The only travel apps you will need in 2016 to travel.
How do you feel?
When you travel to a country and just in between smooth things you find you need some piece of information and don’t know who to ask.
Even the worst!
Someone tries to help you but you don’t know if his piece of advice is trustworthy or not.
As the world has become more digital, everything is getting replaced by Smartphones.
Just see our basic tools like dictionary, calendar, clock or flashlight.
Information about the place you visit has always been an integral part of travelling.
Unfortunately, we’ve grown accustomed to seeing crappy services in suits shaking hands. Not only are a lot of these services tacky, but some of them cost money!
So why not travel Information become digital?
You ask “Isn’t many of travel information already available as apps?”
I am glad you asked…
Surely, it is. But there are also crap all over the internet.
Just google ‘travel apps’ and you will know.
There are many posts like ‘Top 100 Travel Apps You Should Try’.
How can anyone try 100 Apps just for the sake of travel?
Won’t your phone get hanged or slow down?
What if that app was totally crap?
What if those apps are paid?
I don’t think you are going to buy all of them 😉 .
You ask “Which apps should I do then?”.
To answer your question, I have written this post.
How do I identify best travel apps?
The best travel apps are those that don’t consume data. Depending on how long you stay and your budget, you may not want to pay huge fee for data roaming charges.
Thankfully, there has been a growing number of apps with useful tools popping up all over the internet. Best of all, they’re free.
In this post, I have curated a list of insanely helpful travel apps.
P.S.: Don’t forget the tips at the end of the post.
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Maps
While travelling you will need maps to identify where you are and the layout of your favorite city. By just surfing online maps you can become familiar with roads and streets.
- Google Maps
One of the best apps for travelling on the road as you can use the GPS function without an internet data plan.
Although Google Maps can’t search for a location without internet, you can use it to see where you are on the map and what is nearby.
If your accommodations have Wi-Fi (which most of Hotels Provide), download the maps of places where you are going, so that it will be helpful when you reach there.
If you are planning a long trip, it can also help to get familiar with City.
Or best you can find distance between two places to ensure that your cab driver is not deceiving you 😉 .
Download: Android and iOS
Pricing: FREE
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Messaging
When you travel to another countries cell companies charge international roaming charges. It gives you tough time to contact your loved ones.
But thanks to free messenging apps you can contact them and share your wonderful experiences with them.
- WhatsApp Messenger
Due to high international roaming charges in most of the world, this app is a must have for travelers.
If you could just manage to get a Wi-Fi connection (which nearly all hotels provide), sending texts, images, videos and messages is free to every number in the world, as long as he is added to your contact list.
This means you can send photos of your trip and your voice recordings to your family. You can also chat with your new friends of your trips and hotel.
Or best wish them Happy Birthday when you return to your home country 😉 .
Pricing: FREE
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Translator
When you travel to another country the most difficult thing is to understand the language of that country. Though one could hire a guide, but according to your budget you may not want to hire one.
Now thanks to free translators, life has become easy in foreign countries. You can type or record and ask to convert it to different language.
- Google Translate
This app provides effective translations between 80 different languages, allowing you to listen to translations out loud, translate dictation and your own handwriting on-screen.
Best of all, you can even star your favorite words or phrases for offline access, or view dictionary results for a single word or phrase.
Or best you can record a conversation and convert it to find what was the conversation about 😉 .
Pricing: FREE
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International Time
When you travel to foreign country time zone changes, so what you think time is, may not be the local time there. There you may need to know time of your home as well as current country.
This app helps you do it easily.
- World Clock
Best when you need to keep up with different time zones since you can look at multiple clocks at once.
You can set alarms also.
Pricing: FREE
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Currency Conversion
When you travel to foreign country, your currency no longer holds authority. You need to exchange it with them at the latest currency rates.
But how do you know what are current currency rates?
I am glad you asked…
That’s what this app does for you.
- Xe
Effective currency converter. Available currencies cover any country you may imagine to travel.
You can save different money denominations on your homepage.
You can convert money without using data connection or Wi-Fi, but you will need to download all the latest currencies (read: currency rates).
Pricing: FREE
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Waiter Tips
As you have seen that currency changes with country, so does its value.
Imagine you give tip to a waiter of 1 unit in your currency that may be worth 150 units in his currency, while average tip in that area may only be 15 units. So I see, you have tipped too much 😉 .
So how do you know how much to give tip?
I am glad you asked…
This app will help you answer this question.
- Tipping Bird
You may have habit of tipping while traveling, that add to your bill.
In other countries, tips may be minimum or not even expected.
Calculate the appropriate amount to tip with this app.
Download: Android
Pricing: FREE
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Smartphone Flashlight
Don’t get me wrong.
If you are traveling in a part of the country where electricity cuts are frequent, this app will be a life giver.
When lights shut off unexpectedly, you will always have a good source of light with you.
- Flashlight
This app uses flash of your camera as a flashlight to lighten dark places.
Pricing: FREE
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Tasty Restaurants
You can hardly trust opinion of anyone when you travel. You must have an app which could give you genuine opinions about hotels and restaurants, so that you can relax on best places and don’t miss anything on your journey.
- TripAdviser
TripAdviser is a we-have-everything-you-need app when it comes to travel.
You can find millions of reviews, opinions, videos, and images exploring different hotels and restaurants you’re interested in or compare airfares and hotel prices before even booking with a single tap.
You can ask specific travel questions in the app’s forums or add your own reviews in a similar fashion to help others with your experience.
Download: Android and iOS
Pricing: FREE
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Taxy Booking
You may need to book taxi from your hotel.
Thanks to this app, you can relax while it books taxi for you.
- Uber
With the on-demand Uber, you can quickly book a private car or taxi directly in the app after viewing differing vehicle rates and fare quotes.
After that, you can connect with your personal driver, track the approaching car’s location, and securely pay your fair using a credit card.
Additionally there is no need for reservations or an exact pickup location.
Pricing: FREE
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Flight Status
No matter where you are travelling, you will need to trace your flight’s location.
This app helps you do this.
- FlightView
Arriving to attend flight on time is often more difficult than booking one 😉 .
Thanks to FlightView, now you can get real-time flight information, track upcoming and in-air flights, along with your gate, terminal, and baggage claim information.
The app also provides flight alerts, forwards your confirmation emails, and allows you to search and save flights for up to 350 days in advance.
Download: Android and iOS
Pricing: FREE
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Weather Info
When you travel to new country, it is often difficult to assess weather.
This app helps you with latest weather updates so that you get to enjoy your trip.
- Yahoo Weather
This weather app of Yahoo provides 5 and 10 day weather forecasts detailing temperature, visibility, humidity, wind speed, the UV Index, and much more.
It is quicker than most other apps out there and even includes a chart for viewing sunrise and sunset times, making it one of the best weather apps.
Pricing: FREE
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Live Route Information
When you travel along road, it may happen that one of the road is jammed or an accident made police to change the route.
You can find all these live information via this app.
- Waze
This app offers live routing directly based on community-driven mapping and real-time traffic information.
It gives you active reports of accidents, unforeseen hazards, and police checks along the way.
Pricing: FREE
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Travel Organizer
When you travel you need to keep your information about your trip at one place so that you don’t need to search it when you require it.
This app does this stressful work for you.
- TripIt
You can organize your travel plans in one place with TripIt. Simply forward your travel confirmation emails to plans@tripit.com and TripIt automagically creates a detailed daily itinerary for every trip.
It also give directions, maps and weather for each destination. You can sync trip plans with your Google Calendar or Outlook. You can also add or edit plans manually—from the app or on tripit.com.
Pricing: FREE
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Emergency Help
No matter either you are travelling to foreign country or going to buy groceries at local store. You need safety all around.
This app helps you make yourself secure everywhere.
- Travel Safe
It uses location information to find out where you are and display it to emergency services with a press of a button.
You just need to include country codes for all contact numbers.
Download: Android and iOS
Pricing: PAID
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Flight Booking
When you travel to foreign you generally travel by airplanes. But you may not know what are the hot deals.
This app explains this perfectly.
- Hipmunk Hotels & Flights
It has been awarded in best apps of 2013 by google play.
This app makes flight and hotel booking FAST and EASY. You can find the LOWEST PRICES on airfares. It works perfectly with Wi-Fi.
If you need a LAST MINUTE hotel room? Get up to 60% OFF with TONIGHT DEALS.
See TripAdvisor reviews, star ratings, and easily COMPARISON SHOP HOTELS.
Pricing: FREE
Travel Tips
Make sure to switch your mobile data off before taking off. That is where a lot of mobile service providers make money.
Try to use your apps in free Wi-Fi zones (provided by most of the hotels).
Conclusion
As you can see, there is a growing number of fantastic apps for travelers. These apps have become a blessing for travelers and creative people.
I strongly encourage you to download each of these apps and incorporate them into your own trips.
So what apps are you using for travelling? If I’ve missed an awesome app let me know in the comment section below.
Great Post Pankaj. I totally agree with you. The travel related apps are one of the most downloaded categories on App store and Play store. While travelling we all need all these apps that you have mentioned. Thank you for this list, but I will add one more app to this list which helps me reduce my roaming charges i.e. Ajura. When we travel abroad, we need an international roaming app to save on our incoming and outgoing calls, and Ajura is the best solution as it helps you cut down on the roaming cost extensively. It would be great if you can inculcate Ajura app in this list.
I will use it first. If it is worth adding, I will add 🙂 Thanks for your suggestion.