What are all the different apps you might need while traveling? When you think about it, there are many! If you go somewhere where they speak a different language, you might need a language translation app. You might need a packing list app. You might need one for hotel booking, car rental, flight bookings, currency conversion, and more! This traveling business can be complicated, so let us show you the list of the best travel apps for the iPhone to help make your entire trip a little smoother.
The best iPhone apps for travel
20 Jul 2021, by Cherry Mae Torrevillas
This good travel app for iPhone features detailed and easy-to-use offline maps. There are millions of points of interest (POI) on the maps in the Guru Maps app. The app allows you to record your GPS tracks and bookmark your favorite locations. Without subscription you can create up to 15 bookmarks, record up to 15 tracks and have only 3 vector maps downloaded on your device. Subscription allows you to create unlimited bookmarks and record unlimited GPS tracks, download unlimited maps, sync between devices and more.
- Offline maps and fast search
- Search in a variety of ways – by address, object name, category, or even by GPS coordinates
- Voice instructions while navigating available in 9 languages
- Routes for Driving/Cycling/Walking/Shortest Distance
- Record your trips even when the app is in the background
- Sync your data across multiple devices
Keep track of countries and US states that you have visited. The travel app visualizes the visited countries both as a list, along with a ratio for each continent, and as a world map. The list is synced across devices using iCloud. The map can be shared on social networks, such as Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, using the standard iOS sharing functionality.
- Easy to use
- See the country you visited on the world map
- A list of places and countries you have been to
- Synchronized with Instagram, Twitter and Facebook
Quickly make sense of all your travel plans and create a single itinerary for every trip with TripIt. Stay one step ahead from planning to landing with the world’s highest rated travel organizing app. This app will make your trip easier, every time.
- YOU HANDLE THE BOOKING, WE'LL TAKE IT FROM THERE
- ACCESS AND SHARE YOUR PLANS IN AN INSTANT
- TRAVEL STATS & CARBON FOOTPRINT
- MONITOR FLIGHT REFUNDS WHILE YOU'RE PLANNING YOUR TRIP
Mobile Passport enables U.S. passport holders and Canadian visitors to save time during the entry process at most major U.S. airports and cruise ports! Securely submit your passport and customs declaration form and access designated lanes in the inspection area.
- Complete passport profiles in the app. With the free version of Mobile Passport, your passport info will expire four (4) hours after submission.
- UPON ARRIVAL turn on Wi-Fi or data. Make sure the Date & Time settings for your device are set for your current, local time zone. Submit passports and customs declaration form in the app.
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will send you a digital receipt in the form of an encrypted QR code receipt after they have reviewed your submission, which will expire after four (4) hours.
- Bypass the regular lines and follow the signs for Mobile Passport Control.
Seat Alerts can help you find a better seat in just a few steps. All you have to do is look up the seat map for your flight, set up a seat alert to find your choice of seat (window, aisle, etc), and get a notification if your preferred seat is found. The app will keep an eye on the available seats right up until the flight leaves. If it becomes available, you can change your seat with the airline or travel agent that booked your flight. This app will find you a window or aisle seat more than 75 percent of the time. Don't get stuck in a middle seat again!
- Free version gives you one free seat alert
- Upgrade for more seat alerts with an in-app purchase
- Seat Alerts supports over 150 airlines with preassigned seating
Skiplagged is one of our favorite apps because it helps users find cheaper flights by using a legal loophole in the airline industry. This app will get you great flights and huge savings by finding the “hidden city” which is where the layover is. However, the layover is really your targeted destination. There are numerous filters to find the best flights for you, get fare alerts and notifications, book hotels, read reviews on hotels and more. You will definitely be surprised by the deals you find in this app.
- Uses a legal loophole to find huge savings
- Powerful search tool for flights
- Find deals on hotels and book reservations
- Read reviews for hotels and ratings
- Get alert notifications for fares
If you only ever download one flights app, choose Skyscanner. This app is free and allows you to search millions of flights from hundreds of different airlines, searching out the best airfare for your trip. This is an independently run app so you don't have to worry that the information you receive is biased. You can get price alerts, find cheap flights and learn when it is cheaper to travel, and you can find some great ideas for inexpensive travel anywhere in the world. If you already know where you want to go, you can refine your search with the app's filters. Skyscanner saves your recent searches so if your browsing is interrupted, you can easily pick it up again from the home screen.
Skyscanner All Flights app review
- Earn frequent flier miles when you book with the Skyscanner app (where applicable)
- No booking fees
- Sync your searches and price alerts across all devices
- View Top Deals from your nearest airport
- Find cheaper days and months to fly
Need to book a hotel for your trip? The Booking.com app has what you need. There are more than 855,000 hotels and apartments listed in this app so no matter what kind of lodgings you want, you'll find it. When you book with the app, you'll get instant confirmation and will be able to do paperless check-in when you arrive at your location. Most bookings are available without a credit card, and you can search by landmark, city, hotel name, or properties close by. If there are certain features you want or need, you can search that way, too. If you're not really sure where the hotel or lodging is located, have a look at the map to be certain. You'll find all kinds of great deals here.
- 24/7 customer service
- Make changes to your bookings online using the app
- Sign up for an account and the app will autofill for faster booking
- Most last-minute hotel reservations available for booking without a credit card
- Free iPhone app for travel
You're at your destination and you need a car for a few days. Cars Scanner app lets you compare car rental rates from over 550 different rental companies in several different countries. When you use this app you can save up to 80 percent compared to booking through car rental company apps! Cars Scanner offers exclusive rates with maximum discounts and offers a “Best Price Guarantee” that its prices are always lower than the retail prices from car rental companies. You'll see rentals here from Avis, Thrifty, Budget, and Hertz. Just enter your pick up location, start and end date, country of residence/where you will be picking up the car, and hit Search.
- Make your trip easier with a car rental
- Compare rental rates for over 550 different car rental companies
- See prices for all the big car rental companies
- Save up to 80 percent on rentals
- Best price guarantee
If you've ever been on a trip and realized once you got there that you forgot something you really need, you'll understand how important it is to have a trip packing list. PackPoint is a packing list travel companion that you will never leave home without. It will tell you what you need to take based on how long you will be gone, the weather at your destination, and the sorts of activities you will do when you're there. Just enter the destination city, departure date, and the number of nights you'll be there. The app offers shortcuts to change quantities for each item and quick remove to delete items from the list. If you'll have access to laundry facilities, make sure to check off the “Laundry” option so the app knows you don't need to take as much.
- Never forget important items again
- A smart packing app and packing list builder
- Check off “repeat basics” if you can repeat wearing certain things like shirts and pants
- Packs different things for business or leisure, domestic or international, and cold or wet locations
- Free with in-app purchases to upgrade
FLIO is an airport app that offers great deals on shopping and food at airports, access to free WiFi, tips, hints, and up-to-date arrival and departure times. Basically, it's the only app you will need when you're going to be at an airport and want to make your life easier. Instead of having to fill out the sign-up form for free airport WiFi, FLIO will do it for you. You'll be online within seconds. If you've ever had your laptop die while you were waiting for your flight, you'll know how irritating it is. Let the app tell you where you can plug it in! This app has the answers.
- Check your flight's departure time
- Get discounts on food and drinks
- Find out where the deals are for duty-free shopping
- Find things faster at the airport
- Auto-populates the form for free WiFi
Flight+ is an air travel companion app that tracks all available flights worldwide in real-time. You will see airport flight boards, weather, airline info, and more, all within this app. All of the information on flights are constantly being updated, like terminal and gate changes, seating charts, and arrivals and departures. You can see the flight board of any airport in the world, instantly! If you have friends or relatives flying, this app will track their flights and find out if their flight was on time arriving or departing. Flight+ was designed by travelers for travelers, so you can rest assured knowing it will give you what you want.
- Built by mobile development professionals
- Track every flight at every airport in the world in real-time
- Track the flights of friends or relatives
- Access 10-day forecasts for your destination
- Syncs with your TripIt account
If you're traveling to a country that uses a different currency than yours and you need to know the conversion rate, check out XE Currency. This app is by the famous XE Currency.com and brings you the accuracy and speed to which you are accustomed from the website. The app will show you live currency rates and charts for every world currency and precious metals, rates highs and lows for multiple time frames, and lets you monitor up to 10 currencies at a time. You can shake your device to reset rates, easily turn currency symbols on or off, set the frequency of rate updates, and calculate prices with the currency converter. If you need more features you can purchase and download the Pro version as a separate app.
XE Currency for iPad app review
- Live currency rates and charts
- Rate high and lows for multiple time frames
- Rates are trusted by millions of people around the world
- Over 30,000 currency charts for historic rates
- Free version has many features
Need a translator for where you are traveling? iTranslate can translate phrases, words, and text between 90 different languages. All you have to do is speak or type into your iPhone and you will see instant text translations. It has a bilingual dictionary for many language pairs, and options to adjust for dialects, speech speed, and gender. The app gives suggestions as you type so you can more quickly get translations for common situations. Want to have words or phrases spoken back to you? The premium Voice-to-Voice translation feature is always an option via an in-app purchase.
iTranslate ~ free translator app review
- Translate text, phrases, and words
- 90 different languages
- Speak or type into your iPhone for the translation
- Bilingual dictionary for language pairs
- Free with option to upgrade to Premium via in-app purchase
The MAPS.ME app gives you access to detailed maps of all the countries from all over the world, without the need for an Internet connection. Need the quickest way to walk to your destination? Type it in. Need directions? This app isn't just for when you travel, either. You can use it at home or away. Three hundred and forty-five countries are covered, both mainland and islands. All stations and ski slopes are included for those on winter holiday. These maps are clear, detailed, and you can bookmark your favorite or most-visited places.
- Offline search function
- Auto-follow mode
- Up-to-date map data
- Works without Internet
- Highly detailed maps
