Smartphone Apps We Love

If you have a smart phone, chances are you have several apps you use, whether daily or randomly. While some can just be a “time suck” while you zone out, others can be very useful to daily life.

As nomads constantly in new places, we have found several apps we love! Some we have had for years, and some we only recently discovered. Even if you aren’t an RVer, some of these may be helpful for you, too. If you have one we don’t , definitely let us know–we are always looking for useful tools!

WEATHER Many of us live in places that have the mantra, “if you don’t like the weather, wait 5 minutes!” and, as a frequent traveler, we see it often. We once camped for a few weeks in an valley that had weather reporting stations located on the other side of mountains. The forecasts in two different apps were off by 10+ degrees, and neither was accurate for where we were.

Ideally, I’d love to have a weather station at the rig, but in an effort to keep our lifestyle minimal, we use apps instead. The temperature, wind and rain/storm information is valuable to planning our outings, power use based on solar recharging, and how to keep us and the pup comfortable. We have 3 go to’s. First, the Fox 13 app, which gives weather alerts and sets to the location you are in when you open it. My Radar and the Windy app both give the temperature and wind layers, and show the frontal boundaries. I also like that My Radar has a wildfire layer so I can track these when we are near one, or an area in season.

FUEL AND PIT STOPS Gas prices can vary a lot along the interstates and highways, and knowing the rates in advance can help plan when and where to stop. My favorite for this is Gas Buddy, but Fuel Stations is also a good one. We also use Open Roads for Diesel fueling, which gives us a bulk rate on fuel and has saved us from a few cents to nearly a dollar a gallon. It does require your SSN and links to a bank account, not a credit card, but they send reports of the adjusted price and it’s pretty quick.

For stops to stretch, we like the Rest Stops and Offbeat apps, so we can find amenities, or parking, based on what we need and how much time we have. We also have the CAT scales app for weighing our rig at least at the start of the season, to make sure we are safe and fuel efficient.

NAVIGATING Our F250 does have a navigation system built in, and we travel plan with both a road atlas and Google Maps, but when it comes to travel days, we like to compare on Google Maps for live traffic, Apple Maps for confirmation of route, and we have an RV Garmin with our rig information that guides us around height and weight restricted roads. The reason we don’t use ONLY the RV Garmin is that it has a tendency to navigate along toll roads and expressways, or just randomly change mid-route, so the others allow us to verify and look things up using Google Earth if there are discrepancies.

OVERNIGHTING/CAMPING We usually have a reservation for our next stop before leaving, either at a Thousand Trails park, or another campground, or a Harvest Hosts. However, there are times where we have days between reservations and aren’t sure how long we will travel that day. There are so many to choose from, and while I have several in my app folder, we have a few favorites.

Harvest Hosts is great since they are verified and many allow for same day reservations. Recreation.gov allows us to find government parks, including Army Corps of Engineers, that can save us money, but have at least some amenity or hook up, and Campendium is great to see if we will fit as a large rig. For a quick sleep stop, we will check iOverlander, Allstays, or HipCamp.

And as a Cracker Barrel fan, I love that we can fit in their parking lot and have quick access to the interstate, and either dinner or breakfast (it’s customary to spend money if overnighting at a business). The app has a map to make it easy to find a location and their contact information. We do call ahead to check if it’s okay, same as staying at a Wal-mart or Home Depot–and we even had luck staying at a movie theater once!

ACTIVITIES Some areas we visit with a plan, and others we have no idea what to do there! In some instances, we got a recommendation for a trail or town, but there isn’t a map in the location. The NPS, National Parks and All Trails apps are helpful in getting information and even maps, but be sure to check while you have a connection since there may not be signal at the parks or trailheads. I also like GPSmyCity since it has maps and self-guided walking tours! The USFS & BLM app can be used for both exploring, and overnighting!

Not pictured are a couple we use. First, is Geocaching–BJ has this on his phone since he is way more active at it, and we can “scavenger hunt” all over the country. Also, in Hawaii, we used the Shaka app. It has a GPS guided car tour with music and narration around the major islands–a much more affordable option to avoid a bus tour and use your own vehicle.

RV TOOLS For internet, cellular and solar, we have apps to ensure everything is working correctly. Open signal is a great app to test speeds on our network to for upload and download. We use this when we are in a tree covered area, or need to use our phone hot spot to access the web for school or running our business, or just for communicating with family. We have Starlink for internet, so can check for obstructions and speeds when we set up our device, granted this is after we have set up camp, and has a delay, but we’ve gotten pretty good at judging a spot. We also have our Victron app to monitor our solar intake and battery storage. This helps us adjust our consumption when we are living off grid.

INFORMATION Most of us have Safari and/or Google for searching the web for general information, so those aren’t surprising to see, I’m sure. Sometimes we can find ourselves in locations with a language barrier. I have both Translate and Google Translate for these. I can use either of these for written text, voice conversations, or even the camera feature to hold over written text on signs. Both also have a save feature for frequently used phrases if you are planning a trip.

As avid sky watchers, we have a few we like. The StarTracker app for viewing the night sky, just point and it shows on screen–and it has some mood music, if your volume is up. NextSpaceFlight is great for tracking launches when we are near space coasts, and has proven more accurate than other apps. Aurora is great for alerts and data on the Aurora Borealis (Northern LIghts) when we are in an area favorable for them, and it allows you to report if you see them and they aren’t marked for your area.

Yuka is a great app for researching products, especially when we don’t find brands we know. Seek is a great app for identifying plants while you are out exploring nature.

NomadNearMe is a great app for networking with other RVers that you have either already connected with, or are nearby. You can see how far you are from friends, check in and earn badges from each state, and get suggestions of other Nomads you are close to. This tool was developed by an RVer, so it also supports a small business in the community. If you follow us on Social Media, message us so we can exchange Nomad handles and stay in touch or catch up when we are nearby.

Which apps will you be adding to your device? Which ones do you think we should add to ours?