travel apps
Your Airline’s App
Free
If it’s a good one, your airline’s app will provide some of the most seamless parts of your airport experience. This app is all about the ticket: within it, you can check in and download a scannable boarding pass. Airline apps also offer frequent flyers instant access to loyalty accounts.
iOS and Android
Bonjournal
Free
The vaguely French name is no accident: this is a travel journal app with class. Where most apps tend to pile on features with every update until you can barely navigate your way out of the menu screen, Bonjournal strips things down to a Zen-like minimum. You’re invited to pen diary entries, perhaps spice them up with a couple of pics – but no more. The resulting journal, laid out in a sleek Muji-like aesthetic, can be sent by email, published on Facebook or even converted to PDF.
Available on iPhone + iPad
City Guides and Offline Maps by Stay.com
Free
City Guides and Offline Maps by Stay.com lets you explore new travel destinations and cobble together a loose itinerary for what you might want to see, do, and eat when you arrive. You can plan new trips from the app, as well as import itineraries you've designed on the website, and save them offline so you don't need to use data when you're roaming around town.
Available on: Android, iOS
Converter Plus
Free
International travelers know that currency converter apps are a dime a dozen. Converter Plus offers to convert much more than just money, however. If you need to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit, or kilos to pounds, Converter Plus can do that, too. This handy mathematical app also contains a tip calculator and is highly customizable, so you can keep the converter templates you use most at the fore.
Available on: iOS
Evernote
Free
Evernote can keep a copy of important travel information offline. Let's say you show up at your destination and can't get any data on your phone to, say, pull up a confirmation email for your rental car or find the address of your hotel. If you've backed up a copy of the important details to Evernote--which you can do by simply forwarding emails--you'll have everything you need regardless of cell signal strength.
Available on: Android, iOS, Mac, Web, Windows, Windows Phone
Field Trip (by Google)
Free
The Field Trip app by Google looks for sites of interest around you, based on categories you select and your location, and it pops up cards on your phone when you're near something interesting. If you're driving and have a connected Bluetooth audio device, you'll hear the alerts instead. Field Trip taps into recommendations from travel and lifestyle publications, such as Thrillist, Zagat, and Sunset, as well as Songkick and Flavorpill for finding local music.
Available on: Android, iOS
FlightStats
Free
FlightStats gives you the information you want without the fuss. Here, users can check an airport’s probability of delays or follow up on a flight with little distraction. To track a flight, plug in the flight number or search by the plane’s route. The app’s flight tracker is perfect for paranoid parents or passengers who like to know where they are at all times.
iOS and Android
Foodspotting
Free
While apps that aggregate crowd-sourced restaurant reviews may be ten-a-penny, those that focus in on specific dishes are a far rarer species. Luckily, this one works a treat, responding to your every gastronomic whim with user-generated recommendations from your local area. In downtown Madrid with a penchant for paella? Prod around a bit and within seconds you’ll be en route to the best in the city.
Available on iPhone + iPad and Android
GasBuddy
Free
When it's time to refuel, you'll be happy to have GasBuddy on your phone. This app and website helps you find gas by location and price. If you can save a couple of bucks by cruising a little farther down the road, GasBuddy will let you know. While many of the travel apps listed in this article are for iOS and Android only, GasBuddy is also available for BlackBerry and Windows Phone.
Available on: Android, BlackBerry, iOS, Web, Windows Phone
GateGuru
Free
If you ever have a long connection through Chicago O'Hare, you'll want to go straight to Tortas Frontera for sandwiches. At San Francisco International Airport, there's a yoga room where you can decompress and stretch before your next flight.
Available on: Android, iOS, Windows Phone
Globe Tipping
Global Tipping Guide (or World Tip Guide) is currently the top leading app in providing tipping information to make your next trip a pleasant one. It also provides a fully featured tip calculator, and an expense report for you to use during your next trips.
Available on: Android, iOS, Web
Google Maps
Free
I can't even imagine driving without Google Maps. Turn-by-turn directions work well (okay, they still occasionally tell you to get off the highway and right back on again), but the real time-saver is that Google Maps detects delays up ahead, such as traffic, accidents, or construction. The app automatically offers a quicker route. It's a great in-car GPS navigation system, right from your phone.
Available on: Android, iOS, Web
Google Translate
Free
Another Google product, another market cornered. As far as general translation apps go, this is unbeatable: it boasts enough features to sate all but the most pedantic linguists, and a few bonuses too. Particularly intriguing is the Word Lens tool, whereby you point your camera at a foreign word, which is then translated in real time on your screen – great, unless you’re caught trying to decipher a ‘No Cameras’ sign.
Available on iPhone + iPad and Android
iExit
Free
The iExit app tells you what services are available at upcoming highway exits. Using your location, iExit looks at the upcoming exits and gives you a list of restaurants, hotels, gas stations, rest areas, and more. If there's a particular restaurant chain or other service you love, you can mark it as a favorite and iExit will tell you if it's coming up anytime soon on your route. You'll never kick yourself for getting off the highway too soon and settling for a greasy spoon when better food options were just around the bend.
Available on: Android, iOS
Jet Lag
Free
According to Jay Olson, who works in the psychology department at Vancouver's Simon Fraser University, overcoming jet lag isn't as simple as just forcing yourself to stay awake.
Instead, travelers need to figure out when to seek and avoid light based on their own trip and body clocks.
It's this science that inspired him to come up with Jet Lag Rooster, a new, free website that lets people enter their trip details and get their very own jet lag battle plan, which they can email to their smart phone to pop up with reminders during the trip.
Maps.Me
Free
The Maps.Me mobile app lets you browse around the globe, zoom in on any region or city, and download a detailed map of that area to use offline. You'll see an option to download just the map or the map with directions enabled to get you from point A to B without an Internet connection. It's a must-have travel app for those who wander off the beaten path.
Available on: Android, Amazon Fire, BlackBerry, iOS
Maplets
Google Maps and CityMapper do a fine job of orienting you down streets and toward landmarks, but even they have their blank spots. Which is where Maplets comes in. Essentially a gigantic database of specialised maps – some official, others created by users – the app will help you find anything from a Starbucks in Dubai Airport to the mummies in the British Museum.
Available on iPhone + iPad ($2.99) and Android ($2.58)
MarineTraffic Ships & Winds
The seven seas have never looked more crowded than on this wondrously detailed map, which draws on a massive database of official data to track thousands of ships in real time.
Available on iPhone + iPad ($3.99) and Android ($3.99)
Onavo Extend
Anyone who’s ever accidentally downloaded a large email while on holiday will attest to the ridiculousness of data roaming charges, and while the European Union inches toward putting things right, in the meantime – and in other parts of the world – there are measures you can take to avoid an end-of-month sting.
Available on iPhone + iPad (free) and Android (free)
PackPoint
Free
PackPoint is a free travel packing list organizer and packing planner for serious travel pros. PackPoint will help you organize what you need to pack in your luggage and suitcase based on length of travel, weather at your destination, and any activities planned during your trip.
iOS/ Android
Perfect World Clock
Free
Does pretty much what it says on the tin, this one, providing easy access to the time in hundreds of cities and therefore averting arithmetic-induced stress your jetlagged brain could really do without. Nothing revolutionary, but still an essential download, especially considering the rather nifty option of adding several clocks as home-screen widgets.
Available on Android
Skype – free IM & video calls
Free
The venerable Skype also fits into this category. Most people already know what Skype can do so we’ll keep this one short. You can make free Skype calls to anyone who has Skype and non-Skype numbers require a small fee. It’s on most mobile operating systems and computer operating systems (including Linux) so it’s one of the best solutions when it comes to cross platform use. Also included are free group, video, and text chats should you need those. It’s a reliable and highly popular service and much like Facebook Messenger, there’s a good chance people you know already use Skype or at least have it installed.
SOAR
Free
Nervous flyers, this one’s for you. SOAR holds an array of techniques to combat your fear of flying, claustrophobia or panic attacks such as downloadable videos, relaxation techniques and anxiety management courses.
iOS and Android
Sunscreen
Free
Until the bashful lobster look finds its way into the style zeitgeist, this is a crucial piece of kit for those venturing to sunny climes. Having detected the UVI rating of your current location, this nifty little app sets a countdown timer to alert you when you’re due your next slathering of sunblock. All you have to do is input your skin type and the SPF of your lotion, then kick back and soak up some worry-free rays. Android users can download the near-identical Sunscreen Reminder Pro.
Available on iPhone + iPad
Synchronize
Free
Flying often means jumping time zones. Keep track of time on your trip and back at home (and anywhere else in the world, for that matter) with Synchronize streamlined international clock and never make an important phone call at a terrible time again.
iOS
Touchnote
Remember postcards? Those rectangular, papery things you used to scrawl down tales of your far-flung travels on back before the world went digital? This app-cum-print-service allows you to hark back to the analogue era by creating and sending physical cards bearing your own travel snaps and text to anywhere in the world, for a thoroughly reasonable $1.33-$2.99 a pop. Just select your fave pic, submit it together with the destination address, and it will be printed and sent off by someone in a shop somewhere.
Available on iPhone + iPad (free) and Android (free)
TravelSafe
Free
A potentially life-saving database of emergency service numbers for just about every country you’d ever care to visit, plus plenty for those that you wouldn’t. If you shell out for the Pro version (UK only, £0.99), there’s also embassy details should passports go missing and – for the truly paranoid – the option to pin certain services to your home screen as widgets, for one-touch access to police, ambulances and fire engines. iPhone users can choose from a range of similar apps, the best of which is Emergency Phone Numbers.
Available on Android
TripCase
Free
TripCase is a free app that helps you organize your itineraries. You use the app by forwarding confirmation emails from travel services to a special address. TripCase then pulls the most important information from those confirmation emails and arranges them into a day-by-day or even hour-by-hour summary of your trip. It's very similar to the next app in this list (TripIt), except that TripIt pulls information directly from your email account while TripCase relies on you sending it along.
Available on: Android, iOS, Web
TripIt
Free
TripIt is a mobile app for Android and iPhone that connects to your email accounts and automatically compiles your travel information based on confirmation emails you receive. TripIt finds the important details for flights, hotels, rental car reservations, and even restaurant bookings, then collates them in order into an itinerary. If you worry about not having all your details in one place, TripIt is a wonderful travel organizer.
Available on: Android, BlackBerry, iOS, Windows Phone
Tripomatic
Free
Tripomatic helps you plan what to do and see on your next trip, and on which days. You can use it in advance of your trip to put together a daily agenda, or use it on the spot to find sites to see, a cafe to have coffee, or restaurant in which to eat. Tripomatic has more than thousands of attractions listed in hundreds of destinations. The app syncs with the website Tripomatic.com, so you can tinker with your itineraries on a full sized screen if you prefer. Many of the top destinations have offline content, such as maps, photos, and visitors guides.
Available: Android, iOS
Triposo
Free
Driving through the desert or deep into mountains, you can't be sure you'll have Internet access. Triposo puts offline maps and travel guides onto your phone so you can use them even in dead zones. Before you download maps and guides for any destination, Triposo tells you how much space they will take up on your phone, too. When you pull up a destination on Triposo, it offers top sightseeing suggestions, a weather forecast, and more ways to explore the destination.
Available on: Android, iOS
Wi-Fi Finder
Free
With data roaming charges still laughably high in many places, knowing where to find a decent wi-fi hotspot is essential if you’re to keep the twitterati up to date with details of your latest sojourn. No need to charge through the city waving your handset around like a fly-swatter, though – simply fire up this handy app, courtesy of the folk at JiWire, and follow directions to your nearest source of wireless internet. Best of all, the offline mode means you can download maps before you go, thereby dodging a massive bill.
Available on iPhone + iPad (free) and Android