Must have iPhone apps

[webm8]

Hey again, just wondering what you guys consider "must have apps" to take on your tour?  Being from the UK, I wont have "roaming" turned on, so will be wi-fi'ing it across the US.

Also whilst I'm here, how about using the phone in the US.  Is it best to get a sim card when I arrive and stick that in, so I can make calls within the US as well as home?  Or are there other options.  Thanks 

[jsieber]

I'm not an iPhone user, so I can't provide a list of apps, but Track My Tour seems like a great app for bicycle travel and being able to show friends and family where your at.
http://trackmytour.com

[webm8]

ah yes, I have that one, I've seen that on other blogs and looks really good.  Better then CycleMeter which I use, in that it doesn't use the network to record your journey, rather, that when you log in next, it joins the dots from when you last logged in.  Looks good.

[Joe B]

"Must have" is hard for me to apply. But these are the ones that are on my home screen .



Row 1 :
Self Explanatory

Row 2 :
Weather

AeroWeather is a great aviation based weather site great detailed near real time weather info

Maps

Airports is a directory from AOPA of small airports across the US. Great places to ask about pitching a tent, I have been offered empty hanger bays.

Row 3 :
Hosteling International App for finding and booking stays

Skype

WordPress is whom I use to host my blog. I find it easier to let them be the webmaster while I'm on the road.

WarmShowers I have not used this yet as I just joined late last year but it belongs on my home page I'm sure

Row 4 :
Kindle reading app for accessing my books

Pandora for music/relaxing when I have a wifi signal where I am staying

GreenDot is a "throw away" debit card, I only keep a few days budget on it at a time. If I lose it no big deal you can buy another any WalMart, Drug stores, register the replacement number online  move the balance to the new card and keep going. No bank to notify etc. If someone finds the old one in the mean time they still need to guess the PIN number to use what ever is left on it anyway.

Sunrise is an almanac to let me see the sunrise/sunset times for the area I am in. Good for planning the morning pack up and go routine.

Row 5 :
Self Explanatory

[adventurepdx]

I have an iPod Touch, but the apps are the same.
I second track my tour. And warmshowers! And the HI app.

My favorite app was the sunrise/sunset one. It is really useful to know exactly when the sun is going to set! Mine was different than the one shown by Joe B, but any that you find should work. At least find one with GPS ability, because there can be areas without cell reception and/or wifi.

Other useful to semi-useful ones:

Amtrak: If you're going to use the train in the US.

USPS: Locates nearby post offices, provides hours, even tells you where blue mailboxes are! Can also calculate postage.

Bike shops USA: locates bike shops within a certain radius.

Oh, Ranger! Park Finder: finds state/national parks in the area. Can be filtered to find which ones offer camping.

Free Wifi: maps out where free wifi hotspots are. Because using an app to find wifi isn't useful if you don't have wifi, it saves information.

REI: because you know you'll end up there at some point!

Allstays Camp/Tent: This one you have to pay for (it's $5 I believe) but will show where tent camping is available. I found it was so-so. The good: it saves info so you can use it while off-line. The bad: not as extensive as I hoped it would be. I found it was more useful to pick up a free lodging/camping publication from the state/provincial welcome center. Yeah, it weighs more. But there were times I found things listed there that weren't on the app. And when you leave the state/province you can recycle it.

Moon: Moonrise/set, what phase it's in, etc. Not essential, but I found cool.

[webm8]

thats great guys, thanks.  now got tons to help me out.  For anyone else who may want to app-up, then here is my list (TransAm cycle list)  Lots of simular ones as not sure which app is going to perform better.   Included are the ones on this postings from others - cheers.

countdown - how many days left to trip
compass - already on iphone
Google Earth - mapping
Currency XE - exchange rates etc
WS - warmshowers
track my tour - mapping your tour
blog press - blogging
blogger - blogging (prefer the blog press than the official app)
trip advisor - hotel ratings
bike doctor - maintenance
EMCL - locating medical centres
wi-finder - wifi finder
BA - flights
trip tracker - flights
flight aware - flights
skype - phone calls
viber - phone calls
iexit -
yelp -
foodspotting
around me - finds all kinds of things around you from a list
wifi finer- wifi finder
free wifi- wifi finder

Sunrise & Set
Amtrak
USPS mobile
Bike shops USA
Free wi-fi- wifi finder
REI

[chrisch]

It's great to see so many recommendation for the TrackMyTour and Warmshowers apps!  I'm the developer of these apps and am happy to see the popularity grow with the touring community.

Another must-have app is OpenMaps.  It links into the OpenCycleMap and works offline, which is essential when roaming in a foreign country.

[jfitch]

TrackMyTour and warmshowers have pretty good ratings. The warmshowers app, in particular, looks quite useful. It would seem, from the ratings anyway, that OpenMaps needs some work.

[indyfabz]

All that for AC's Van supported TransAm, or has that changed?

[Bike Hermit]

AllStays Camp and Tent

[webm8]

All that for AC's Van supported TransAm, or has that changed?

Yep, added a few more:

http://webm8transamerica.blogspot.com/2012/02/iphone-apps-for-trip.html

Not going to use them all, and there are lots of similar ones till I find out which ones work the best