Useful travel apps

Reviewed regularly · 8 min read

You don't need twenty apps, you need six categories covered. These are the ones that actually get used and the ones that get deleted.

Offline maps: the essential one

The single most useful app on any trip. Download the area before leaving and it works without data: walking routes, public transport and your location all keep working via the phone's GPS. This alone solves half the problems of travelling abroad. Also save the places you're interested in before you go, and you arrive with the map already built.

Local transport

Every large city has its metro and bus app, and some aggregate several. What matters is installing it before you arrive, not on the platform with no data. For long-distance trains, the operator's app usually holds downloadable tickets.

Translation

With camera translation for signs and menus, and the language downloaded for offline use. In countries with a different alphabet it goes from useful to essential.

Accommodation and bookings

Install the app for wherever you booked, since it almost always lets you download the confirmation and contact the host without relying on email. And keep every booking as a PDF in a phone folder, so you don't depend on internet.

Currency

A simple conversion calculator with rates downloaded. It stops you accepting the card terminal's rate without realising what you're being charged.

Documents

Not a specific app: it's having a folder with photos of your passport, insurance, bookings and tickets, accessible offline. Plus a copy in the cloud in case you lose the phone.

The ones that get deleted

Generic must-see list apps, travel journals nobody fills in, and discount apps that demand registration for nothing. And watch out for excessive permissions: a maps app doesn't need your contacts.

Before leaving

Download everything you need (maps, languages, tickets) while you have wifi. And check you can access it all with the phone in flight mode: if something fails there, it'll fail on landing too.

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