Best travel apps for Android and iPhone

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What we talk about in this article

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As you can read in the travel apps guide we wrote last year, we do love some of the Google apps. Some of these apps have stayed the same, but we added a few great apps this year! As a traveler in the twenty-first century, you’re probably going nowhere without your beloved mini computer annex smartphone! At least I don’t. I use my phone for everything and I would actually be lost without it. I use it to translate, count, find lodging, restaurants, and flight fares. So it’s no surprise that I tested a few new apps and added a few favorites. So here’s our new list of the best travel apps for 2018!

All these apps are available for Android as well as Apple, so these are the best Android travel apps and the best iPhone travel apps right now!

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Transportation apps

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Transportation travel apps are quite diverse and they can be designed for finding cheap flights or last-minute flights, while others are based on offline navigation. These are the best transportation travel apps we use. 

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Not exactly a new player in the smartphone arena, Rome2Rio is still rocking the planet with their superb transportation planning app. I’ve tried and dismissed quite a few other android travel apps and found Rome2Rio to be one of the best transportation planning apps around.

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Skyscanner is definitely one of the best travel apps to find the cheapest flights. I love all of the Skyscanner features and it’s so easy and convenient to use. After swapping from another app to Skyscanner, I don’t think I’ll ever go back to the old app.

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Yes! Hooray for Maps.me. I absolutely love this app for its offline map access. You should download the area you plan on visiting before getting out of your wifi comfort zone and after you’re all good to go. Maps.me will find your points of interest like hotels and restaurants and you can even save your hotel in order to find it again later.

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Booking and accommodation apps

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Booking accommodation on the go can be a real pain and it’s not always easy to find decent lodging when you have to make use of dodgy internet and you need to make decisions quickly. We rely heavily on apps like TripAdvisor to ensure the lodging we choose is good and well located. TripAdvisor can also help you find the best price for your accommodation. We switch between these apps when it comes to finding good lodging on the go… or well in advance.

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Airbnb will probably be my all-time favorite to find great accommodation with locals. It was in our previous list and I’m guessing it will also be in our next list of best travel apps. The concept is awesome and we always find awesome places to spend the night with Airbnb. The app works as flawless as the desktop version and even if you book your lodging through our computer, the app is still great to keep in touch with the homeowner and check the address of your lodging while walking towards it. 

Sign up for Airbnb with our discount link and get a discount on your first booking!

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Didn’t manage to find a last minute Airbnb? With Hotel Tonight, you can find accommodation near you for the same night. This mobile-only app helps you find unsold hotel rooms at the very last minute or well in advance. While it’s designed to find last minute deals, you can also choose to book in advance.

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TripAdvisor is a long time favorite travel app and despite it being around for so long, it’s still one of the best platforms to find reviews for lodging, activities, and tours. This travel planning app is free to use as an app as well as on your computer and it helps you to find the best price for your chosen accommodation.

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Best travel apps for Android and iPhone

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Translation and language learning apps

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Whether you’re going on a short trip to a stunning destination or you plan on traveling for a very long time. As soon as you leave your home country, language problems might arise and you’ll have to access translation tools or even start learning a new language. We have decided on our favorite travel apps for translations and language learning. 

[/et_pb_text][et_pb_toggle title=”Google Translate” open=”on” admin_label=”Toggle – Google Translate” _builder_version=”3.5.1″]

Still the best translation app around. I must admit that it works best when you have mobile data or wifi available. But even without the wifi, Google Translate is a winner for translating almost any language to another one. Don’t forget to download the languages you need for offline use.

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[/et_pb_toggle][et_pb_toggle title=”Duolingo” open=”on” admin_label=”Toggle – Duolingo” _builder_version=”3.5.1″]

Over six million people have downloaded and tried Duolingo and they have approved it. This free language learning app is using a different method of language learning and it seems to be working out for a lot of customers. The Duolingo app has quite a few languages available for free and the app will save your progress so you’ll learn new things each time to use the app.

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Currency – Travel Expenses Apps

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Traveling into a new currency and having trouble to adapt to it? Join the club! We both sucked at math in school and we’re always looking for the best calculation option to follow up on our expenses. I guess we will never stop calculating the worth and price of items back to our home currency and we have found a few helpful apps to do this. 

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Trabee Pocket is back again in this list! This is still the best travel expenses app and I still have it on my phone. I love Trabee Pocket for various reasons and I actually love it so much I bought the premium version for almost no money at all. We use it for keeping track of our expenses and wrote a post about it a while ago. I do recommend backing up your expenses every once in a while in case you lose your phone like I did.

UPDATE: I recently needed some help with my paid version of Trabee Pocket and must admit: they don’t offer any service or help. They didn’t even answer my email. Since the app itself is good, I’m still using it. But make sure to make regular backups of your info to a cloud service. If you lose your data, it is gone forever. Back that stuff up!!!

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XE Currency is still one of the better apps to calculate currencies. Even though there are a million currency apps out there, I still use the XE currency app, since it’s for free and it does a very good job at what it should do. 

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Miscellaneous travel apps

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Mobile phones and play are almost the same things. I recently added two interesting apps that are travel related and I love playing with both! 

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PolarSteps is a travel logging app by a Dutch app maker. So far, it works flawless and it’s a cool app to use. it logs your track so you can see how many kilometers you traveled and what your eventual itinerary looks like! You can also add pictures and information about hostels, restaurants and other activities! PolarSteps is one to try!

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Geocaching is a super fun activity to do on the go. If you’re in a new place and you’re unsure about things to do, open the geocaching app and see if anyone left a cache in your area. I tried this app at home and there were hidden treasures right around the corner from my home. Unlike Pokemon Go, this activity has real stuff to find and it’s a very fun and rewarding activity to do (also with kids)

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Best travel apps for Android and iPhone

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Any other apps that you’re using and we didn’t mention? Please let us know in the comments. I’m a travel geek and I love exploring new apps and technology, so let me know if you found an app that might suit our needs or help us with any aspect of travel!

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