Must-have apps for expats living in Hong Kong
These days, most people carry their phones wherever they go. Whether you use your phone for communicating or entertainment, you probably already have your favorite apps for listening to music, chatting with friends, and more. Some apps just make life much more manageable. As an expat living in Hong Kong, several apps can make your life even easier and breezier. This Pacific Prime Hong Kong article covers the must-have apps for you.
Best apps in Hong Kong: Expat edition
The top apps in Hong Kong for expats and locals are bound to differ for reasons like language, interests, and familiarity. That’s why we’ve decided to compile this handy list of the best smartphone apps for Hong Kong expats, conveniently categorized for your viewing pleasure.
Food & drink
As one of the most exciting gastronomic cities in the world, Hong Kong is a place where you can easily eat and drink to your heart’s content. Fortunately, some apps make dining out and ordering in more affordable and convenient. Some of the best apps in Hong Kong for dining out include:
- Eatigo: A popular discount-booking app, Eatigo is one that locals use to make reservations at a wide range of restaurants. Eatigo offers everything from casual eateries to fine dining experiences. Simply select your desired restaurant, choose a date, time, and discount you like, and your booking is complete.
- OpenRice: An HK version of Yelp, OpenRice comes in handy when you’re looking for a place to eat or what food to order. It provides contact info, price ranges, food reviews, and images so you know what to expect. You can even get special discounts when booking directly through the app.
If you’d rather have a cozy night in with some good food delivered right to your doorstep then apps like FoodPanda, UberEats, Deliveroo, and Black Sheep Restaurants GO are your top picks. Want to have a drink at home without stepping out? BottlesXO delivers craft beers, wine, and spirits from noon to midnight on weekends and 3pm to midnight on weekdays.
Transportation
With taxi, bus, ferry, tram, and rail options, Hong Kong is a convenient city to get around. But the public transport system can still be confusing, especially if you’re new to the area. Remember to get an Octopus card to pay for all public transport expenses, as well as to use in many stores.
MTR
The MTR Mobile app makes one of the best subway systems in the world even easier to navigate. Through the app, you can find out when the first and last train departs at your station, how long your journey will take, how much it will cost, and more.
Moovit
Getting door to door is simple with Moovit, which provides step-by-step directions to any location, street, public transit station, or attraction. It has everything from train and bus schedules to detailed routes. With ‘Get Off’ notifications, you never have to guess how much longer you need to wait or walk, or how many stops are remaining.
Klook
Klook makes transport in HK simple to navigate (and around the world for that matter). You can purchase cheap Airport Express tickets through the app, as well as cheap tickets for many of HK’s best attractions like Ocean Park, Disneyland, and Ngong Ping 360. Klook also offers unique tours and discounts on car rentals, spas, and so much more.
Taxis
Hong Kong taxis are more affordable than in other global cities, but that doesn’t mean you’ll always be able to hail one – especially during an amber rainstorm or a night out in Lan Kwai Fong. Apps such as HKTaxi and Uber come in handy, with the latter being the more expensive option and recommended for longer distances where MTRs don’t reach.
Worried about getting lost in translation while in an HK cab? TakeTaxi is a handy taxi translation app that makes it easy to communicate with your driver.
Communication
Meeting new people in Hong Kong and keeping in touch with friends back home won’t be an issue. Lightning-speed broadband connections mean you’ll be staying up to date on your social media while commuting.
Alive: Voice & Text Translator
Thanks to its effective Cantonese translations, Alive is your Google Translate of choice in Hong Kong. This voice and text translation app enables you to translate text and speech into more than 110 languages, making it convenient to use in Mainland China as well (since Google Translate is not an option there).
Whatsapp & WeChat
Whatsapp works well in Hong Kong, and is used by many businesses for information and bookings. WeChat is handy to have whether you plan on traveling to Mainland China or not since it is China’s most used messaging app for businesses and so much more. Aside from communicating, WeChat can be used for booking appointments, making payments, etc.
What’s the best Hong Kong dating app, you ask? CoffeeMeetsBagel, Tinder, happn, and Skout seem to be popular options in the 852.
Health & wellness
Headspace, My FitnessPal, and Stepz are examples of top health and wellness apps that can be used anywhere in the world. In Hong Kong, however, apps that help you put your health and wellbeing first include:
- Classpass: Classpass’ flexible fitness membership beats signing up for expensive packages at different studios. Through the app, you can access hundreds of studios and thousands of classes across HK.
- Trailwatch: Hong Kong is famous for hiking, and the Trailwatch app makes it easy to plan your hiking adventures with a myriad of routes to choose from.
- Bravera: Do you enjoy staying fit and getting stuff for free? This app syncs with your fitness tracker to count your movement so you can compete in challenges that get you store discounts for local businesses.
Other honorable mentions include KFit, which offers up to 70% off for last-minute bookings in fitness classes around HK, and BloomMe, an app for spa, salon, and beauty lovers. Lastly, every expat living in Hong Kong should have their health insurance app, which can make it easy to access privileges, terms and conditions, customer service, telemedicine consultations, and more.
Put your health first with Pacific Prime Hong Kong
Still deciding on which expat health insurance in Hong Kong to get? Don’t wait too long. You never know when you’re going to need medical care and having the right health insurance plan can save you a lot of money and headache when that time comes. But we know that looking for health insurance can be daunting.
As a leading insurance broker with over 20 years of experience in the industry, Pacific Prime Hong Kong knows how to help you find the best health insurance in Hong Kong for your needs and budget. Contact us today for impartial advice and a free plan comparison.
Jantra curates and reports on the results of Pacific Prime’s monthly newsletters, as well as manages Pacific Prime’s Deputy Global CEO’s LinkedIn posts. Complemented by her background in business writing, Jantra’s passion for health, insurance, and employee benefits helps her create engaging content - no matter how complex the subject is.
Growing up as a third-culture kid has given her a multicultural perspective that helps her relate to expats and their families while 8 years of working remotely have given her unique insight into hybrid work arrangements and enthusiasm for employee benefits.
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