While inside China, it is virtually impossible to work in any capacity, in any field, without using WeChat.
Outside China, it is the most reliable means of communication to people without access to unrestricted internet. This has become even more difficult within the past year with the blocking of Shadowsocks proxies. You are unlikely to have friends with the ability or knowledge to install v2ray+vmess+websocket+tls for a reliable, unrestricted connection.
Your next best option is Facetime/iMessage, in my experience.
Outside China, it is the most reliable means of communication to people without access to unrestricted internet. This has become even more difficult within the past year with the blocking of Shadowsocks proxies. You are unlikely to have friends with the ability or knowledge to install v2ray+vmess+websocket+tls for a reliable, unrestricted connection.
Your next best option is Facetime/iMessage, in my experience.