TOP 11 Favourite Phone Apps

It's raining outside and while waiting for the rain to subside.. I'm going through the apps on my phone. I have a ton of them! I don't know why I keep so many, most of which I don't use often. Perhaps I fear that one day I might need them but won't have the internet connection to download them again? I can't believe it.. but I'm hoarding my apps! {I hope Alex doesn't read this, or he'll have lots to say}. 

Being on a boat, weight is a constant concern and issue. Thankfully, apps unlike clothes, books or other little things; it doesn't matter how many I have on my phone, it doesn't change the weight of it! ;)

Having said that, I can't keep everything... So here's a list of apps I/we think are worth keeping:

Maps.Me - offline map

We absolutely love this app! It's free, it's offline, it's detailed maps of the world! You just need to download the maps in advance before your trip and you don't need any internet connection to use it later. 

The maps are divided by country, state or city, so you don't have to download a large file if you're only interested in one area. It even has routing capabilities, but if you intend to use that function, make sure you also download the required files in advance. 

We first used this app in New York City and loved how detailed it was (shops, restaurants, places of interest, subway stations), add a place to the map, drop pins, best of all -- did we mention it's free and no internet required once its downloaded? And for sailing charts? We use Navionics! :)

Flickr - online photo storage

If you know me, you'll know I like to take photos of everything! Photos of food, flowers, bottle caps, scenery, boat stuff, boat projects, family, friends, the sky, the ground, my feet, my shoes! 

The storage on my phone gets used up very quickly. If I haven't had the time/chance to backup my photos to the computer (which we don't always travel with) to make space, I'd have to start deleting my photos that I haven't backed up! {egad!} This happened on our road trip in the US last year. So right after that, I started searching for online photo storage services.

There's plenty to choose from e.g. iCloud, Google Photos, Photobucket, Dropbox, Amazon Prime Photos, etc. But what's great about Flickr is that it gives you 1 TB of free online storage (none of the others came close), the app has an auto upload feature that uploads the photos from your phone (you'd need a good Wi-Fi or cellular data connection though, but it's a great way to back-up your photos) and more importantly it stores the images at original size (or up to 200 MB)!

Airbnb - affordable accommodation

If you're budget travellers like us who don't quite like to couch surf, a little old for backpacker/hostel style accommodation and can't afford to spend too much on hotels, then check out airbnb. 

We first used it on our overland trip in New York City two years ago and have continued using it on pretty much all of our overland travels. You can book an entire place, a private room or a shared space in the heart of the city or out in the suburbs, stay and live like a local. Check out some of our posts labelled 'airbnb'. A good option when we're not with our boat.

Skyscanner - scans for cheapest flights

This is one of our go to apps to check on the cheapest flights available. Even though we sail, we still need to fly home to see our family and friends ;). It searches the internet for the best deals. They don't actually sell you any tickets, it just does the search, gives you the options and directs you to the airline or travel agency that sells the tickets. 

It started off with just flight tickets but have now expanded their services to search for hotels and car rentals as well.

Xe - currency converter

It's always handy to have a currency converter. We're always checking the rates between USD to AUD to SGD to MYR and of course, the currency of the country we're in.

Spending | Track My Spend - expenses tracker

As long-term travellers, we live on a budget and always have to keep our expenses in check. We usually keep track of what we spend daily on an excel spreadsheet. But when we're out & about, that's hard to do when we don't have the computer with us. We found a couple of spending tracker apps that we like. 

Well, Alex likes to use 'Track My Spend' while I prefer 'Spending' app. They are both easy to use. You can set a budget/spending limits, add recurring expenses, create your own expense categories, export the data to a .csv file and so much more. Try both, it's free! Let us know which one you prefer {I hope you'll vote for the one I use}.

WhatsApp - instant messenger

Was almost not going to include this (because it's pretty well known, it would be like adding Facebook to the list) but we met several new friends recently that haven't installed this! {what?! yes.. you know who you are} This may be slightly selfish on our part, but we're spreading the word as the more people use it, the easier it'll be for us to communicate with them {clever ey?} ;)

WhatsApp is by far one of our most used app. We get to communicate with our family and friends from anywhere in the world for free via the internet! You can create chat groups, share photos and videos, send audio notes, make voice and video calls. There are lots of other similar apps like WeChat, HangOut, Skype, Facebook Messenger, Viber, etc. But for us, WhatsApp tops the list!

CamScanner - document scanner, .pdf creator

It's a free scanner app on your phone. We use it to scan documents, receipts, business cards, passports, anything we want really and save it as a .pdf or .jpg file. 

You could argue that you could do without this (true), but I find that I can't quite get that perfect top-down shot when I use the normal camera. The app is great because it straightens and crops the image to make it look like a scanned document. Very useful when we have to send official forms/documents via email.

Photo Grid - photo editor, video and photo collage maker

If you've read our blog, you'd have noticed we post a lot of grid photo collages. Photo Grid is free, easy to use and packed with lots of other features like video collage, sticker, border, scrapbook, instasize, retouch, filter, text, etc.

We like using this not only to combine photos to tell a story, but it's useful when we have crappy internet connection and instead of having to upload multiple photos, we only need to upload one! :)

iPlum - second line, real phone number

This is another great app if you'd like to have a US phone number without being locked-in a contract at high monthly rates or just want a second line when you travel to avoid roaming charges. iPlum service gives you a real dedicated US phone number at $1/month (or Canadian at $2/month if you prefer). 

You get to keep that same number for as long as want (cancel anytime, there's no contract). You can send/receive text & SMS, make/receive calls to/from anyone (mobile or landline), anywhere in the world at very low per minute rates and free unlimited calls to US toll-free numbers. No SIM card required, just the app and internet connection (via Wi-Fi or cellular data). You can even use this on your tablet!

We've used this to make many calls to US toll-free numbers. As you know, a lot of the products/equipment onboard are purchased from US companies, and we've had to make our fair share of warranty/support calls. We also use this for banking, SMS verification, etc. I've had my bank call me at this number so that I did not have to incur roaming charges on my Singapore mobile line. It works great! We hope there'll be options for AU or SG phone numbers in the future.

Candy Crush - chill & unwind

Lastly, I just had to add it! Sometimes, you just need that one app you can play when you're on passage, while waiting for the bus, train or plane. It's a simple match 3 or more candies in a row game, suitable for all ages, has over a thousand levels and most importantly you can play it offline! How can one resist those colourful candies!?

So this is our TOP 11 favourite list (for now). These aren't sailing related apps, but thought might be useful to share. 😁 Would be interesting to see if this list changes much in 5-10 years? Do note that we're not promoting any of the apps above for any kickbacks. Although, if you do sign up with airbnb through the link on our site, we'll both get some free credit. Other than that, this is just a list of apps we use and think is worth having/keeping.

Thanks for reading.

What do you think? What are some of your favorite apps?