If you’re planning on hitting the road this Labor Day Weekend, don’t plan on being alone. AAA estimates you’ll be sharing the asphalt with more than 35.5 million other drivers looking for summer’s last hurrah.
But luckily, you’re an iPhone user, which means you have an advantage
over those other road warriors—so long as you (er, let’s make that your
passengers) make use of some of our favorite iPhone apps for cruising
down the highway.
And did we mention they’re free?
Waze
Whoever said getting there is half the fun never spent a hot summer day
in bumper-to-bumper traffic 12 miles behind a fender bender. Sure, there
are other apps that provide turn-by-turn directions—including the one
that came with your phone. But for up-to-the-minute, crowd-sourced,
reliable information on what lies ahead (and how to get around it), Waze
is the app we rely on. Waze is now owned by Google, and powers Google
Maps traffic alerts. But it’s even better as a standalone app.
Information is provided by other “Wazers” both passively (though
measuring speed, for instance) and actively (reporting traffic jams,
road closures, accidents, police activity, etc.) The result is a near
real-time look at traffic along your route, and the things that slow it
down. Waze lets you know how much time a traffic jam may cost you and
will even re-route you if it thinks it can save you time. On several
instances during a recent road trip, Waze took us off a congested
highway and suggested a detour to bypass accidents, saving us as much as
40 minutes each time.
The community-based nature of Waze means you can share comments with
other users to get more details on a road hazard or speed trap. If you
like, you can send an alert to someone within the app to let them track
your progress. And to make you think twice about using your phone while
driving, Waze gives a warning about using certain features, making the
user attest that they’re a passenger before continuing. (Yes, you can
lie—but please don’t.)
GasBuddy
You’ve got to respect an app that does one thing and does it well. Other
navigation apps have started to include gas station finders, but none
does it elegantly—and accurately—as GasBuddy.
Simply hit the big “Find Gas Near Me” button and GasBuddy returns a
list of places to get gas near you. (You were expecting something
different?) But instead of just a list of stations with prices and
distances, you can view locations on a map view that helps you select
stations along your route, so you don’t inadvertently chase locations
out of your way—or even worse, stations that you’ve already passed.
Tapping on a station gives you more information, including the option to
get directions.
Along interstate highways, gas prices can vary wildly—I saw ranges of
$0.40 a gallon or more on a recent trip through Maryland and Virginia.
GasBuddy makes it easy to find the bargains among the… well,
not-bargains. (Hint: If you can’t get your gas in New Jersey, try to
hold out for Maryland.)
GasBuddy is another crowdsourced app, and if you’re so inclined, you can
verify or correct the prices at the stations you visit. In my
experience, GasBuddy’s prices have been 100-percent accurate, even when I
was skeptical of a $2.19 oasis in a sea of $2.49 pumps.
Where To?
Your car is not the only thing that needs fueling up on a long road
trip. And whether you’re looking for the comforting familiarity of your
favorite fast food joint or trying to avoid another, Where To?
can guide you to a place the whole family can agree on before hunger
compels you to settle for a place where you can “eat here and get gas.”
But food’s not the only thing Where To will help you find. From grocery
stores to entertainment venues to emergency services, Where To’s breadth
of services is impressive. Select what you’re looking for from a series
of icons laid out in a circle, and you’ll get a list of sub categories
to help narrow your search. Tap a selection and you’ll see a
map—GasBuddy style—showing nearby options. Pinch to zoom in or out to
narrow or expand your search area, then tap on a pin to get more
information, including star ratings and reviews.
Best Western (or the hotel of your choice)
The vagaries of road travel make it hard to be sure of where you’ll be
ready to bed down for the night. My family has found that Best Western
offers enough locations and consistent enough accommodations to make it
our hotel of choice for most long road trips. Even better: They’ve got a
great mobile app.
The app shows you hotels near you or the city you specify, with rates
clearly shown without having to dig. You can check availability, find
out about amenities, information about the area and—of course—get
directions. You can book right within the app and even pay with points
if you have enough. Impressively (or perhaps bravely), the app also
provides TripAdvisor Traveler Ratings for each location—the good the bad
and the ugly.
Being able to drive until you start to feel tired without being
committed to reaching a preset destination has been a wonderful
experience. For my family, the Best Western app has changed the way we
travel. But if you’d rather go with a catch-all hotel app, Hotel Tonight
can’t be beat. This app specializes in finding last-minute hotel deals
for same-day check-ins, but you can expand your search for up to seven
days out. The app does location-based searches by default, so you’ll
immediately be able to see what’s available nearby. You can also check
out photos, guest ratings, and info compiled by Hotel Tonight’s research
team, then complete your booking from within the app.
Yelp
It’s an old standby for sure, but in a strange location full of
unfamiliar eateries, hearing what others have to say can be very
reassuring. Yelp
reviewers can be blustery, self-important, and even agenda-laden, but
collectively they usually can be relied on to let you know whether a
place is worth your time—or to be avoided. In addition to directions,
you can usually get a menu, a phone number, and occasionally a discount
offer.
Siri
While technically not an app, Siri is worth mentioning for how much she
lets you do without actually touching your phone—a big no-no while
driving.
With your iPhone connected to a power source in your car, you can say “Hey, Siri” to activate voice commands. From there, the breadth of things you can control
is pretty remarkable. Place a call, ask for directions, send a text,
play music—even open one of the apps above. All without taking your
hands off the wheel.
But after a long road trip, my favorite command is this: “Siri, take me home.”
Have a great app that we missed? Let us know in the comments.
This story, "5 free iOS apps to make your next trip less bumpy" was originally published by
Macworld.
Post a Comment