Yuanbao

What is Yuanbao?

Tencent Yuanbao (元宝, named 元宝-腾讯全能AI助手 in the China App Store) is a general-purpose AI assistant that answers questions, searches the web, reads files, writes, runs code and generates images and video. Yuanbao is provided by Shenzhen Tencent Computer Systems Company Limited and runs on large language models that include Tencent's own Hunyuan model.

The official algorithm and model filing notice lists two filed algorithms: a Tencent Hunyuan multimodal algorithm and a DeepSeek large language model algorithm, each with its own filing number. The Google Play description says the app relies on Tencent Hunyuan's self-developed T1 and DeepSeek R1 dual inference models. In practice, Yuanbao DeepSeek means a DeepSeek model running inside Tencent's app, next to Hunyuan.

Tencent's own channels name different models. The homepage description calls Yuanbao Tencent's all-in-one AI assistant that has integrated the latest Hunyuan Hy4 preview model, with fully upgraded agent capabilities, and names no DeepSeek model. These are vendor descriptions, and the pages checked in this round do not say which model version answers a given chat.

Yuanbao is a Chinese-first product: its legal texts and app store descriptions are written in Chinese, and the user agreement is governed by Chinese law. Tencent announced on February 18, 2026 that Yuanbao had more than 50 million daily active users and 114 million monthly active users. According to a March 2025 news report, Yuanbao added the full DeepSeek-R1 model on February 13, 2025, alongside Hunyuan, and launched its desktop version on March 1, 2025.

Core features

Chat and model choice

Chat is the center of the product, and Yuanbao works as a Tencent AI chatbot for everyday questions. Input is processed by the large language model the user selects in the Yuanbao interface, so the same conversation window can switch between Tencent's Hunyuan models and DeepSeek. Yuanbao understands instructions given as text, voice, files, images and button actions. Temporary chats are also available, and temporary chats do not appear in chat history.

Search built on Tencent's content

Yuanbao's web search draws on Tencent ecosystem sources such as WeChat Official Accounts and Video Accounts.

File reading and document analysis

• 36 file types (desktop and app claim): The desktop page says Yuanbao supports 36 file types, including code, logs and technical documents, and the app listing repeats the 36-type figure for its document reading assistant.
• Web upload list: The Yuanbao web upload area lists 16 formats: jpg, jpeg, png, webp, bmp, gif, xls, xlsx, ppt, pptx, doc, docx, pdf, txt, csv and text.
• Tencent Docs: As of March 2025, Yuanbao could upload files directly from Tencent Docs and export generated content back to Tencent Docs. Current per-file size limits and upload counts are not stated on the official pages checked in this round.

The two figures come from different pages and describe different entry points.

Study and homework tools

Homework help features prominently in the app listing. Yuanbao offers photo-based homework question answering across multiple subjects, including screenshot search. An AI tutoring mode explains a problem from a photo or typed text with a dynamic blackboard and voice explanation, walking through the solution step by step. The privacy policy also describes spoken-language assessment and homework correction, with those two services technically supported by Tencent Cloud products.

Voice, recording and meetings

• Voice and video calls: The app supports voice interaction, video calls and a voice cloning feature that generates audio in a voice taken from a sample the user provides.
• AI recorder: The AI voice recorder transcribes and translates recordings without a time limit and summarizes what was said, which makes Yuanbao usable as an AI transcription tool for lectures and meetings.
• Meeting stand-in: Yuanbao can join a Tencent Meeting on the user's behalf as a virtual participant and send the generated minutes back to Yuanbao. The authorization covers only one meeting at a time.

Writing, code and media generation

The desktop page pitches Yuanbao for quickly writing reports and scripts. For code, Yuanbao runs Python, C++ and other languages without any deployment step, so short programs can be checked inside the chat. On the media side, Yuanbao edits photos from a one-sentence instruction, generates images, and turns a still image into a short video from a one-line prompt.

Tencent ecosystem and Yuanbao Pai

Yuanbao links with WeChat, Tencent Docs, Tencent News and WeChat Reading. Tencent also says Yuanbao's capabilities are built into dozens of its apps, including QQ Music, Tencent Meeting and the comment sections of WeChat Official Accounts and Video Accounts. Yuanbao Pai (元宝派) adds a social layer: users create or join a group, invite WeChat and QQ friends, and let the AI take part in the conversation.

Guide

Signing in on the web

1. Open yuanbao.tencent.com and choose to log in.
2. Pick one of the login options: the web login offers WeChat, phone and QQ, with WeChat login done by scanning a QR code.
3. Note the agreement notice: scanning the code counts as agreeing to the user service agreement and the privacy policy.

In the apps, users can sign in with WeChat or QQ, with a phone number and SMS code, or with an Apple ID that must then be bound to a phone number. Registration always ties back to a phone number or a third-party account, and third-party accounts used to sign in must be real-name registered.

Controlling training use of your chats

1. Open Settings, then Data Management.
2. Find the Experience Improvement Program switch and leave it off, or turn it on to share data.
3. Use the separate Voice Feature Improvement Program switch in the same place for voice input.

Deleting chats or an account

1. In the app, long-press a single chat and choose delete; chat topics can also be deleted from the sidebar.
2. To close a personal account, go to Settings, then Account Settings, then Delete Account.

Using the desktop shortcut

On the desktop app, Option+Space on a Mac or Alt+Space on Windows opens a mini chat window over whatever is on screen. The desktop app also supports highlight-to-search and highlight-to-translate on selected text in documents and web pages.

Yuanbao use cases and examples

• Homework and exam study: A student photographs a math or science problem, gets a worked answer, and can switch to the tutoring mode for a step-by-step explanation with a blackboard view and voice.
• Lectures and meetings: The AI recorder can record while taking photos, capture in-device audio, and share notes to WorkBuddy and Tencent Docs, and it is marketed for recording both classes and meetings.
• Reports and scripts: The desktop app drafts reports and scripts, and generated content can be exported into Tencent Docs for further editing.
• Travel and diet planning: Expert mode includes a travel assistant that turns one sentence into a full illustrated itinerary, and a diet assistant that estimates calories from a meal photo and plans a week of meals.

Who is it for

Yuanbao fits people who already live in Tencent's apps and work mainly in Chinese.

• Good fit: Students who want homework and tutoring help in Chinese; office users who move files between Yuanbao, Tencent Docs and Tencent Meeting; WeChat users who want search that reaches Official Accounts content; people who want to use DeepSeek through a Tencent account.
• Teams: Yuanbao supports team accounts created through Tencent's unified identity service, with administrators managing members.
• Age: The service is mainly for adults. Users under 18 need guardian supervision and consent, and children under 14 need a parent or guardian to complete registration for them.
• Less suited: Users who need an English-first interface, clear availability outside China, or data stored outside mainland China. Personal information collected in mainland China is stored in mainland China and is not provided abroad without separate consent or other stated legal grounds.

Platforms

The terms say the service may be delivered through the web, a PC client, mini programs and browser extensions. The privacy policy separately gives instructions for the web version, the PC client and a browser extension.

Store availability differs by region. The iPhone app appears in the mainland China and Hong Kong App Store storefronts, where the Hong Kong listing uses the Traditional Chinese name 元寶. A lookup of the same app ID in the US storefront returned no result on the capture date, and Tencent does not publish a list of supported countries on the pages checked in this round.

Pricing

Yuanbao is free to download. The China App Store lists the app as free, sold by Tencent Technology (Shenzhen) Company Limited, and the Hong Kong listing is also free. None of the official pages checked in this round shows a price list, a membership tier or a paid plan, and the user agreement contains no prices.

The agreement does leave room for charges: the terms define service rules as including service levels and billing standards, with the rules shown on the service's own pages. Any charges would therefore be set out on the service's own pages rather than in the agreement text. Users must also provide compatible devices and a stable internet connection at their own cost.

For reference, the China App Store page showed a rating of 4.1 out of 5 from about 250,000 ratings as captured on September 25, 2026.

Yuanbao alternatives

The closest alternatives are other Chinese AI assistant apps. A China App Store search for Tencent Yuanbao also returns Qwen, DeepSeek, Doubao and Kimi, each listed as free, as captured on September 25, 2026. Competition among them is direct: in March 2025 Yuanbao took the No 1 spot among free apps in China's iOS App Store, with DeepSeek second and ByteDance's Doubao fourth, according to an independent newspaper report.

Yuanbao's distinguishing points are its WeChat-sourced search, its links to Tencent Docs, Tencent Meeting and QQ Music, and the choice between Hunyuan and DeepSeek models in one account.

Limitations

• Not professional advice: Yuanbao's output is generated by a large language model, and in legal, medical, financial and similar professional situations it cannot replace professionals.
• No accuracy guarantee: Tencent does not fully guarantee that the service is 100% accurate and reliable, or that generated content is truthful, complete, accurate and timely.
• Non-unique output: Because of the randomness of large language models, Yuanbao may give different users the same or similar output, and the same input can produce different results.
• Labeling duties: Users who publish or share Yuanbao output must clearly label it as AI-generated. Yuanbao itself adds explicit labels in the interface or content and implicit labels in file metadata, including provider and content ID information.
• Location accuracy: Without location permission, Yuanbao answers location questions from the IP address, which may reduce accuracy.
• Jurisdiction: The agreement is governed by Chinese law, with disputes going to a court in Nanshan District, Shenzhen.
• Unpublished limits: File size, upload count and daily usage caps are not stated on the official pages checked in this round.

Privacy and data rights

• Training use is opt-in: Unless the user turns on the Experience Improvement Program, Tencent does not use uploaded content or generated output for model optimization. Data from users who join is de-identified before use.
• Separate voice control: Voice input has its own Voice Feature Improvement Program switch under Settings, then Data Management.
• Team control: On team accounts, administrators manage members' Experience Improvement Program, voice improvement and sharing permissions, and members cannot turn them back on once disabled.
• Ownership: Rights in uploaded content and generated content belong to the user or the lawful rights holder.
• Portrait photos: Portrait images uploaded to portrait-generation apps are used only for that generation and are not retained.
• Store disclosures: The App Store privacy label says usage data may be used to track users across other companies' apps and websites. The Google Play data safety section states that no data is shared with third parties, that data is encrypted in transit, and that users can request deletion.

These terms changed after public criticism. A Chinese business newspaper reported that Yuanbao's user agreement was revised three times between March 1 and March 5, 2025, after controversy over broad rights to user input, and its reporter verified on March 5 that the Experience Improvement Program switch was off by default.

FAQ

Q1. Is Tencent Yuanbao free?

The apps are listed as free, and no official page checked in this round lists a paid plan. The terms mention billing standards as part of service rules.

Q2. Does Yuanbao use DeepSeek?

Yes. The model filing notice lists a DeepSeek large language model algorithm next to the Tencent Hunyuan algorithm, and users choose the model in the interface. Tencent's pages name different Hunyuan versions, from T1 to the Hy4 preview, and the homepage description names only Hunyuan.

Q3. Are my chats used to train Tencent's models?

Not by default. Tencent does not use uploads or outputs for model optimization unless the Experience Improvement Program is turned on in Settings, then Data Management.

Q4. Can I use Yuanbao outside China or in English?

The iOS app includes English, but the legal texts and store descriptions are Chinese. The app was found in the mainland China and Hong Kong App Store storefronts, not the US one, and a Google Play listing exists.

Q5. What files can the Yuanbao AI assistant read?

The web uploader lists 16 formats, including PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, CSV and images, while the desktop and app pages advertise 36 file types.