Discover the 7 best free apps for travelers

THE 7 BEST FREE APPS FOR TRAVELERS

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Have you wondered what are the best free apps for travelers coming to Turkey? Let me tell you all about them!

I remember the first time I traveled with a smartphone. It was back in 2007. I had reluctantly taken this phone that could be a phone, camera, map, and email provider all at the same time. I just wanted a phone that was a phone.

But then I went to Hawaii. My roommate at the time rented a car and we drove around the beautiful island in a convertible and enjoyed the perfect weather.

We also used the iPhone I had been given for work to navigate safely around the island. This phone was so much more than I thought I wanted and I was hooked on its brilliant functionality.

That being said, technology has evolved greatly since 2007. There are apps for everything! Some of them work amazingly and some are more frustrating than helpful.

As I settled in Turkey, I played with different apps. There are some that I use much more than others.

In my opinion, these are the 7 best free apps for travelers coming to Turkey! There are some that are so incredibly helpful and I can’t imagine life here without them!

I hope these will help you as you travel around Turkey.

Make sure you check out this blog post on Purchasing a Turkish Sim card to make sure your service is uninterrupted.

One of the best apps for travelers

Reverso

If you have done any study of Turkish, you will know that every Turkish word can mean multiple different things and often it is hard to understand which meaning is intended unless you really understand the context of the conversation.

This app is helpful for travelers because, unlike Google Translate which only gives you one option for a sentence, this app will give you multiple options.

It will help you converse with others much easier and actually learn a few things as you go.

Tureng - Best App when Traveling

Tureng

Google Translate is often the most commonly used when needing a quick translation. It is a helpful option for sure.

Definitely recommend Google Translate for the camera, live-action translation feature.

The difference with this app is that it will provide you with multiple means for the word you’re searching for. When you use this app, you will understand why Reverso is so helpful.

Here you will also find Turkish phrases and idioms as well.

Yemeksepeti - Best App when Traveling

yemeksepeti

Jet lag is no joke. Sometimes it seems easier to transition than others. But for those times that you are so tired and don’t want to cook or prepare something, this app is a winner.

This is the Turkish version of Uber Eats or the like. Again, within the app, you can change the city and have multiple addresses.

You can order all sorts of foods and discover new things, without having to lift a finger.

Wise (Formerly Transferwise)

wise

Every month I send myself money using this handy app. It has the lowest fees for time sent that I have found.

While there are other apps to use, they aren’t as fast and the difference in fee isn’t worth it in my opinion. You might not use it as much if you’re just visiting.

It comes in the most handy when you need to pay someone in TL (Turkish Lira) because apps like PayPal and Cash don’t work here. If you use the link above, you can even get a free transfer!

Trafi App - Best app when traveling

trafi

I am a huuuuuge Google Maps fan, and this didn’t make the list since it is already on most people’s phones.

Trafi is different because you change which city you want in the settings. They currently have 8 different countries.

But here you can see the routes for all the different modes of transportation. It is so helpful in discovering a new route to take. You can also map a journey (though I find I do this more often on Google Maps still).

Units Plus - Best App when Traveling

units plus

As an American, one of the hardest things for me still is conversions. Here they are Celsius and meters and kilograms. Even the money has to be converted.

This app, even the lite version, allows you to convert all the things. So whether you need to know how much something is in dollars or what the temperature is or so on, you can use this brilliant app.

BiTaksi - Best App when Traveling

bitaksi

Safety is often a big concern when traveling to this part of the world. While you can most assuredly hail the yellow taxis, sometimes you aren’t in an area that has a plethora of taxis passing by.

This app is helpful because it will call a genuine taxi and it will have a record of what taxi picked you up and where they took you.

If you do just hail a taxi, and make sure that the meter is running. Also, realize they will always take you the faster way (and usually more expensive) unless you tell them otherwise.

If you don’t get a Turkish number while you’re here, you can use iTaksi instead.

RadarBot

Radar bot

This one is a bonus! If you plan on renting a car and doing any driving, I highly recommend using this app. 

If you’re from America, you will assume that speed limits will be posted and you will know easily how fast you should be going so you can obey the laws. 

It is not that way, at least in my experience. When we rented a car and drove around there were a ton of cameras (which they tell you about thankfully) but I never knew how fast I should be going for the radar. 

With this app, you’ll know how fast you should be going and never miss a camera!

This app, even the lite version, allows you to convert all the things. So whether you need to know how much something is in dollars or what the temperature is or so on, you can use this brilliant app.


Apps for travelers

Of course, there are so many more that you can use. Some are quite country specific whereas many others are more broad.

There are also special apps for booking travel and these are more centered around navigating and being in the country. But that is another blog for another day!

In the meantime, I’d love to hear about your experiences when traveling both locally and abroad.

And for tourists looking to pick up a little Turkish check out my post on Turkish for Tourists or Turkish TV Shows to help you learn!

What are your favorite apps when traveling abroad?

Let me know in the comments below!

-Kimberly

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