10 Apps To Use Abroad

1. Apple Maps

I’ve found this app most helpful when navigating train or bus schedules in whatever city you are in. I don’t take the bus often enough to have the schedules memorized, but it is useful. In terms of finding directions for walking, I do prefer Google Maps mostly because it is easier to follow.

2. Google Maps

Like I said previously, I prefer Google Maps when I am traveling on foot. I find it more helpful when figuring out which direction to start walking. I also love the app because when finding restaurants or hours of establishments, it will show what hours they close, photos, menus, etc. It’s very helpful.

I also like Google Maps because I can save places into lists. So I can make a list of my favorite restaurants, bars, thrift stores, or places I’d like to visit in the future. It makes it easy to find later or share recommendations with friends.

3. Splitwise

I heard about this app on TikTok, and I love it. I mostly use it when I go on short trips with my friends. Typically outside of the US, restaurants do not allow you to split the bill, so on my trips to Ibiza or Holy Week in Croatia, we’d all take turns paying the bills and putting in our owed amounts on Splitwise. It’s easy if you need to divide up easily, or add the sum of specific meal items. At the end of the trip, it will tell you how much each person owes/is owed.

There IS a premium option, but each person in the group is able to put in a certain amount of “receipts” in per day, so the free version works perfectly fine. Also, if you choose to enter the amount in your local currency and need to convert to USD at the end of the trip, just use the Calculator App on your iPhone.

4. Uber

Uber is so much cheaper than taxis and is still used in Europe. Just use it, you’ll regret it if you use a taxi.

5. Apple Wallet

I only started using this since going abroad, but it’s so handy to have my credit cards and bus/plane boarding passes there. I don’t always like carrying my wallet around or carrying physical boarding passes that I could lose, therefore, it saves me a lot of hassle. *To download bus/plane boarding passes on Apple Wallet, you need to have the apps downloaded (ex., ALSA, Omio, Ryanair, etc). FYI, I think it’s worth it.

6. AllTrails

As someone who loves hiking, I love using this app to help find/navigate lesser-known trails in my area. You can download the hike if you’d like. It tracks your speed, distance, elevation gain, etc. The mountain that I like hiking in Granada has a big trail system on the many levels of the mountains, so even if I am on a selected route, I can follow other off-trails that are marked on the app and find my way around. I also used the app while on my spring break in Croatia.

7. Google Translate

I’ve used this app mostly when in other foreign countries that don’t speak English or Spanish. On my trip to Croatia, when I visited non-touristy cities like Rijeka, the photo translation feature was very useful to read signs or menus.

8. TripAdvisor

Honestly, this isn’t my favorite app, but it can be very helpful to find things to do or restaurants in your area. Since I’ve been traveling on a low budget, I do like that I can search for restaurants according to the price tag ($-$$$$) on their app.

9. Hostelworld

I have never stayed in a hostel before traveling abroad, and it’s honestly not as daunting as I thought it would be. My first time booking a hostel, I was alone, traveling to meet my friends for Holy Week in Croatia. I had booked an all-female room in Malaga for 25€, and it only ended up being one other woman in the room with me. Some hostels you pay all online, others require a deposit online, and the rest in person.

Staying in hostels is such a common thing in Europe, and depending on the atmosphere of the hostel you are staying in, you can meet a variety of people of different ages and countries. *Bonus if your hostel-mates give you recommendations on things to do or places to eat!

10. Calculator app

This is a recent feature that Apple has added to the calculator app, but if you click the small calculator button and hit the “Convert” switch, you can select your currencies to convert. I use this a lot since my friends and I are constantly paying each other back for meals and other purchases. I’m aware that the USD and EUR are very similar rates, but the small difference does eventually add up. Luckily while abroad, I have not travelled to a country that doesn’t use EUR, but the app includes a very large variety of global currencies.