The smartphone is now integral to the travel style of the modern day explorer.

Though there are some who like to pour scorn on the ubiquity of smartphones in hostels (the old joke is 'people used to ask where the bar was first, now it's the wifi password'), the truth is that using our phone to book and pay for flights, plan our itineraries, find our way in a new place, stay safe, or document our adventures is now second nature to many.

And that won’t change anytime soon.

Although a smartphone can certainly act like too much of a physical and digital safety blanket in a new and strange place, it can also be a catalyst for curiosity and community on the road; it just takes a little time and experience to know how to use it as a tool to enhance your experiences of a new place rather the detract from them.

To help you, we've shared our personal picks of the best apps for travellers in 2020. It doesn't include lots of the apps which you'll already have on your phone (like the BBC, Instagram, Gmail, Facebook etc), choosing instead to focus on the specific apps which help us to travel more and travel better.

We have used and tested all 26 of these (mostly) free apps on our own travels - and if we haven’t found the app useful or essential for our own travels, then it's not on the list!

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The Best Travel Apps for Travellers

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XE | For Currency Exchange Rates

Although its look and vibe is more corporate-friendly, this is our most trusted app to quickly and reliably convert costs + prices into our home currency, or work out if the money exchange guy is ripping us off too much.

Our Tip | You can save up to a dozen or so currencies offline in the app, meaning you will get reliable currency conversions when you're without data (it will simply use the rate from the last time your refreshed the app). You can also set alerts for when a currency goes above or below a certain rate of exchange - letting you know whether it's the best time to convert all your cash or if somewhere is going to become a lot more expensive for travellers.

Cost | Free

Download | Google Play (for Android phones) or iOS (for Apple phones)

Starling | For Free ATM Withdrawals

If you're a traveller from the UK and haven't yet signed up to a Starling or Monzo bank account - what have you been doing!? Both burst onto the scene two or three years ago, and have revolutionised the banking experience for millions of us. In short, they are proper banks (with the certificates and everything), but mobile app-only. This means their functionality and user-friendliness is far ahead of traditional banks.

In short, they made banking and finance and stuff seem kinda, well, cool?

For travellers, the biggest plus was that they both offered free unlimited ATM withdrawals abroad, removed the need to tell you bank that you were going to be in a foreign country, and offered much improved security procedures if you lost your card abroad.

Our Tip | Most people know about Monzo and its hot coral pink card. However, they sadly stopped offering free unlimited ATM withdrawals abroad last year (replacing it with a £250 monthly limit). Starling however still offers free unlimited withdrawals abroad for customers and that's why it's our go-to bank card for travel! Our advice is to simply open a bank account with both though and keep Monzo as your back-up card on the road! Revolut is an option which isn't a bank, but offers some similar benefits - it's also available to non-Brits.

Cost | Free

Download | Starling on Google Play or iOS

Hopper | For Saving Money on Flights

We've all been in the situation where you know exactly where you'd like to go on an adventure this year or next, but you want to make sure you get the best deal on a flight out there.

That’s what Hopper comes in!

This user-friendly app allows you to put in your desired flight routes / airports, and instantly get an overview of what travel dates are going to give you the cheapest flight deal overall. The app then tells you whether you should 'book now', 'book soon', 'or 'wait longer', based on its data and predictions on how flight prices will move for that route and those dates based on historic demand.

It all sounds quite complicated, but trust us when we say that it all makes a lot of sense when using the colour-coded app - and works.

Our Tip | Hopper is best if you know you want to go to a particular destination quite a bit in advance of your travel dates. We always set up a notification to monitor the specific price shifts and let us know if we should be booking in the next week or two.

Cost | Free

Download | Google Play or iOS

Jack's Flight Club | For Finding Cheap Flights

If that all sounds like too much hard work for you , or you prefer the spontaneity of a cheap trip to anywhere nice, then Jack Flight Club is probably the better option.

Their free app and 1-2 weekly emails send out discounts, hidden offers and error fares - giving you exact instructions about how to book the flight and get the cheapest tickets on short and long-haul flight routes. They don't take commissions on flights, and the business model is all around getting the best deals and growing their subscriber base.

Our Tip | Given our jobs, we actually signed up to Jack's Flight Club Premium at the beginning of 2020 (£39 / year or £15 / 3 months). It allows us to see more deals each week, but the main feature was that it allowed us to set our specific departure airports and be notified quicker of flight deals. Our expectation is that the saving we’ll make on the flights booked will far outstrip the membership fee.

Details | The app and email newsletter is free, and you can register here via the Jack’s Flight Club website. FYI - Skyscanner is the best app option for just searching for flights independently (especially their ‘Everywhere’ search function), although Google Flights has started to create real competition.

PACKPOINT | For Reducing Packing Stress

This is just a a quick, nifty, and simple little app which lets you insert your trip details (i.e. destination, number of days, climate, activities etc) and generates a packing list for you. It does have a tendency to be quite generalised and doesn't put sustainable packing at its core, but it's very handy as a quick reference point to get your packing started and organised with a lot less stress.

It also makes Andrew know every time that he's bringing far too many t-shirts and nowhere near enough pants to be socially acceptable.

Our Tip | When packing for a long-term trip, we'd always recommend doing additional research on blogs and websites, as they will cover the intricacies of packing and travel essentials in the destination in much more detail and colour.

Cost | Free

Download | Google Play or iOS

Read Next | Oh...look what we've written for you- What To Pack For South America and How To Pack for A City Break

Happy Cow | For Veggie Food

We're vegetarian, and it can be bloody difficult finding good options on the road.

However, the upside is that the specialist veggie or vegan restaurants in cities all over the world are usually FANTASTIC, completely not a tourist trap, and home to wonderful local dishes and flavours.

The best way to find them? The Happy Cow app.

It's essentially Trip Advisor for vegetarian + vegan travellers - and an absolute game-changer - listing all the restaurants options in 180+ countries alongside user reviews and ratings. You can also save trips offline.

Cost | Free

Download | Google Play or iOS - or visit their website for more information

Read Next | 5 Tips for Travelling As A Vegetarian (published soon)

Uber | For secure taxi rides

If you live in a big city, this will alredy be a no-brainer for you..

However, Uber's technology is actually a wonderful solution for the age-old traveller problem of getting ripped off by taxi drivers or worried about security. Even more importantly, Uber has created a way for solo travellers to feel safe and confident getting into a vehicle with a stranger in a new place. For business travellers, it also means you can always get a receipt for your journeys too so you’re not out of pocket!

If you want an indication about how much Uber has become integreated into the modern day explorer's travel style, you only have to look at our two trips to South America. On the first, back in 2014 - 16, we would take local taxis on the street or ask our hostel to call one if safety or scams were concerns in the specific city. On our last trip, at the end of 2019, we just ordered Ubers in the big cities if we needed to get somewhere quickly or had safety concerns!

Our Tip | Many cities and countries have legislated against Uber. This has been to protect or placate the local taxi monopolies, or to prevent Uber from taking all business. We've found that if Uber doesn't operate, there are usually 2 or 3 local cab / ride-hailing apps alternatives in operation - just ask around.

You can also get money off your first Uber rides by signing up with the referral code ‘andrews37583ue’

Cost | Free

Download | Google Play or iOS.

Trabee Pocket | For Sticking To A Budget

We travelled Latin America for two years on a very strict budget of £15 each per day; it would not have been possible if we hadn't religiously tracked our travel spending on the road. Back in the day, we did this by designing and updating our own spreadsheet, but things have thankfully moved on since then.

Trabee is the best app we've found for logging and following our daily costs and expenses when we travel. It allows specific trips to be created and your overall budget to be set, so it's easy to see exactly where most of your money is going and working out if it's going to last as long you hope....

Our Tip | The free version of Trabee is sufficient for a single country trip, but we ended up buying the Pro version as it allowed us to add multiple currencies, create our own spending categories, and download expense reports (which we use to write our ‘What Things Cost’ guides for you!)

Cost | Free, but the Pro version costs £1.79 / $1.99

Download | Google Play or iOS

Google Maps | For Never Getting Lost

We would literally be lost without this app, and it's become integral to our travel style.

On hikes. On road trips. On city breaks. On multi-country backpacking trips. At home.

Google Maps doesn't just help us research a destination, save all the places we want to visit, quickly access business details or reviews, and get directions on how to walk or ride from A to B when we're there; it's become the most the reliable and useful tool for our travels everywhere in the world.

For road trips in particular, its ability to become a free user-friendly and highly-funcitonal GPS navigation system proved revolutionary (though it isn't powerful enough to stop us having an argument at every Italian roundabout). Many people swear by another navigation app called Maps.Me, and we have tried it out a bunch of times on the road - but we just never seem to get on very well with it on road trips (though it is sometimes much better for hikes and walking routes).

Our Tip | Lots of travellers don’t know that you don’t need an internet connection or data to use Google Maps and your GPS when you travel - but it’s the absolute best way to make the most of it when you’re in a new country! Find out how in this post.

Cost | Free

Download | Google Play or iOS

Pocket | For Research & Long Bus journeys

A personal favourite of ours.

Pocket isn't strictly an app for travellers, but it's something that we think is essential for travellers. It allows you to quickly and easily save news articles or blog posts for offline reading, so you don't have to worry about always having an internet connection to access the information.

Having a backlog of interesting articles or long reads stored offline is also a bloody godsend when on a long bus journey!

Our Tip | When you use Pocket properly, it's a good idea to add 'tags' to articles so that you can quickly access articles you've saved about a specific city or hike during your planning

Cost | Free

Download | Google Play or iOS

Read Next | It's also vital that you have all your important documents and numbers (i.e. emergency contacts, passport information insurance policy numbers etc) stored securely both online and offline. We always have a hard copy single-page print out with this information when we travel, plus a few copies of our passport pages. You can also use an app like Google Drive or Dropbox for the online back-up, or simply email a PDF copy of this information to yourself and others. Find out more about why we do this, and what other information we include, in this post.

Splitwise | For Splitting Bills

The great side of travel is that you can instantly make friends with a whole new group of people, and end up spending a few nights or weeks with them.

The downside is that there's always one tight ass who doesn't have cash on them when it comes to paying the taxi, shirks paying their share, or always insists on going dutch when they have chosen the expensive options on the menu!

This travel app helps to avoid bad feelings or arguments spreading, by allowing you to quickly and easily work out who owes what. It can also be invaluable for couples or groups of friend travelling long term, when there will inevitably be a lot of shared costs along the way and you need to track / apportion / split them consistently.

Our Tip | This is more of a life philosophy than anything - but you are not the dick for asking someone to pay you back money after you’ve covered them for a drink, meal, or taxi ride. The dick is the person who lets you cover them and makes you have to chase them for it.

Cost | Free

Download | Google Play or iOS - Tricount is a good alternative app too.

Read Later | Why Every Traveller Needs A Travel Filter Water Bottle

First Aid By British Red Cross | For Emergencies Big and Small

As I am fortunate enough to travel with a former doctor, I don’t have to make great use of my first aid training from years ago.

If your trip goes well, the hope is that you'll never have to use this app either!

However, for adventurous types or responsible travellers, having this clear and simple first aid by the British Red Cross could be the difference between life and death for you and someone you're travelling with. It includes various categories and scenarios, with clear advice and instructions on how you should safely respond, treat, or react to a range of minor to serious injuries or episodes.

We hope you don't need to use it, but it's a bloody good idea to have it on your phone (it works offline too).

Cost | Free

Download | Google Play or iOS

Native Airline Apps | For online check-in

With low-cost airlines (i.e. Ryanair, EasyJet) it's now standard for you to check-in online and receive your boarding pass over email or as a document within their app. If you don't do either of these things, then you will have to pay an inflated price for the privilege of checking-in.

It's not the best start to that romantic city break.

Avoid the issue by downloading the airline's specific app a few days before you fly and checking in on that. The apps are always free and your boarding pass will then always be available within it, and you can be sure of avoiding any surprise check-in fees.

After your flights are done, just delete the app if you don’t need it any longer. However, if you frequently fly with one or two airlines, it’s good to keep them on your phone as they’ll store your passport information for the next check-in.

OMIO | For Looking + Booking Transport

If travelling in Europe, it can be difficult to find reliable information in your own language about public transport timetables and ticket booking.

Omio solves that.

We have used the app a lot in the last two years, primarily when travelling by train in Europe (but also in the US and Canada). It offers a simplified search platform for trains, buses, and ferries in a specific country, allowing you to choose the cheapest and fastest routes.

You can look, book, and pay in English within the app, and you'll also receive your ticket to download or print.

Simples.

Cost | Free

Download | You can download on Google Play or iOS, or visit their website for more information.

CyberGhost VPN | For Secure Browsing and Internet Access

Not every traveller requires a VPN (Virtual Private Network) on their smartphone, but for some it may be absolutely essential.

So much private information and data is stored on our phones, and when we are travelling it is guaranteed that we will be logging into and using a myriad of different wifi networks across hostels, restaurants, cafes, bus stations, and off a friend’s hotspot.

Paying for an using a VPN app on your device (whether it’s a phone, tablet, or laptop) ensures that your communications, privacy and data is protected from bad actors trying to monitor what you’re doing or steal your data (i.e. passwords, bank card information etc).

From a practical level, a VPN is also essential when travelling in certain closed countries likes China or the UAE where access to various websites and apps is totally blocked off or censored unless you use a VPN. It also allows you to access your home country Netflix.

To use the VPN, you simply pay and sign up to one of the companies, download their VPN app, and use it to quickly and easily connect to a VPN.

Cost | From $3-7 / month. There are a huge array of VPN companies out there offering cheap deals, particularly if you sign up for longer periods of time. We are currently using CyberGhost (this isn’t sponsored by the way), and we are happy to recommend them.

The Weather Channel | For Accurate Weather Forecasts

As photographers, it's important for us to know the weather conditions and sunrise / sunset times in advance. As travellers and hikers, we just want to know if it's going to rain or be bloody cold!

There are obviously a bunch of weather apps out there, but after a lot of trial and error, The Weather Channel is the one that we've stuck with most. Although the free version does have a few too many ads on it, the forecast layout is clear and user-friendly with just the right level of detail to get that day’s weather or plot out your packing for the following week. We are also particularly big fans of its ‘Running Index’ which lets you know conditions for outdoors activities.

Our Tip | Emily has a horrible habit of always looking at the weather in a destination so far in advance, always forgetting that predictions and patterns CHANGE. Therefore, with any weather app, just use it wisely and remember that it's best for letting you know how things are going to look tomorrow or a in a few days time for that hike, and not necessarily whether you can go sunbathing in two weeks time in Brighton.

Cost | Free, but the paid version removes the ads.

Download | Google Play or iOS

DuoLingo | For Learning The Language

Gameifying the language learning process and making it feel like something fun to do on the commute slog before you trip starts, DuoLingo is a great app for people who were put off language learning at school. Although much of the vocabulary you learn in the early stages of using it is nonsensical, it does come together and pay off the more you stick at it and go through the short lessons.

Our Tip | There are now a bunch of alternatives for in-depth but intuitive, interactive app-based language learning companies. After our experience of learning Portuguese with its mobile and tablet lessons, Emily is a big fan of Rosetta Stone. Babbel and Memrise are also worth looking into.

Cost | Free

Download | Google Play or iOS

Polarsteps | For Recording Your Journey

Because we have this blog, we don't use Polarsteps. However, a member of our G Adventures overland tour in Africa abolutely swore by it, so we though it was a worthy addition

For people who want to log their adventure in a meaningful and memorable way beyond Instagram or starting a blog, Polarsteps is great option.

As well as as visually representing your route and automatically logging certain information as your travel (distance travelled, countries visited etc), you can upload photos, post journal entries, and do all the little stuff in between - and people can easily follow your journey. It also works offline, with the app syncing data whenever you're connected.

Cost | Free

Download | Google Play or iOS

Whatsapp | For Free Communication

We know this is a very obvious travel app recommendation, and you all probably have it on your phone already.

However, it's worth reiterating that Whatsapp has grown to become the number one global method of communication between smartphones, regardless of wealth, nationality, or age.

For staying in touch with your friends and family at home (including video calls) and staying connected with your fellow travellers along the way, it's essential. As it's done over the internet, it also removes the need to be concerned about phone charges abroad (so long as you switch off your data roaming and stick to Wifi).

We have also noticed on our travels to India, Cambodia, and Colombia in the last year that it's starting to replace email as the main method of contacting various tour companies and guest-house owners. Personally, we prefer that sort of communication to be over email as it helps to keep things formal, but it’s probably only going to continue to go in one direction.

Cost | Free

Download | Google Play or iOS

Airbnb | For Great Accommodation

We use Airbnb a lot when we travel, especially for European trips where we prefer the cost and convenience of having our own apartment for a few days or longer. If you've never used the platform before, then we highly recommend looking into for your next trip!

Although we always look + book our apartments on the Airbnb website for ease and better navigability (and the fact that we will sometimes spend two evenings just to find the perfect place for our budget and city break), it's imperative that you also download the app.

The app is much better for faciliating communication with the host after you book, and it also stores all your upcoming bookings or 'trips' in one place. This includes the listing, house manual, directions, and any house rules offline for easy access and reference when you arrive in the destination.

Our Tip | Lots of Airbnb hosts try to switch contact over to Whatsapp after you've booked or if there's an issue. However, it's absolutely imperative that you keep all communication with the host to the chat function on the app. That's the only platform Airbnb will use as evidence and for resolution in the event of a dispute or issue.

Cost | Free (but you have to pay for the actual room or apartment!)

Download | Google Play or iOS

Read Next | A Beginner's Guide to Airbnb

AllTrails | For Hiking Routes

From staying inside to getting outdoors…

We adore hiking when we travel, and have based entire trips on whether it allows us to spend a lot of time with our boots on (hello Peru!). This app offers a wide selection of hand-curated trail guides from users across the globe, and is perfect for finding ideas and inspiration for trails in a destination.

Each listing includes key information on terrain, distances, times, as well as advice from other users who have done it themselves. You can sync or download most of the trails for offline usage too (just make sure to read them in full before you set off, check weather reports, follow usual hiking precautions and common sense, and have a back-up phone battery with you).

Our Tip | We don't always use AllTrails for our hikes. Often a trail is easy to get to and clearly marked, sometimes a blog post acts as our guide, sometimes the hike we want to do isn't on the app, and sometimes we'll use the trail that's on our offline Google Map (or Maps.me sometimes). However, AllTrails is a decent place to start!

Cost | Free but a premium membership is also available.

Download | Google Play or iOS

Read Next | 12 Essential Things To Know Before Hiking in Peru

Google Translate | For, um, Translation

Although we may all dream of becoming fluent in Urdu or Japanese in time for our upcoming trip, the reality is that life will often get in the way.

Or we find out that we're not terribly good at learning a language (despite DuoLingo’s efforts!)

Or that we need more linguistic flexibility on the road than just being able to ask for the toilet and two bananas.

That's where Google Translate comes in, and it does exactly what it says on the tin. For us, it also does it better than any other translation app out there.

You simply enter the word or phrase in English on the left, and ask it to translate to the local language. Or you enter the word or phrase in the local language on the left, and ask it to translate to English. It can also play the word or phrase out for you, and translate photos you upload (very handy if you don't know wheter a sign says 'Private - No Entry' or 'Please - Come in').

It won't always get it 100% right, but this app has got us out of a jam in so many places, helped us to communicate with or get answers from locals, as well as being responsible for giving us the best night out of our lives in a bar in the middle of nowhere in Guatemala before we learned Spanish.

Our Tip | We highly recommend that you download the specific language dictionary and phrasebook for the app over wi-fi before you travel. This means it will work for most phrases and instances when you're offline and really really need it.

Cost | Free

Download | Google Play or iOS

Netflix | For Entertainment Offline

This may seem like an obvious one, or a 'not very related to travel' one.

However, with so many different platforms vying for your money and attention in 2020 (Amazon Prime, Disney+, Apple TV et al), it's important that you spend your money wisely. And, if you're travelling for more than a few weeks, you are guaranteed to have afternoons and evenings where all you want to do is hide away, veg out, and watch something.

For us, the fact that Netflix's licensing system lets us stream and download way more options than Amazon Prime when we travel is key. In India, Amazon only allowed us to watch their limited range of in-house movies and TV shows, whilst Netflix had many many more options available. Do note though that the available content for Netflix changes depending on the country you're watching from (a good thing when Modern Family suddenly becomes available, a bad thing when that season of Billions you were half way through disappears after crossing the border - although a VPN does solve this issue).

Our Tip | The key thing for travellers and Netflix is to download a bunch of shows and movies for offline watching BEFORE you hit the road. Wifi connections can be very slow and unreliable in hostels, hotels, and Airbnbs, and having a good stash downloaded will save you a lot of annoyance (it's also great for entertainment on those long-distance bus journeys or overnight trains).

Cost | You can have a 30-day free trial, and then it’s £5.99 monthly subscription.

Download | Google Play or iOS

VSCO | For Photo and Video Editing

This is the app that we used for quite a while to edit our mobile phone photos quickly on the road. Our 'on the go' workflow now sees us important photos from our cameras and use Adobe Creative Cloud, but we think VSCO is still the best place to start if most of your photos are taken with your smartphone.

Aside from a whole bunch of presets which your Insta-feed will love, it holds quite a lot of editing power and functionality for those of you who prefer to play about to get just the right tones or sharpness on your travel photos. A5, A6 and C7 are pretty good presets to start with.

Cost | Free but a premium membership is also available.

Download | Google Play or iOS - more serious photographers should sign up to Adobe Creative Cloud to access both Lightroom and Lightroom mobile.

Read Next | What's In Our Camera Bag + How To Take Better Mobile Phone Photos (published soon)

Citymapper | For City Breaks

Although Google Maps is our solid go to map app on our travels and at home, CityMapper steals the crown for using getting around on city breaks.

The app is completely free, and gives a comprehensive breakdown of 'urban mobility’ - or how to efficiently get from A to B in a new city by tube, train, bike, walking, or hoverboard - with the costs and times associated with each option clearly presented.

It's incredibly user-friendly.

The app is always adding new cities to its network (including by public vote). However, for European city breaks, it covers nearly everywhere on our list!

Our Tip | The only downside is that Citymapper doesn't work offline, but you can save your specific journeys to view offline by pressing the star. Several features, such as local tube / subway maps, are also available offline.

Cost | Free

Download | Google Play or iOS.

Castbox | For Podcasts

Andrew insisted that we put this in because, well, he is addicted to podcasts.

Again though, for those long travel days on buses, colectivos, or when you’re delayed in an airport, some aural escapism or learning is just the ticket. Simply find some that you like, and download a bunch when you have good wi-fi so that you always have a good selection available for when you’re without a connection.

They’re also brilliant for helping you fall asleep in a noisy hostel or night bus.

If you’re also a podcast or audiobook lover and willing to treat yourself to one travel luxury for a future backpacking trip, then make it a decent pair of bluetooth noise-cancelling headphones. Andrew invested in the Sony WH-1000X M3s and they are permanently glued to his head at home and on the road (buy here).

Our Tip | Ok, cheap plug time. We actually did a five-part travel podcast last year called Try Somwhere New. There are one million and one better podcasts out there, but if you'd like to listen to ours, you can find all our episodes linked here on the Ryanair website.

Cost | Free. If you like audiobooks, then you can get a free 30-day trial of Audible by signing up here.

Download | Google Play or iOS

And those are, for us at least, the best travel apps on the market right now.

Do you think we’ve missed out one that is absolutely essential for travellers? Let us know your favourite app for travellers in the comments.