I have to say upfront, I am NO expert! My children are often horrified about how ‘useless’ I can be with some IT. I admit, I like it simple and consistent. So if I have listed an App below, it means it is user friendly and very intuitive (suitable for a not so IT say person). Before we set off on any trip we sort out our devices, delete old Apps and set ourselves up (download bits if needed) with the Apps suited for the upcoming trip. There are thousands to choose from and the quality varies greatly, so take your time to play with them. If I can’t make them work in a few minutes probably means they may not suit to me (or my patience or skill level).
After all our years of travelling, there are now some Apps that we can’t live without. I sooo can't think how I survived 25 years with a Lonely Planet Guide book and a note pad! Remember, this scene changes quickly, so I will update this when I find another addition and would love to hear from you with your favourites.
Before you choose an App there are a few things to consider:
Reliability: When you travel you often have weak or inconsistent WIFI and poor reception if using your phone. Some Apps need strong WIFI and reception so are very slow, or don’t open at all. These Apps will waste your time and do your head in.
Storage: Some App take up a lot of space so check it out and delete them if you don’t use them.
Cost: An App is worth what you are willing to pay. I appreciate all the work that developers do and am willing to pay if I find a product that really delivers. I generally search free Apps first and so far, have mostly found a free App that does exactly what I want. There are so many out there that just don’t deliver, and many don’t even open. Others require payment as soon as you move beyond the entry levels or screens. I find these Apps annoying.
Does it work offline? When you travel your device often has data roaming turned off or you have limited data from a sim card bought locally, so having things available without WIFI is super important.
So, these 10 favourite Apps are my tried and tested favourites.
OFFLINE FAVOURITES
Apps that work without Wi-Fi or using your data once you have downloaded what you want onto your device. Some do take up a lot of space, so it is good to delete them (or the parts you don't need) when you are finished.
1. MAPS.ME: FREE. This is an all-time favourite that has never failed me. Many of us use Google Maps every day and MAPS.ME is the closest thing I can find that operates offline. It uses the phones own GPS. Don’t ask me how it is possible that for free, I can be in Uzbekistan and follow myself on a bus to the exact hotel. You should download the relevant maps for the country (or part of the country) when you are on Wi-Fi but after that it tracks you and plans routes. You can save places and it stores them as pins around the world, ask for ‘route to’ locations and it calculates walking and driving routes. It is not live so time for travel is not ‘actual’ but a calculation based on expected speed, so it can be out a bit. My daughter however, isn’t so keen and swears by Google Maps as she feels it does the same thing. It does have the capacity to download and store maps offline for 28 days. So try the 2 and see which one you like best (you can already see my fav). A friend uses Here we Go.
2. POCKET: FREE. A great way to save webpages off line so you can read them when you have no internet. I do lots of research and often find a great map or page I want to view later when I’m on the road without WIFI. When you are in the web page you will have an option to “share” and once Pocket is installed, it will be one of the sharing options. The pages look just like they do online, but you can’t always follow links to other pages, so if you want deeper pages you will need to share them separately.
3. GOOGLE TRANSLATE: FREE How did we live without it! Yes it needs WIFI to download (via settings) the languages you want but after that works well. I use it all the time to ask people to type in phrases or I have prepared questions or messages typed in before I head to the front desk to tell that that the toilet is blocked! It works for simple phrases or words but is too slow for long sentences.
4. WALLET: FREE. I am finding I am using wallet much more to save my bus, train and airline tickets and boarding passes. More and more online booking have an option to ‘save to your wallet’. OK, I still also get a PDF email and sometimes even print it. I have been caught with places that only accept paper tickets and with a flat phone and been left trying to charge so I could board a flight in China.
5. SPOTIFY:SUBSCRIPTION. How amazing to have so much music available so easily. I download my own playlist (including my meditations) to use offline. Ohh, who members travelling with cassette tapes that melted in the desert or got "chewed".
6. NETFLIX:SUNSCRIPTION. Netflix can be used all around the world and the movies you see change depending on the country you are in. It has the capacity to download 20 or so movies and they stay current for ages until you open them and then they have a expiry date.
7. IBOOKS:FREE. The iBook’s facility allows you to save books offline from a number of online book aps. It is the reading tool but also has books. Book Bub is a book source and has a simple SAVE ON IBOOK tab which allows you save their books to your iBook folder. Just as a side, your local library will most likely have free downloadable books, as a part of your membership (you need to download when you have WIFI). I've tried a number of book Apps including Amazon, What Pad and Kindle but seem to keep coming back to I books and Book Bub as reliable (and of course I do like the free ones). If I chose to buy its been easy. Still looking for good online travel books....
8. KAYAK: FREE . If you join you can use Kayak Trip to hold all your travel plans. You easiliy set up a trip with dates on the app. When you receive an email confirmation for that flight , you simple forward it to trips@kayak.com and it is saved into a trip planner for you. This has address, contact details and links to all of your bookings and can be opened offline (it only updates when you have internt).
9. PACER: FREE: OK this is a fun one! Nothing serious, we’ve tried a few, just reliable and a good way to record your steps.
10. COINVERTER: FREE. We have tried a lot of currency convertors in our time but Coinverter. Its accurate and has the ability to have several currencies open at once.
11. TRABEE POCKET: FREE. We have our main budget spreadsheet that we update at the end of the week but us this App to put in expenses as we get them . The free version has limitations to one country but we can have an AUD$ budget and enter expenses in € and see both currencies.
ONLINE FAVOURITES: Apps that need Wi-Fi or your data
1. WHATSAPP: FREE This is my favourite free ‘phone’ tool. Don’t ask me how it works, as the number you have is like a code and not really linked to the matching phone number number as such. I’m officially old as I remember waiting in line to place a ‘long distance call’ via an operator. So, who would have thought that I could be having a video call using the free WIFI on a bus in Lithuania , with my daughter on the free WIFI on a train in South Korea. What a wonderful world we live in. There are a number of free ‘phone’ apps and I’ve tried a few but keep coming back to WhatsApp. They keep saying ‘changes are afoot’ and telling us we will have to pay soon, but so far so good. Many people know about WhatsApp and most have it. If not the app is easy for them to install. If they are in your phone contact list, they are in your WhatsApp list to. The down side is you can’t call a landline or mobile number, so sorry to say I had to call my elderly mother on Skype (we still have Skype as an emergency with some credit to call a landline – mostly at a hotel or airline- if needed). Many hotels etc have WhatsApp numbers so travellers can contact them that way.
3. SCAN AND TRANSLATE: FREE. I have only found this on Apple phones. You take a picture of the text in the App and after editing, press the button down the bottom and it will "convert".
4. SPEAK AND TRANSLATE: FREE: You can upgrade. Simple, you speak and it translates. We find it accurate.
5. PSIPHON: FREE. Who would have ever thought I would be setting up a VPN myself! Some countries restrict the use of certain Apps (for example Whats App in Jordan), so if you use this App, simple put it makes the phone look like its in another country so the Apps then work.
6. SHAZAM:FREE An oldie and a goodie. I love to hear music from the country I’m in and Shazam has proven itself as great in helping me find out the name of a song I’m hearing. I cant believe how good it is in find music in the most unusual places. I heard a great song in a small town in Bolivia and shazam picked it up even though it was a local Bolivian band.
If you check my phone you will see these Aps on my front screen. On the second screen there is a whole lot of Aps that I use as I need them. Remember to clean them out when you are done and check they don’t keep running in the background. They are divided into headings:
Accommodation:We have the Aps for any hotel groups we may be staying in, the main hotel search engines (Booking.com, Hotels Combined, Agoda are our mainstays)
Languages:We have language learning Ap’s for where we are going
Games:Gary uses these all the time!
Transport:Any airline we may be travelling on, Car rental companies , bus and train booking (Trainline, Omio), Traffic assistance (Waze), Taxi and Uber (Grab),
Travel Planners: I have a few favourites that I use for reference (Trip Advisor), currency calculator,
Locators: You know the ones that tell you the nearest toilets! (Wiki camps)Australian
Health: Measuring my activity (My Fitness Pal and Pacer), Meditation (Insight Timer)
So, there are some thoughts on Aps- I could go on and on. Let me know your favourites and Ill check them out.
Comments