bank account is free up to 1000 RMB and there will be nominal charge (0.1%) for more than 1000 RMB withdrawal amount.
Step 3 – Choose Mobile Top Up
Tap on “Me” option showing at the bottom of the app. Now, go to “Services” menu and unlock it with your face id or password. You can find the “Mobile Top Up” option available under “Daily Services” along with other options like utilities, health, etc.
Step 4 – Select Phone Number and Amount
When you go to the top up option, by default WeChat will show the linked phone number to your WeChat account or the previous topped up number. Touch the phone number to edit and add different number for topping up. If you do not remember the number, tap on the contacts icon showing at the end of the number. This will open your phone contact list from where you can select the correct number. WeChat will show the recharging amounts for ¥ 30, ¥ 50, ¥ 100, ¥ 200, ¥ 300 and ¥ 500. You can tap on the last option showing in Chinese to add a custom amount for recharging.
On the next screen, tap on the confirm button showing in Chinese to proceed further.
Step 5 – Top Up Payment
After confirming the amount, WeChat will open the payment gateway. If required, you can change the payment method and pay through from your balance or from one of the added bank cards. Tap on “Pay” button to enter payment password or pay through your face id.
You will see a “Payment successful” message and tap on “Done” button to go back to your account. The selected amount will be deducted from your WeChat Wallet balance or from your bank account instantly.
Step 6 – Get Success Message
After the payment, you will receive instant success message from “Service Messages” within WeChat chat section. You will also receive a SMS from your bank account, if you have paid through debit card.
The total process will take less than 30 seconds if you are already using WeChat account with a bank card added to it. For a new user it may take few minutes to create account, add bank card and then recharging your mobile. The manual process of mobile recharge involves getting a top up card which may need discussion in Chinese with the shop guy, call up the service provider, scratch and enter the PIN number on the top up card then finally get the message. WeChat removes all these hassles and helps to complete the mobile top up process without depending on others. If you are living in China we highly recommend to start using WeChat and get benefitted from all the services offered.
Hi! As I am one of those expats stuck out of China I changed my Chinese number package to charge me 5rmb per month so to only keep my number. But I cant find a way to pay only 5rmb through WeChat for mobile top up! Does anyone know how to do it? I dont have Alipay so WeChat is my only option :c
30RMB is the minimum amount you can top up within We Chat app. If you want to choose custom amount, install your mobile network company app (example – China Mobile).
You can select the amount for top up in other apps.
I cannot top up need help
Any Chinese phone number should work as explained above as long as you have properly connected your WeChat Pay account to the bank card. Or have sufficient money in the Wallet balance.