Every newspaper, magazine and travel blog has a list of the top travel apps that every traveler should have on the iPhone, iPad or Droid. But with all the different lists, how do you really know what apps you should download? Just because an app is rated as the #1 must have travel app doesn’t mean you need it or should download it. When trying to decipher the myriad of apps out there, try to determine which will be most useful to you and your travel.
Here are some of the apps that I actually use regularly on my travels:
Skype – Skype is a great way to keep in touch with friends and family especially when you’re traveling abroad. It might even make sense for you to pay for a subscription if you need to call land lines. I use Skype all the time!
Tripit – Tripit is a great way to pull all your itineraries into one location. You can access maps and share your travel plans with friends/family. Tripit Pro – a paid version of the app – allows you to track points balances, provides alters for flight delays, cancellations, etc.. will let you know when a flight price has dropped so you can request a refund and if a flight does cancel, it will suggest alternate flight plans! Another benefit is that TripIt integrates with several booking programs – like Concour travel – so all my business itineraries are automatically sent to my TripIt once they’re booked.
SPG Mobile App – If you stay at Starwood hotels, you should download the SPG App. As a very frequent traveler, the SPG app allow me to store my room number in a vault. How many times have you been asked, “What room are you in?” and you get that deer in the headlights look because you can’t remember if you’re in room 1812 or room 1218? This will solve that problem. The app also allows you to book rooms, track your membership information, and get hotel info & directions in the local language. If you stay at Starwood hotels you should check out the app before or during your visit because I often find discounts and promotions for onsite restaurants.
Courtesy Starwood Preferred Guest Website
XE Currency Exchange – I can’t live without XE. XE provides currency conversion on the spot. You can use the app offline – with the most recent rates you downloaded during you last online session or you can refresh rates for real-time conversion. Love this app!
Waze – whenever I hit the road I always make sure I have access to Waze – a community based traffic and navigation app that really comes in handy when there’s a traffic jam!
From Waze Website
What is your favorite app?
Enter to win a $50 iTunes Gift Card by leaving a comment with your favorite travel app on this blog post. Winners will be selected at random from all comments. Entry deadline is 5pm EST on Wednesday July 5th 2014. Contest is open to US residents only and no purchase is necessary.
United App
First I will also vote for TripIt. It a perfect travel apps.
Other which I use every week:
– Awardwallet
– FlightTrack Pro
– Sixt
– Airlines (e.g. Lufthansa, Swiss and other from *A)
/HerrO
I love the Map app on my iPhone which works for driving as well as walking…can be a lifesaver when trying to figure out how to leap (well walk around) tall long buildings.
Gate Guru – it’s an app that tells you what’s close by depending on what airport/terminal you are in.
No love for the United app or at the very least FlightTrack (Pro)
My top 5…
TripCase – similar to TripIt
Currency – convert between many different currencies
Translator – translate between many different languages
AirportStatus – see airport delays
AwardWallet
@Kris – I don’t fly United…but FlightTrack Pro is good.
I love Flight Track (Pro) and Gate Guru. Particularly helpful on the road is White Noise. Helps to drown on sounds to help to relax and sleep!
I hate to say it, but my favorite travel app is the Starbucks one. Helps out tremendously when I have a craving away from home.
Gate guru and the weather app.
trip journal!
I find Trip Tracker to be very useful. The Delta App is quite useful for changing seat selection, or checking the upgrade list.
Instagram!
Tripit
We love Foursquare!! TripIt is great at keeping our travels organized.
Love the Kayak Pro app!
tripit to keep track of all of my itinerary details in one place
TripIt and Delta.
Award Wallet
Priority Club app makes it easy to book a hotel or use points.
Viber. So I can call home whenever I have 3G or wifi.
I am a large fan of using MobilyTrip to create a detailed log of daily activities in a new location. Helpful for amnesia or general forgetfulness.
AwardWallet is my fav! Always keeps me updated on what Points I have as I blindly sign up for everything!
B4 You Board is a cool app. It lets you order food at airport restaraunts in ORD/MSP/JFK/SMF to take on the plane with you. Especially good if you’re connecting in those cities. They meet you at the gate with your order.
Definitely Yelp. Helps us find the best places to eat, sleep and play.
Yelp and Weather Underground
The accuweather app is great for anticpating arrival conditions
Trip Advisor app! Use it to check restaurants all the time!
Flight Track and Coffee Finder
google voice
Skype is my favorite app.
TripTracker
FlightTracker Pro
Kayak Pro
Yelp 🙂
Blackberry travel. It gives updates automatically and I have had to look for my ticket numbers which has all my information on one page.
I like flight aware but by far my favorite is gate guru!
the AwardWallet app is my fav
Yelp gets the most use but I do use Foursquare to check in a lot too!
Awardwallet. It Helps me keep track of all of my frequent flyer miles as well as hotel points and anything else I may earn rewards with.
TripAdvisor , Kayak Pro
FlightAware
trip advisor is my go to.
Portland Transit Lite!
Kayak.
So many… While travelling, I end up using Lufthansa/TAP, TripAdvisor, TripIt, FlightTrack/FlightAware a lot. FlyoverGPS is nice when you don’t have a flight map on the IFE.
Then, of course, there’s Kayak, *A FareFinder, ITA OnTheFly, CheckMyTrip, GateGuru, AwardWallet. Guess those are the major ones.
Can’t live without award wallet. I feel so organized!
I can’t go to a new city without using Yelp to find restaurants and coffee shops.
I also use OpenTable to make reservations.
Gateguru
Tripit
Geocaching-they seem to be hidden in the most random places and it can be a fun way to wander around a new city.
FlightView
Evernote (trip journal, itineraries)
Yelp
Kayak is my favorite app!
I use TripAdvisor, TripIt, and Kayak for every trip I take!
I would have to say Yelp
TripIt
Google Voice I find to be a better alternative than Skype.
As someone who has spent a lot of time abroad the last four years, here are my go-to apps for iPhone:
1. Skype
2. XE.com
3. Award Wallet
4. Hotels.com
5. Pocket (Formerly Read-It-Later, keeps me in the know and makes content available offline as weil as connected!)
I love Award Wallet and how they provide my itineraries.
New favorite for me is über.com…on demand sedan service instead of a taxi. You can track location of your driver, charge to your cc, no cash. Groundlink is also good if you need to reservee in advance.
Waze and Skype!
Skype is my favorite!
AwardWallet and a couple of different weather apps
Yelp and Tripadvisor
I like the iFly App so I can veiw the airport layout maps.
LOVE flightrack pro and flightboard
Happy Hour is one of my go-to apps. Lets me plug in the time I’m looking for and it tells me what’s open and what they offer.
Award Wallet – useful for looking up your account numbers from the airport, hotel, etc
SayHi – Mobile translator!!! Wow. This app is my saviour whenever I am out traveling to places where the local language is not English. I’ve been to Brazil, Italy and France with it and it’s been very helpful in allowing me to communicate with the locals!
Tripit
I love Flight Track
Love Tripit
After getting bumped up to an Economy Plus seat for free on an 8-hour transatlantic flight and moved to my preference of a window seat on a flight to Moscow, I’d say MySeatFinder is my favorite travel app. It uses your rewards account login to search for better seats on your flights according to your preferences, and just sends you a notification if it moves you. Slick!
Four square. It’s fun checkin into new places during vacation!
Delta app — I use it all the time when traveling to check in, check flight status, etc.
Big fan of AIRNAV
Priority Pass, so I can find a lounge at many airports.
i LOVE hoteltonight. comes with $25 to start too!
Award Wallet
TripIt is pretty nice.
Hard to beat the Kayak Pro app when looking for flights on the go!
TripIt is my favorite by far!
My favorite is TurboScan – makes scanning in my receipts SO easy! Available on iPhone for $1.99 and possibly other phones. Sends the receipts as a single PDF right to my email. This has cut the amount of time I spend on expenses in half!
I have a few:
TripIt, Award wallet, and Southwest apps 🙂
FourSquare and Delta!
I definitely agree with Skype pr Google voice- its the best way to stay in touch
The SPG app is even better lately since its last update.
I use Google Maps often. I also like to use the Weather Channel app to check the weather in my destination city.
Mapquest app for when I don’t have a gps. It works really well.
My favorite current travel app has to be foursquare tied in with topguest. Watching my miles and points add up with no effort whatsoever has been quite the trip.
I like Goggle Voice + Talkatone. Free unlimited calls over wifi.
Foursquare
Trip advisor
I’m in Sevastopol, Ukraine right. My favorite is without question…… XE Currency Exchange. I travel a lot abroad, and I need to stay on top of exchange rates. This works well for me.
kayak pro for finding flight options at the last minute.
Delta, UA, AA apps for checking in/seats/boarding passes
Traffic report is a must.
I like Fahrenheit for determining weather conditions where I am traveling.
tripit!!
My favorite app is AwardWallet since I can view all of my membership numbers and points balances in one place!
Kayak
Tripadvisor
TravTrkPro
My favorites are AwardWallet, TravTrakPro, and mSecure.
Tripadvisor (esp the city guides – very handy when overseas with no data connection)
Any of the various ‘learn a language’ apps
AA
Skype
Favorite is definitely FlightTrack Pro/TripIt
Hotel Tonight is very helpful. My husband likes to take road trips, so this app helps us out alot.
I love the Tripit App, but I gotta go with Flight Track Pro for gate information.
I like the Delta travel app!
Skype is my fav money saver.
Tripit, Flight Track Pro and Convertbot
My favorite app is the Kayak app. It allows me to do so much as it is very versatile. I can check flights, cars, hotels, etc.
My favorites are Award Wallet and Dropbox. I just save all my travel-related docs in my dropbox, and I have them all handy while traveling.
I love Tripsplitter for travelling with other people. Very easy to track expenses and you just turn the device on it’s side to see who owes who. At the end of the trip you can email a spreadsheet with all the expenses. Makes settling up easy and if you categorized properly, shows the break down of expenses.
@Em D. Since I’m traveling on a girls trip, this might just come in handy!
TripAdvisor
Yelp! It’s convenient for finding recommended restaurants!
For Delta regulars, the Delta iPhone app is a must-have! Seat changes, upgrade lists, interrupted travel re-booking, gate change notifications, SkyClub finder, and more. It is great!
The app I use most for travel is Flight Track for iOS. It integrates with Trip It automatically and gives you up to date info delays, gates, airport layouts, and even plane layouts. Very useful.
Some of these suggestions are pretty US-centric so I’ll put my list in on behalf of Australia starting with nextmanlyferry which I use at least once a day and comes with a gorgeous retro UI. Next up is tripview giving me real time bus, ferry and train times and journey planner across Sydney and beyond. Next up is urbanspoon for restaurants and mainly because of the ‘radar view’ of where the restaurants are! Then it’s google places (foursquare is so dull in Oz) and finally Qantas frequent flyer to track my points, check in at the airport and dream destinations.
My top 5 apps:
– Skype – Facetime
– Viber (make a call to family/friends)
– Sygic Map (offline map sometimes it is hard to find WIFI connection)
– Currency Converter
– Instagram/ProCamera
Still love TripAdvisor. It does have the issue of bogus reviews etc., but if you take the experiences on there as a whole and use some common sense, you can find some great places and avoid some bad ones. I see it as a way to significantly reduce the chances of problems on a trip. Thanks!
I agree with you on Skype. It is nearly indispensable when it comes to keeping up with family and friends. So much better to see a face than just hear a voice over poor cell reception.
TripIt because you can just forward all the details to it and can organize it automatically all in one place. Then comes the United App.
TripAdvisor off line city guides — good to have for those long flights.
Skype! It lets me talk to friends and family in Italy for free–will also be helpful when a colleague is overseas on vacation. It lets you send files that are larger than many email programs will let you do. It’s indispensable.
TripAdvisor! Very helpful.
Yelp. Makes it easier to find some good restaurants wherever I am.
ive used tripit a few times and love it its very easy to use
My top five are
FlightTrack pro, XE currency, google voice, Postale and Fast camera
I’m an App novice so I’m crowdsourcing “find the best travel App” right now 🙂 LOL What a great way to share info, reviews, and save time- love this blog topic! It’s annoying to have good expectations for an App only to realize that instead of saving you time- it costs you time!
One of my favorite travel apps is Snapseed by google. It is one of the best photo-editing apps for the iPhone: http://justindoesblog.com/?p=30
TripIt 🙂