Forgot Your Power Bank? How to Rent One in China in 60 Seconds

Forgot yours, or drained it before the flight even landed? Don't buy one — rent one. Shared power bank cabinets are everywhere in China: shopping malls, restaurants, metro stations, convenience stores. The main operator is Meituan, and renting takes about a minute. HOW TO RENT Open the Meituan app and tap "Power Bank", or in WeChat search for the 美团充电宝 mini program. Tap "Nearby stores" to see a map of cabinets with free slots. Tap "Scan to charge" and point your camera at the QR code on the cabinet — or just use Meituan's own scanner on the code. Agree to the terms, allow location access, and pick either deposit-free rental or pay with WeChat Pay / Alipay. The slot pops open. Take the bank and plug in your own cable. You can skip the app entirely too: walk up to any cabinet, open Meituan or WeChat, scan the QR code on it, confirm the free-rental coupon if one shows up, and the bank comes out by itself. HOW TO RETURN IT You do NOT have to go back to the same cabinet. Open the map in the mini program, find any cabinet of the same brand with a free slot, and push the bank in the direction shown on screen. Payment settles automatically. WHAT IT COSTS First 5 minutes: free Then roughly 1.5 RMB per 30 minutes Deposit: usually 99 RMB — but with a WeChat Pay score of about 550 or higher you can rent deposit-free Daily cap: usually around 40 RMB, so you will never get an unlimited bill Prices run slightly higher in first-tier cities. ALSO WORTH KNOWING Coffee shops, shopping malls and high-speed rail stations often have USB ports built right into the seating. And hotel front desks usually keep spare adapters and chargers that guests can borrow — just ask.

Forgot Your Power Bank? How to Rent One in China in 60 Seconds

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