10 Essential Apps For The Modern Traveller

Glenn Dunks is writer from Melbourne who recently returned from…
Last year AWOL brought some of the most essential smartphone travel apps to your attention and we thought it was time to revisit this and let you know about some more of these pocket wonders waiting to be discovered by wide-eyed travellers. However, rather than reeling off a list of simple weather and food apps that all do essentially the exact same thing, we thought we’d key you in on some more specifically targeted apps that will make your next sojourn just that little bit more relaxing and easy.
#1 Onavo Extend
For: Prolonging mobile data plans
Available On: iOS
Price: Free
You don’t even need to be a tourist to get value out of Onavo as it works to save users unnecessarily overusing their capped data allowances. However, for anyone travelling who is worried about going crazy overboard on usage charges, it is a neat little trick to have up your sleeve. It works by compressing everything you receive from the internet while also allowing for slight changes in the way websites load (no downloading of images until you scroll to them) allowing you to save on data you mightn’t have known you were using. The app also allows users to monitor download usages of individual apps so you can tell what you need to keep an eye on and what you can continue using to heart’s content.
#2 Localeur
For: The local flair
Available On: iOS, Android
Price: Free
This American app is slowly expanding across the country will hopefully go global sooner rather than later. It allows users to design their own itineraries for visitors to their hometowns and is a great way of becoming one of the locals and maybe getting away from some of the more tourist-heavy locations. Specially curated lists like “The Best Sneakers Stores in Atlanta” and “The Best Places to Hear Local Music in Portland” are the sort of thing that the go-to websites may not think to write about, but the locals know better.
#3 Untappd
For: Discovering local brews
Available On: iOS, Android, Windows,
Price: Free
Untappd is more than just “Foursquare for beer”. This is an extremely helpful tool for fans of a brew by using GPS to locate nearby bars and scour what beer they have on tap. It allows users to not only share what and where they’re drinking with their mates and vice versa, but it allows them to rate individual beers (with a rating out of five bottle-caps, naturally) so that you don’t get caught out spending $10 on a pint of a what tastes like dirty dishwater. It’s also extremely helpful in helping you recall that one crazy great IPA you had.
#4 Dude, Where’s My Car?
For: Finding your car, not getting lost
Available On: iOS, Android, Windows
Price: Free
Look, it’s this simple. Never rent a car and get lost in a foreign city trying to find it again. Never go to the beach and forget which sandy stretch is the one you parked at. Never go to the fairgrounds and lose track of which parking lot you put yourself in or what level of the garage you’re on. Perfect for business trips in unfamiliar cities or simply being a hero with the family in times of stress. Upgrade to the Pro version for in-app Uber and taxi ordering services as well as locating available parking.
#5 Happy Cow
For: Locating vegan and vegetarian meals on the go
Available On: iOS,
Price: $3.79
Less than four bucks is a small price to pay for having vegan and vegetarian menus in the palm of your hand day or night. Never again do you have to use generic food apps to peruse menus for what might only be one vego items. Happy Cow allows users to rate, but also interact with an online blog that includes cute animal videos alongside social pieces and delicious recipes like white bean puree and parmesan kale pizza bread.
#6 Sun Smart
For: Keeping safe in the sun
Available On: iOS, Android, Samsung
Price: Free
Terrified of not knowing how much sunscreen and of what SPF you should be slathering onto your body on any given day? Well use these apps for global coverage. If you’re simply travelling around Australia, Sun Smart is an easy and free way to know when you need to apply and how much to apply for your body type and your clothing with alarms to remind you to reapply. It also comes with a handy Vitamin D tracker to tell you if you’re getting enough. If travelling globally then there are plenty of similar apps like Sun Safe and Sunscreen, which is a hit for sunbathers.
#7 Beachsafe
For: Keeping safe at the beach
Available On: iOS
Price: Free
Alongside Sun Smart, the government has done a really good job in developing useful apps that people can actually utilise. This app ought to be particularly popular with those on surfing vacations around Australia with information on approximately 12,000 beaches around the country, but anyone wanting to have a day out by the coast will benefit. Users can discover a location’s topographic details, check weather and UV indexes, find the location of red and yellow flags, get lifeguard patrol information, hear about upcoming events, find a “general beach hazard rating” including specific threats such as sharks or tidal rips as well as vital stats about rescues, plus specific information for swimming, surfing, and fishing. Internationally, Tidealist is an ace tool for surfers going around the world with a board and a phone.
#8 Jet Lag Rooster and Entrain
For: Adjusting sleep patterns for travel
Available On: iOS, Android
Price: Free
Entrain is probably the most acclaimed of the many jetlag-defying apps out there, using scientific input to help people with the struggles of long-haul flights. If you are extremely susceptibly to jetlag and want to really put in the effort to climatise your body to a different time zone then it is well worth the effort. If, however, you just want to be able to enjoy your in-flight movies and yet also get a decent night’s sleep upon landing then JetLag Rooster is another free, but streamlined app to help your adjustment.
Download Jet Leg Rooster here and Entrain here.
#9 Museums, Mosques & Synagogues Locator of the World
For: Art geeks, religious lovers
Available On: iOS
Price: Free
Much more than its awkward title suggests, this wonderful app allows you to find everything from (yes), museums, mosques, and synagogues to botanical gardens, galleries, churches, festivals, cultural centres, plus Hindu and Buddhist temples. You might be surprised by the number of fine art, modern, craft or natural history museums are in your general vicinity and with an extremely easy to use interface that offers directions, contact information, and Yelp profiles, it’s a no brainer.
#10 Google Goggles
For: Architecture nuts
Available On: iOS, Android
Price: Free
Ever seen a great building, gone to upload a photo of it to Instagram and then realised you have no idea what it even is. Well use this incredibly simple image recognition app to find out. Simply take a photo and, hopefully, the app will recognise the skyscraper or the bridge or landmark and give you everything you could want to know about it. It also allows for when shopping – if you’ve found something in a shop simply use the app to photograph the barcode and it will bring up comparative prices. You might even save by discovering a bargain.
Glenn Dunks is writer from Melbourne who recently returned from living in New York City. While in America he got to visit more states than many actual Americans. He is predominantly a film and music critic and has written for many Australian online and print publications including Junkee, SameSame, Metro Magazine and The Big Issue. Internationally he’s written for Vanity Fair, Dutch website biosAgenda and can occasionally be heard on the Monocle 24 digital radio network out of London. In 2014 he won an award from the Australian Film Critics Association for his work.