At first glance I was happy to find numerous facets akin to what many foreigners have become accustomed to using on Wechat Wallet – a QR scanner, mobile and utilities top-up, lottery services, and fund transfer to contacts options.
Alipay also has menus for movie tickets, Didi taxi hailing, a Dianping-style restaurant review section, and food delivery via Koubei. Exclusive to Alipay, there's a parcel delivery section, allowing you to send packages via a delivery serviceman who will to come to your home or office.
支付宝里面还有淘票票、滴滴打车、口碑外卖。除了支付宝,还有快递服务,能够呼叫快递员上门或者到公司。
More skeptical users, however, might complain that all these extras make the Alipay menu too busy and overstuffed, especially if they're accustomed to WeChat Wallet's more straightforward (albeit far more limited) options.
It should be noted that historically the biggest issue with setting up both WeChat and Alipay comes when adjoining your bank card to your account.
在微信和支付宝的安装过程中最重要的莫过于将你的支付宝和银行卡相关联。
This step entails replicating your name exactly how it is registered at your bank, which from personal experience is often, but not always, LAST MIDDLE FIRST names (in all caps) with spaces in between and no commas.
This however can vary between banks or even between tellers that have entered your details that day, so if that doesn't work then the only way to ensure that you get it right is by going to you bank branch or give them a call to verify the name with registered them.
If you enter the incorrect details more than three times then you will be temporarily locked out and unable to attempt to register again for 24 hours.
如果你的信息输入错误超过三次,那么你的账户会被暂时锁定,要24小时之后才能再尝试输入。
Step 2
第二步
Comparatively, these next parts should be quite simple: Begin by searching for Alipay on your app store.
相比较而言,剩下的步骤就容易多了,在你的手机应用商城搜索支付宝。
You'll find an English version with a blue logo and a slogan that says "Alipay: Makes Life Easier."
你会看到一个英文版蓝色标志和标语:“支付宝:让生活更简单”。
Hit the download button and hope that Alipay holds true to its promise.
点击下载,支付宝会兑现诺言。
Upon installation, Alipay automatically went to my iPhone's Apple ID, and asked for my credit card information connected with my Apple ID.
在安装完成以后,支付宝会自动关联我的苹果账户,并且会向我索取关联在苹果账户上的信用卡的信息。
It's an international credit card, which irked me because I wanted to use my domestic Chinese bank account with Alipay.
让我感到烦躁的是:那是一张国际信用卡,而我想用中国当地的银行卡绑定支付宝。
But I went ahead and entered the information, hoping they'd let me use my account of choice later on.
不过我还是输入了信息,希望他们之后能让我自己选择使用哪个账户。
I was then sent an SMS pin – just like when logging onto Wi-Fi at a café – and after I punched that in and set up a personal password, the Alipay app was up and running on my phone.