Summer is here, well, depending on where you live, and it’s a perfect time for a road trip. Now, no matter if you’re driving somewhere for a holiday, or if you’re going camping, it’s always good to have some useful apps on your phone. Well, having the right apps is not the most important thing, of course, but some of the apps we’re here to talk about can come in handy while you’re on a road trip, so, let’s start, shall we.
Google Play Music
Good music is a must have ingredient of every road trip, at least for some people, which is why Google’s Play Music app managed to find its way on our list. This is one of the best-known music apps for Android, and for only $9.99 you can get access to basically everything this app has to offer. Just to be clear, this is an ‘All Access’ subscription model we’re talking about here, which will let you stream basically everything that Google Play Music has to offer
Pocket Casts
If you ever get tired of music while you’re on a road trip, you can always fire up a podcast to keep you entertained. Pocket Casts is one of the most popular podcast apps out there, and even though it’s not free, it has plenty to offer. This application comes with an extremely intuitive UI, while it also looks really nice as well. You can download podcasts for offline reproduction, and you can also subscribe to a ton of podcasts if you’d like to group them all in one place.
Urgent.ly Roadside Assistance
Urgent.ly app is basically an app for roadside assistance. If you’re really unlucky, something can go wrong with your car while you’re driving, and there’s not much you can do if you’re in a middle of nowhere. Well, Urgent.ly is a nationwide, on-demand roadside assistance service, and this app lets you use the service itself. Do keep in mind that Urgent.ly does not require you to pay for membership fees, but it’s available in the US only.
Hotel Tonight – Amazing Deals
Now, just in case you need a place to stay for the night, during your road trip, Hotel Tonight app can come in quite handy. After you launch this application, you can quickly locate great deals for vacant rooms that you can book for the night. This app actually has a ton of functionality, and the UI is also quite nice, which makes it easy to use. On top of that, this app is completely free to use, and apps are not a part of the experience.
OpenTable: Restaurants Near Me
OpenTable app can come in quite handy if you’re looking for a place to eat, and you’re not that familiar with the city / neighborhood you’re currently in. You can use this app in order to find, explore and reserve your seat / table in a nice restaurant, directly from your phone. This app’s design is eye-catching as well, and the app is completely free to use, while it currently holds a 4.5-star rating in the Play Store.
Google Maps
Google Maps application comes from Google, as its name says, and this is probably the most popular mapping app for smartphones. Google Maps are extremely detailed, and they’re packed with features, while you can also download certain (parts of) cities in order to be able to use them offline, in case you know you won’t have access to the Internet at a specific time. This app is also free to use, and chances are it came pre-installed on your smartphone.
HERE WeGo
HERE WeGo app is an alternative app to Google Maps, these are actually Nokia Maps which got renamed after Nokia sold them. In any case, this app is still very capable, and you can actually download whole countries to your phone so that you don’t even need the internet in order to use this app. HERE WeGo is a free app which contains ads, and much like most of apps on this list, it offers a really nice design.
GasBuddy
GasBuddy is a really useful app if you’re driving a car on your road trip, mainly because you need to add some fuel to it from time to time, of course, and this app can save you money. It will help you find cheap gas, as it has a large community, and a ton of gas stations in its database. It will show you how to get to a particular gas station, and the app even awards $100 in free gas to a lucky user on a daily basis.
TripIt: Travel Organizer
TripIt app is essentially a travel organizer application, and quite a powerful travel organizer. After booking, all you need to do is e-mail [email protected], and you’ll get a master itinerary for your trip. You can allow this app to automatically import travel plans from various apps for you, or you can handle all that manually, it’s up to you. This app is also free, but there’s a pro version for those of you who would like to access more features.
Spotify
Spotify is a great alternative to Google Play Music, it’s essentially a music streaming app, and its database is huge. Spotify is one of the most popular music streaming apps out there, and it allows you to create your own playlists, much like Google Play Music. This app also offers pre-curated playlists, so that you don’t have to bother with creating your own, and there are no ads present in this app.