Does Netflix Work in China?

Is Netflix blocked in China?

In practice, yes: Netflix doesn’t work on Chinese mobile data or Wi-Fi. The first reason is Netflix’s own. It doesn’t offer its service in mainland China. Netflix’s help center lists China among the places where Netflix is not available, with Crimea, North Korea, Russia and Syria. Its plans page says the information isn’t available for China, and its terms say you can watch only where Netflix offers your plan and has licensed the content. Netflix’s iPhone app isn’t in Apple’s China App Store either. Apple’s Hong Kong store has it.

Whether China’s firewall also blocks Netflix is less clear. GreatFire, which tests websites from mainland China, answers “Yes” to whether www.netflix.com and netflix.com open from mainland China. Both answers were revised from “partly disrupted”. GreatFire no longer counts refused connections as evidence of blocking, because since late August 2026 they have also turned up on routes with no other sign of interference. Its last tests were on October 4 and October 18, 2026. GreatFire rates the netflix.com domain as a whole as mixed. Its tests check whether web addresses open, and we couldn’t confirm whether the servers the Netflix app streams from are reachable.

Travel guides say the firewall blocks Netflix on top of Netflix’s own restriction. MyChinaGuide, which makes a China travel app, said in September 2026 that the Great Firewall blocks netflix.com and the servers the app talks to. On Chinese Wi-Fi or a local SIM, it says, the app opens, then spins and times out. Holafly, an eSIM seller, said in September 2026 that Netflix’s absence isn’t a Great Firewall block like Instagram or Gmail, because Netflix never launched in China, but that the firewall also blocks access to Netflix’s servers. It says Netflix blocks traffic from mainland Chinese IP addresses and shows a “Service unavailable” error page when you try to log in. We couldn’t confirm which of these you’ll see.

Does Netflix operate in China?

No. Netflix has never run a service in mainland China. When Netflix launched in more than 130 new countries on January 6, 2016, it said it would not yet be available in China, though it continued to explore options there.

In October 2016, Netflix told shareholders it would license content to existing online services in China rather than operate its own service there in the near term. It expected modest revenue from this, and said it still hoped to launch its own service in China eventually. In April 2017, TechCrunch reported that Netflix had signed a deal for iQIYI, a Chinese video platform owned by Baidu, to show some of its content. Netflix had earlier licensed House of Cards to the video service Sohu, before regulators pulled it from China, TechCrunch said.

In April 2025, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos described Netflix as one of the rare US companies with no exposure to China, The Hollywood Reporter reported.

Why is Netflix not available in China?

Netflix points to China’s regulators. In October 2016, it told shareholders that “the regulatory environment for foreign digital content services in China has become challenging”.

In April 2025, Ted Sarandos gave more detail at Semafor’s World Economy Summit, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He said Netflix had to license its content through a Chinese company, and that the content had to clear China’s government censorship board to air. In three years, he said, not a single episode of a single Netflix show cleared it. “[The government] had no interest in us being in China,” he said.

China’s rules for online video services set conditions of their own. The rules, issued in 2007 and revised in 2015, say no organization or person may provide audio-visual programs to the public online in China without a license from the broadcasting regulator or a filing with it. Applicants for a license must be wholly state-owned or state-controlled (our translation). Netflix didn’t say which rules it meant.

Does downloaded Netflix work in China?

Usually, if you watch offline. MyChinaGuide says downloaded titles play entirely offline, so the Great Firewall doesn’t come into it. Netflix’s own rules add some caveats:

• Going online can lock a download. Netflix’s terms say some downloads may not be playable in certain countries. If you go online in a country where you couldn’t stream a downloaded title, it won’t play while you’re in that country. Netflix doesn’t stream in mainland China.
• Travel can affect downloads. Netflix’s travel page says downloads on your phone or tablet may not be available while you’re in a different country. On an iPhone or iPad, the error “This title is not available to watch in your area. (22004)” means you’re in a country where Netflix doesn’t offer that title. It won’t play until you connect to the internet in a country where it’s available.
• Downloads expire. Netflix says downloads expire after a period of time, and renewing one means deleting it and downloading it again, which needs a connection. Some titles can only be downloaded a limited number of times a year.
• You must stay signed in. Netflix says you need to stay signed in to your account to watch downloads offline.

Holafly suggests switching your phone to airplane mode before you open Netflix in China, so the app doesn’t try to connect. It also suggests downloading within 24 to 48 hours of your flight, so the expiry timers are fresh.

Expiry catches people out on long trips. In March 2026, a traveler already in China wrote on r/travelchina that the shows on their Android tablet had expired because they had been traveling so long. Replies suggested sharing a phone’s eSIM data through a hotspot.

Does Netflix work in China with a VPN?

Sometimes. A VPN has to get past China’s firewall and then past Netflix’s own checks. Netflix says a VPN can make it look as if you’re connecting from somewhere other than where you are, and can cause the error “You seem to be using a VPN or proxy” (code E106). Through a VPN, Netflix says, you may only see titles it has worldwide licensing for, such as Squid Game or Stranger Things. VPNs aren’t supported at all on Netflix’s ad-supported plans, or for live events.

MyChinaGuide says Netflix keeps a database of known VPN and data-center IP addresses, and that its detection got stricter through 2025 and 2026. A VPN that works for Gmail and Instagram may still fail for Netflix, it says, and the catalog you see follows the country of your VPN server. Holafly suggests a VPN with obfuscation, sometimes called stealth mode, connected to a server near mainland China, such as Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore or Taiwan.

Some people in China do watch Netflix this way. In August 2026, a user on r/chinalife said they mainly watch Netflix on an old Mac mini connected to their TV, with a VPN installed.

Install and test a VPN before you fly. Compare the VPNs we track on our VPN page, see VPN for hotel Wi-Fi in China, and read Is using a VPN legal in China? before you go.

On a roaming eSIM

A roaming eSIM sometimes gets Netflix working. Holafly says travel eSIMs route your data outside mainland China, for example through Hong Kong or Singapore, and so get past the Great Firewall. MyChinaGuide says Netflix then sees an IP address in that gateway country and shows that country’s catalog. It only covers mobile data: on hotel Wi-Fi you’re behind the firewall again. Our guide eSIM or VPN for China? explains how the routing works.

Reddit reports from August 2026 are mixed. They’re individual accounts, not tests.

• A traveler on r/chinalife said they watched Netflix and YouTube in the evenings on a Trip.com eSIM with a large daily data allowance, and never used Wi-Fi in China. They thought Netflix showed Malaysian or Singaporean content.
• Another replied that on a Trip.com eSIM, Netflix kept saying it wasn’t available in their region. They could log in, but could only watch what they had already downloaded.
• A third said Trip.com’s eSIM routes data through Macau, so you see what’s available in Macau.

If you’re on an ad-supported plan, check before you go. Netflix’s plan lists for Hong Kong and Macau include only ad-free plans. Netflix says the error “Your ad-supported plan is not available in this region” (E120) usually means you’re traveling in a country where its ad-supported plan isn’t offered.

Streaming uses a lot of data. Netflix says its Automatic mobile data setting gives about 4 hours of video per GB, and Save Data about 6 hours. Maximum Data can use 1 GB every 20 minutes or more. You can change it in the app under App Settings, then Cellular Data Usage.

Netflix in Hong Kong and Macau

Netflix works normally in Hong Kong and Macau. Neither is on Netflix’s list of places where it isn’t available, and Netflix’s plans page lists plans for both. Netflix’s iPhone app is in Apple’s Hong Kong App Store. MyChinaGuide says Hong Kong and Macau have their own Netflix catalogs, and your subscription works there with no VPN. If you’re visiting both Hong Kong and the mainland, see eSIM for China and Hong Kong.

Netflix equivalent in China

China’s own streaming services fill Netflix’s place. MyChinaGuide says China’s streaming market runs on iQIYI, Tencent Video, Youku and Bilibili, plus Mango TV for variety shows. Holafly says the market is dominated by iQIYI, backed by Baidu, Tencent Video, and Youku, backed by Alibaba.

• iQIYI. Describes itself as a leading provider of online entertainment video services in China, with paid memberships among its businesses. It licensed some Netflix content in 2017, TechCrunch reported.
• Tencent Video. Made by Tencent, according to its App Store listing.
• Youku. Holafly says Alibaba backs it.
• Mango TV. MyChinaGuide names it for variety shows.
• Bilibili. Calls itself a leading video community for young people in China.

All five are in Apple’s China App Store. MyChinaGuide says their catalogs are overwhelmingly in Chinese with limited English subtitles, that a few international titles appear in licensed, censored versions, and that signing up generally requires a Chinese phone number.

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