Amap (Gaode) in English Without a Chinese Phone Number (2026)

Almost every guide tells foreigners to “download Gaode Maps,” then leaves you stuck on a Chinese-only login screen demanding a +86 number you don’t have. The piece nobody explains: there are effectively two Amaps, and picking the right one makes the phone-number problem mostly disappear. This page sorts that out, plus what you can do with no account and how to actually call a taxi.

First, why not just use Google Maps?

Two reasons it fails in China, both specific:

• It’s behind the Great Firewall. Without a roaming eSIM or VPN, Google Maps often won’t load tiles or route at all.
• The coordinates are shifted. China requires a mandatory offset (the GCJ-02 “Mars coordinates” system) on local maps; Google’s pins land tens to hundreds of metres off, so a restaurant marker can sit in the middle of a road.

Apple Maps is the exception — in China it’s powered by Amap’s own data, so it’s a usable English backup. But for live transit, taxis and accurate walking routes, Amap is what locals open.

The thing that confuses everyone: there are two Amaps

This is the root of the “Chinese phone number” headache.

	China-domestic 高德地图	International Amap
Made for	Residents	Overseas visitors
Interface	Chinese-first	English (and other languages)
Login	Wants a +86 number	Works for overseas users
Where to get it	Chinese app stores	Global App Store / Google Play

In early 2025 Amap released a dedicated international English version aimed squarely at inbound tourists — English UI and English voice navigation. If you grabbed the wrong (domestic) build, the login screen that keeps demanding a Chinese number is exactly the wall people complain about online. Install the international Amap from your home App Store / Google Play before you fly.

Do you even need an account?

Often, no. Be clear about what is gated:

• No login needed: searching places, walking directions, driving routes, and public-transit (metro/bus) directions. For a lot of travelers that’s 90% of what they use a map for.
• Login needed: calling a taxi/ride-hail, unlocking a shared bike, saving favourites across devices.

So if you only want to find places and navigate on foot or by metro, you can ignore the phone-number prompt entirely — just back out of the login screen and use the map.

Registering without a Chinese phone number — what actually works

In order of how painless they are:

1. Use the international Amap app and register as an overseas user. This is the intended path and avoids the +86 requirement that trips people up on the domestic build.
2. Don’t register at all for map/transit use (see above) — the simplest option if you won’t take taxis through the app.
3. Use a different app for the gated bits: call cars through Alipay or WeChat Pay mini-programs, which foreigners can run with an international card and a home phone number.

What you should not rely on: trying to force a foreign number into the domestic 高德 build — that’s the dead end the forum threads are full of.

How to switch Amap to English

If your interface opens in Chinese, the toggle is buried but quick:

1. Tap the “Me”/profile icon (bottom-right).
2. Open the settings cog.
3. Go to General → Language Settings.
4. Choose English.

On the international app it’s English by default. Setting your phone’s system language to English also nudges the app to follow.

Calling a taxi on Amap as a foreigner

This is Amap’s underrated trick. It runs ride-hailing as an aggregator across 360+ Chinese cities — it doesn’t own cars, it dispatches third-party fleets — and it now accepts international cards through Alipay and WeChat Pay. Practically:

• Log in on the international app, set your pickup and destination, and request a car.
• Pay through the linked wallet — no cash, no haggling, fare shown up front.
• It’s a clean alternative to flagging street taxis when you can’t explain your destination in Chinese.

To make this work, sort out Alipay with a foreign card before you travel.

Amap vs Apple Maps vs Google Maps, side by side

	Amap (international)	Apple Maps	Google Maps
Accuracy in China	Best (native data)	Good (uses Amap data)	Poor (shifted pins)
Works behind firewall	Yes	Yes	Often no
English	Yes	Yes	Yes
Live transit + taxi	Yes	Limited	No
Account needed for maps	No	No	No

Rule of thumb: Amap as your main app, Apple Maps as a no-setup backup, Google Maps only for planning before you arrive.

What still genuinely needs a Chinese number

Honesty matters here. A +86 number (or a resident account) is still required for a few edge cases: some loyalty/coupon features, certain bike-share providers’ own apps, and cross-device sync tied to a Chinese ID. None of these are essential for a normal trip — if you hit one, route around it rather than trying to fake a number.

Set it up before you fly — and bring data

Two things to do at home, on Wi-Fi:

• Download the international Amap and set English while you still have your app store working normally.
• Get data for arrival. A map is useless offline the moment you leave the hotel — install a roaming eSIM before departure so navigation and taxis work the second you land.

Step by step

1. From your home App Store / Google Play, install Amap (the international English version).
2. Open it — you can search and navigate on foot/metro immediately, no account.
3. Only if you want taxis: tap Me → log in and register as an overseas user.
4. Set up Alipay or WeChat Pay with a foreign card for fares.
5. Land with a pre-installed eSIM so it all works on arrival.

Sources

• How to Use Amap (Gaode Map) for Foreigners in China — Trip.com
• How to Use Amap (Gaode Map) in China: A Foreigner’s Guide — Trip.com
• Amap (Gaode) in English 2026: Foreigner Setup, Taxi, Metro — Wander In China
• Amap debuts English navigation app for international tourists (Jan 2025) — China Daily
• Amap launches China’s first multilingual map, 14 new languages — People’s Daily