Prev Next 1 of Previous Next When we are on vacation, among other things, we use the phone differently. We check the email app less frequently, waste less time on certain social networks, and use others more to post landscape photos. If we go around by car or bike we use more maps and listen to more holiday playlists with streaming services. This broadly speaking: then everyone has their own habits, even on vacation. However, there are some apps that are particularly useful on the go: we've put them together in this short list, which also includes some tips for saving battery power and connection data when you're out all day.
Google Maps, offline
The first apps that come to mind when thinking about a trip are those that act as a map and navigator. If you have to spend a lot of time on the road in your car, it is useful to download the maps of the area you will travel to, so that you can consult them offline and not waste data, or when there is no connection.
With Google Maps, available for both Android and iOS operating systems, you can do it: just click on the icon of your account, at the top right, and then on “Offline maps”. Obviously, the larger the area for which you want to download the maps, the more space will be occupied in the smartphone's memory: to give an idea, the maps of Milan, including Sesto San Giovanni and Rozzano, can require up to 50 MB. For the GPS to work there is no need to have a good connection, so if the maps are downloaded to your smartphone you can see your position even without it.
Apple Maps does not have this function, but if you start the navigator in an area where you have a good network connection and then lose it on the road, the data on the most important maps for continuing navigation will still be saved in a cache that allows you to continue receiving indications.
An editor of the Post recommends Maps.me as an alternative, a free offline map app that also reports the location of public parking lots, drinking fountains and many other things that can be useful when you are in an unfamiliar city and that on the apps of most common maps are not found.
Maps for those who don't go by car
There are also other free map apps that can be useful in some particular situations. One is Komoot (available for both Android and iOS), which is designed for hiking, mountaineering and cycling, whether on a road bike, mountain bike, touring bike or gravel bike. The function to download the maps and consult them offline is paid, but by registering a profile you can download the maps of a specific region for free. Another free app that allows you to download the maps of some countries (including Italy) is Here WeGo, which compared to Google Maps gives you tips on how to get around the city by bike.
For those who walk along paths, both the aforementioned Maps.me (which contains the entire openstreetmap database) and Locus Map, which however is only available for Android operating systems, can be useful.
An app to communicate without internet
To those who will not go on holiday to a city, but in the midst of nature, where if you move away from your companions you risk of having difficulty communicating, Bridgefy could come in handy. It is a messaging app (always available for both Android and iOS) that works with Bluetooth. For this you can use it to send messages to people who are within a radius of 100 meters. All you need to do is have Bluetooth turned on (while cell phone data can be turned off to save battery) and have registered beforehand. It was also designed to help people find themselves in very crowded places like concerts or events, but you won't need it for a while yet.
An app that we hope you don't have to use
First Aid Red Cross, as the name suggests, is an app of the Italian Red Cross that gives useful advice and practical information in the event of an emergency “both with regard to health emergencies such as heart problems, allergies, suffocation, or burns, and in the event of external events such as floods, landslides or earthquakes”. Among other things, it says what are the right things to do while waiting for help to arrive.
If you are planning mountain excursions, you should also download the GeoResQ app, a service managed by the National Alpine and Speleological Rescue Corps (CNSAS) and promoted by the Italian Alpine Club (CAI). The app “allows you to determine your geographical position, to track your excursions in real time, to ensure that your routes are archived on the dedicated portal, and, if necessary, to forward alarms and requests for help”.
An app to find open WiFi
It can be useful in case you have finished the data of your tariff plan earlier than expected and need an internet connection. It's called the WiFi Map and it allows you to find the location of open WiFi networks – or whose password someone has shared with other users of the app – around you.
An app to know if it will rain
That is a weather forecast app. There are many, as there are many sites that tell you (including the Post). Even when they don't make forecasts at home but report those of others they should be pretty reliable (as far as the weather may be) about the possibility that it will rain. The important thing is not to think that they can predict more than six or seven days in the future, because we haven't really got there yet, even if the weather is always improving. However, the editors of the Post recommend the app of the 3BMeteo website.
An app to keep accounts in a group trip
For those who will go on vacation with one or more people with whom they will have to share the travel expenses, it can be useful one of those free apps that allow you to keep track of who spends how much and for what, to get even. TravelSpend is designed specifically for travel (and for solo trips for which it is important to keep a budget of expenses), but also apps like Splitwise (widely used in the editorial staff of the Post) and Tricount work well. All three can be downloaded both on smartphones with Android and iOS systems and have a function to calculate the currency exchange.
Google Drive and Dropbox can also be useful
There are those who continue to print reservations, tickets and other necessary documents during a trip, but it is less and less essential to do so , just have them in digital format inside your phone. It is good, however, not to simply keep them saved in your mailbox: they could be useful at a time when there is no network connection. An editor of the Post avoids finding herself in this situation by taking screenshots of attachments and the like, but it is certainly not the most functional method, especially when you then have to go in search of the document in question. The wisest thing to do is to save the documents in a Google Drive or Dropbox folder (having the relevant apps on your smartphone) and make them accessible offline.
An app to learn more about nature
It cannot really be considered a useful app, but if you are one of those people who occasionally wonder about the name of the species of trees or if you have always wanted to feel a bit like a naturalist in the field, you can download the iNaturalist app. For those familiar with Pokémon: it is the closest thing to a Pokédex that exists for animals and plants. For those who do not have it: it is an app that allows you to know (almost always with a good approximation) of what species is a plant or an animal that you have photographed thanks to artificial intelligence and a community of enthusiasts, including which real biologists. Then if you are passionate about it you can use it to participate in real citizen science projects (those for which scientists ask simple enthusiasts to collaborate in data collection campaigns) organized thanks to the app.
If you find it too complex, there is a simplified version, even more like a Pokédex and more suitable for kids: Seek.
And one to find out the names of the mountains
It's called PeakFinder and it works like this: framing a panorama where you can see the mountains clearly shows you their name and the their altitude, even where there is no connection. It can be useful for orientation, but also just to get to know the area you are visiting better.
Useful stuff, out of the phone
All the apps listed so far are useless if the phone's battery is low, so the best advice you can give to someone who will have to spend a lot of time away from an outlet during their holidays is obviously to carry a portable charger. In particular this one that is recharged with solar energy, for those with the most extreme plans. And keep the phone in power saving mode.
And if your phone turns off while you are out and about in your car, you will find yourself regretting the skills of human beings who got along with the streets even when there were no satellite navigators. To avoid the possibility of not knowing where to go, in the absence of passers-by available to guide you, road atlases (this, for example, applies to all of Italy) still print them.
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