When traveling overseas, reliable internet connectivity might be limited, slow or expensive for some countries. Even in the continental U.S., services can get spotty in areas outside of the metro.
Luckily, there are many travel apps that are designed to still be functional even without real-time data connection. App features can be set and synced via Wi-Fi before travelling and then used in offline mode while on the move.
Here are 5 of the best offline travel apps to help increase your efficiency and productivity while having fun on the road.
TripIt is the best travel organizing app that helps you manage your itinerary for your every trip. You can sync your travel details into the app and it will organize your scheduled activities, store travel documents and update routes into one master itinerary. This collection can easily be synced with your calendar, shared to family and friends and updated with pictures or notes attached.
It is readily available at www.tripit.com and once installed on your smartphone, is also accessible even without data connection. It will monitor your transactions and periodically sync the latest updates whenever it has internet connection.
TripIt is free for IOS and Android users. For a fee, users can upgrade to the Premium app with additional features such as real-time flight alerts, fare tracking and alerts for rewards or refund eligibility.
WiFi Map is an app that shows over 2 million Wi-Fi hotspots worldwide. Members add Wi-Fi networks and bands to form a community centered on aiding others by providing free internet connectivity.
The free version only shows Wi-Fi spots within 1.2 miles of your current locations. Getting the paid version of this app allows for offline access to the app, a wider set of listings and ability to save and reopen saved maps.
Google Translate is one of the best translation apps out there. It supports over 50+ different languages like Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Spanish and Japanese to name a few. It allows users to download multiple language packs and translate even when offline. Google’s translation service offers more flexibility to switch between local language and English to attain better understanding of translations.
Google Translate is a free service and easily accessible by IOS, Android and Windows platforms. To translate phrases, sentences or foreign languages users can directly type in https://translate.google.com/ or point your camera at the text you want to translate and take a photo. This feature, however, is for some languages only.
Triposo lives by its slogan: “The smart travel guide.” With Triposo, users have a virtual tour guide handy. Users need to download the data pack for their destination before leaving home. Because of the file size, it is best that the download is done prior to your journey.
The downloaded packet will have info on hotels, restaurants, city maps, events, open activities and basic directions in and around your destination. It will even provide a little bit of background history, currency conversion, a lesson on common sayings and phrases and other tidbits that would help any traveler immerse themselves into their journey.
Concur is perhaps the most popular app for tracking travel expenses. It makes your life easier for you by organizing receipts for flight and hotel reservations, car rentals and other expenditures throughout the trip. This app can be linked to your company’s servers for quicker expense approvals and sign-offs from the finance team.
Concur has recently added the capability for users to take receipt pictures and add them as expense items while offline. The app reads the entered data and syncs it to the server once the device regains connectivity.
The mobile app works for IOS, Android, Blackberry, and Windows devices. It is readily accessible through www.concur.com but requires certain fees. Quotations can be requested through the website.
