As someone who builds software as a day job, I get excited at seeing great apps in action – you could call me an ‘app enthusiast’! So when it comes to travel apps I’ve tried a LOT of them, to see which ones help the most at solving challenges I have.
As we start 2024, here are my current Top 10 favourite travel apps that I recommend to friends more than any other.
Best for: keeping all your travel records in one place
Like most of the apps on this list, TripIt’s premise is simple – you forward email bookings for any travel activity and it reads them to load details into a personal trip itinerary. Basic use doesn’t require a single edit via the app itself; once your email address is linked to an account, simply forward away and login to see the final results!
I first used TripIt over 15 years ago, and it has tracked almost every flight/cruise/train trip I’ve done since then. I have easy access to upcoming and past itineraries from any device, and until recently it never cost a cent thanks to their free plan. I upgraded to TripIt Pro last year for my USA trip, but this was mostly for the live gate and delay alerts which may not be a must-have feature for you.
Best for: real-time flight alerts (when not using TripIt Pro) and some funky travel stats
App In The Air is a newer alternative to TripIt that focuses exclusively on air travel. It’s feature set overlaps TripIt, with the difference that many features appear in the free plan vs TripIt Pro’s paid subscription.
I’ve ended up using both apps together, mainly to benefit from a few key App In The Air features:
- Real-time notifications on flight delays or cancellations, gate changes, etc. These are more extensive in the paid version apparently, but I’ve found even the free alerts helpful when racing through airports
- Smartwatch support (Android and Apple Watch), giving you those same alerts and flight details from your watch itself
- Some fun stats and insights onto your own air travel, assuming you’ve imported flights from TripIt or your email inbox. Want to know which airports you’ve visited most, or which airplanes you travel on regularly? You’ll see this as well as a cool 3D map showing your flights through the years
Best for: planning your own trip itineraries and holiday ideas
I tried a bunch of itinerary planners in the lead up to my recent USA trip, and Wanderlog was the one I enjoyed the most. Unlike TripIt which builds itinerary from bookings you’ve made, Wanderlog is all about planning an itinerary from scratch, using inspiration from other sources. You pick cities/towns you’d like to visit, and browse various lists to find places that appeal. Tripadvisor Top Destinations, Lonely Planet guides, and many other popular sources all show up in Wanderlog for you to browse! In comparison some other planner apps use their own ‘curated’ lists, which are cool at times but not nearly as comprehensive.
Anything you select (restaurants, tourist attractions, hotels, etc) can either be put onto specific dates in your trip, or just left in ‘wishlists’ for browsing closer to your visit.
Wanderlog is a very visual experience, with everything appearing on a map that shows you where something is and how long it would take to travel there from other destinations. You can import your flight/hotel/train bookings as they’re made too, to see everything in one spot!
And if you’re travelling in a group then it supports group editing where everyone can mark their own ideas so you can build an itinerary from them.
Best for: quickly browsing flight and hotel options and setting price alerts
Once I know where I’m travelling, my next step is to make hotel bookings (refundable if possible) and setup flight alerts to buy flights at best possible price. I’ve used lots of apps for this over the years, but almost all my searches start with Google now. Why? Because Google’s advanced filters and search tools beat out most competitors, and it’s such an easy experience to quickly refine options from a long list. Things like:
- minimizing stopovers and stopover durations
- filtering by airline alliance or hotel chain
- comparing prices against historical trends or other days
Best for: ‘set and forget’ price refund alerts on hotels you’ve booked
Using Pruvo is a familiar experience for TripIt users – simply forward your same hotel booking email to Pruvo, and it’ll read in details if possible. Their mission is different though – assuming the booking is refundable, Pruvo will start monitoring prices for that hotel room and alert you whenever a booking can be made at a lower price.
How often does that happen, you may ask? All the time it seems, as most hotel chains fluctuate prices constantly up to the final days before check-in! In most cases the initial refundable booking price may be slightly higher than a non-refundable one, but in my use so far I found that almost all bookings dropped below that non-refundable price at some point. In one case I re-booked 4 times, each time at a lower price than the last!
The choice of rebooking is always yours, so there’s really nothing to lose by using Pruvo and you may end up saving thousands off hotel rooms as I did last year.
Best for: navigating large cities like a superhero
Used to Google Maps guiding you around unfamiliar spots? Me too, and living in Perth there aren’t many alternatives for public transport or other travel directions. But a few people had recommended Citymapper, which focuses on providing in-depth public transport guidance in larger cities.
With that mission it has a few tricks up its sleeve that Google doesn’t, like:
- Extra guidance on public transport routes, like station entrance locations, platform name/numbers to look for, and even what train car to board for fastest exit
- Live tracking of train or bus stops while you’re on a route, with a reminder to get off when approaching your stop
- Easy comparison of transport options (bus, train, cab, rideshare, drive, scooter, etc) with more pricing displayed than Google.
- Allows you to set your priorities (fastest journey, lowest cost, least amount of walking, etc)
- Smartwatch support to access route info without even opening your phone
Best for: staying connected while on the move
Flexiroam was one of my favourite finds of 2023 – so much so that I wrote an article about it and the overall eSIM trend! In short, they offer a similar service to physical travel SIM cards, but in fully digital form downloaded directly to your phone. By going digital the benefits are bountiful:
- No more messing with inserting and removing SIM cards on the go
- Buying ahead of time and topping up balance whenever you need to
- Sharing data plans between multiple people (without hotspot sharing)
- Easy access to multi-country plans when crossing borders
Best for: paying in any currency while travelling, with minimal fees
Us travelers are spoilt for options on travel credit/debit cards now, which minimize fees when spending abroad. For years the ING Everyday was my go-to, and the Latitude 28 Degrees card is a strong alternative. Both of those are still viable picks, but they lack the ‘app’ magic that Wise now offers. Wise (formerly TransferWise) specializes in multi-currency accounts, and has a digital card that is practically free ($10 setup), and can be loaded into Google Pay or anywhere else you spend to allow you to pay in any currency Wise supports.
If you don’t hold the currency you’re paying in, Wise will transfer from another currency in your account and charge fewer fees than any of the traditional travel cards. And if you’ve pre-bought a currency at the right time, you can do even better without ever carrying cash around.
To top things off, the Wise app is incredibly easy to use and puts larger banks to shame on their UI design. Easy access to balances and digital card details are all right at your fingertips.
Best for: minimizing jet lag while crossing continents
Ah jet lag – one of the true ‘first world problems’, for those lucky enough to travel across timezones on a regular basis. If you’re in that category then you probably have your own tricks to avoid jet lag, but did you know there’s now an app to help you fight it off?
I used Timeshifter for the first time last year, and it features a simple UI that hides some clever functionality behind it. You just enter your upcoming trip details and info about yourself, and it’ll produce an hour-by-hour schedule with tips on when to sleep, stay awake and seek light exposure, drink coffee, and other science-based tips. It’ll work around your flight and stopover times to suggest something practical for your trip. The rest is up to you to follow those instructions, but it takes a lot of the guesswork out of the process.
Best for: customised packing lists for your next trip
When it comes to packing a suitcase I’m usually organised, using a free-form list that sits on a digital notebook somewhere and gets crossed off as I go. Even I get challenged when going on longer trips or ones that span different weather though! I had people recommend PackPoint recently, which helps you build a custom packing list based on info you provide. It factors in trip length, weather in each destination, intended activities (beach, gym, camping, etc). Once it generates an initial list, you just adapt to your needs and tick things off as you go.
Want it done even faster? Built-in TripIt integration means you can auto-generate a list based on your TripIt itinerary! Doesn’t get much more efficient than that.
