A study by Nielsen, released earlier this year, shows that travel apps, accessed on smartphones, has largely increased in popularity. In fact, in June, travel apps were even more popular than that of mobile sites.
“Findings show that U.S. Android users spent 95% of their time accessing travel information from travel apps, in comparison to five percent from the mobile web,” notes the report.
Its common sense really – accessing travel apps on a mobile device is obviously more convenient than a laptop while out and about on vacation. The beauty, also, is that most cell phones come with affordable data plans. To that end, the Wi-Fi Finder App is a must have as it will help you find free or paid hotspots using your cellphone. It works in more than 650,000 locations and 144 countries.
Below, in no particular order, are some popular and useful travel apps that you should have downloaded on your smartphone before your next travel date. Most of the apps are free, but we did include a few that are low cost.
Travel App Box
This app is ideal for those just want one app to contend with, because it is made up of a collection of 15 tools which includes a tip calculator, country calling codes, offline maps, flight status and more. Cost is $1.99.
TripIt
With this app, there’s no need to search through your bag frantically trying to find a printout of your travel details. The app organizes all of your travel details in one place. Just forward your travel confirmation emails such as flight, hotel and rental car to plans@tripit.com and the app combines them into one digital itinerary. But that’s not all, weather, maps and driving instructions will also be added to the itinerary so you can access the information on your mobile device. Cost is free.
AroundMe
Traveling in an unfamiliar area in search of a nearby ATM, hospital, hotel or gas station? The AroundMe app will list your options while telling you how far it is along with directions to get there. Men may find this app particularly helpful as they don’t typically like to ask for help or directions. Cost is Free.
Weather Channel App
Knowing what the weather will be like when traveling is obviously important. The app can tell you what to expect hourly up to ten days out. Which is particularly helpful when determining your itinerary so you can plan to do things inside on rainy days and outside on sunny days. Cost is Free.
Camera+
Second only to a great vacation is the photos capturing the memories. This app enhances the zoom, timer and stabilizer of your photos among other functions on your iPhone or iPad. It’s happened to all of us – you end up with one or two photos that you just don’t remember taking. But the app can tell you and map it! Cost is $1.99.
Evernote
I use Evernote for everything but it can particularly helpful during travel as well. You can take pictures of receipts and other paperwork as well as taking notes on the go. Personally, I find the mobile app much better than the desktop app. Cost is Free.
Wikitude Location Guide
The app is particularly handy because it draws in helpful information about your surroundings and displays annotations of nearby points of interest.
FlightAware
One of my favorite travel apps by far – check on flight status, gate information and changes, delays and cancellations! I’m late most places that I go despite trying not to be so this app is helpful to keep me on track which is much needed.
Google Translate
If you are traveling abroad, this is the app you need!
There you have it, our list of favorite travel apps! If we are missing an app that you think we must use, please let us know! You can never have too many!
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