10 iPhone Apps And Features To Help You Adventure Around New Cities
You know the drill — Google Maps for navigation, Uber for your rides, Airbnb to look for places to stay — these apps are pretty much the bread and butter of any travel venture. With that in mind, we're going to delve into the lesser-known, the underappreciated, the overlooked travel gems in your iPhone and its App Store. Let's spice things up then, shall we?
We've curated a list of 10 fantastic iPhone apps and features that will put you in the driving seat of all your city adventures. The apps have stellar ratings and reviews on the App Store and are some of the most popular ones in their category. We're talking about options that will help you converse with anyone and everyone, book all your flights and hotels for you, find you the best events to attend and the hottest trails to hike on, and help you record your entire journey with the most majestic photos and written details.
Yelp
It is said that the road to someone's heart runs through their stomach, and when you're navigating this particular road when exploring a brand new city, there's no better foodie sidekick than Yelp. This app serves as an ultimate food guide, featuring reviews for everything from the most exotic restaurants to the little food joints down the alley.
The app has some nifty search filters that let you get as picky as you want. Whether you're looking for something vegan, an all-you-can-eat option, or simply something that's the closest to your current location, Yelp has an easy user interface that lets you quickly find it all. What makes this app great is that the power lies in the hands of the community. The reviews are from thousands of users who have tried out the restaurants first-hand instead of sponsored entities who stand to gain from putting out good reviews, so you know they're honest and can be trusted. In case you have doubts, there's even a way to tell if a local business is paying for fake reviews on Yelp.
Along with reviews, you can also see menus, full prices, contact information, and every other detail you can think of all conveniently packed into one accessible space. In fact, the app isn't just limited to food. You can also browse through other local businesses like auto shops, salons, spas, department stores, and much more. The next time you find yourself in a new city, there's no need to aimlessly wander around and follow your nose to the nearest food market — you can get the best there is right at your fingertips.
iTranslate Translator
Setting out on an adventure in a new city is thrilling, but it often comes with the challenge of facing language barriers. Sure, you can admire the architecture and taste the food, but you miss out on tons of culture and experience when you can't converse with the locals. Being unable to read the local language also makes it extremely hard to decipher menus, read directions, and get all the hot tidbits on hidden gems. iTranslate allows you to bridge that gap and empowers you to navigate unfamiliar territory with ease. It's one of the best translation apps on the App Store, with over half a million ratings and innovative features.
iTranslate's most useful feature when traveling is unarguably its voice recognition technology, which allows you to speak directly into your device and have your words translated instantly. If buying that international data plan is putting a dent in your bank balance, you can use their offline mode and download language packs in advance.
Featuring over 100 different languages, flashcards for popular words and phrases, a dictionary, multiple dialects, and an AR Mode for real-time object translation are just some fantastic features you can find on the app. It will save you from feeling like a lost lamb in a field of chickens, and you won't stick out like a sore thumb when you accidentally order a brick instead of a cup of coffee.
Eventbrite
When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Now that you're armed with your translating app and an arsenal of popular greetings, the best way to go about that is to mingle with the Romans — or whichever locals you find yourself among — especially by going to places where you can find them in hordes, such as at a local festival, a concert, or at a soccer game. Enter Eventbrite, your digital concierge that helps you discover the best events based on your interests and location wherever you go.
Eventbrite is one of the best entertainment apps on the App Store with over a million downloads and near-impeccable ratings. When you download and open the app, all you need to do is select your preferred location and you will be led to a homepage with tons of events, local fairs, concerts, and even seminars. You can apply filters to find what you need and view detailed directions, FAQs, or handy background information about the event.
The perks don't stop there. You can easily save your credit or debit card details to buy tickets to events and access them in the app anytime. Moreover, the app is available in various languages, promoting inclusivity and convenience. Eventbrite is a gateway to experiences that no guidebook could ever replicate, whether it leaves you learning a traditional dance, raving over local art, or just laughing with some new friends at a parade.
Smart HDR
Alright, folks, it's time to dive headfirst into the vast realm of iPhone photography. It looks pretty straightforward at first glance, but once you start scratching the surface, there's always another interesting feature around the corner making you wonder why exactly you're still lugging your bulky DSLR around when adventuring new cities. If there's one such camera feature that deserves to be on this list, it's the Smart HDR camera for iPhone.
If you don't know what this does, we're going to break it down real quick and easy. HDR stands for high dynamic range, and when you enable it from your iPhone's settings, your iPhone takes a bunch of photos at rapid speed every time you press the shutter and combines the best aspects of these photos to create one awesome picture. How cool is that? No matter what the lighting is like, gone are the days when you spend hours editing your travel photos because the sun seems too bright and your face is engulfed in shadows.
Some of the latest iPhone models have Smart HDR computationally enabled, but all the other ones have a toggle you can play with in the Settings app. All you need to do is go to Camera in your Settings app and scroll down to enable Smart HDR on your iPhone. If you're still looking for that extra zing and zest in your iPhone photography game, turn on the toggle for Grid while you're at it — your camera roll will be filled with perfectly aligned and beautifully contrasted photos of your journey.
Journal
Speaking of a camera roll loaded with incredible photos, we've got a fantastic way you can turn them from some random snapshots to visual mementos paired with stories you can always relive. We're referring to Journal, an app for your iPhone released with iOS 17.2 that will redefine the way you write your travel logs during your expeditions. In a fast-paced world where time often slips away, it is somewhat grounding to wrap up a day of chaos-filled adventure by creating a time capsule that preserves the essence of who we are and where we've been, especially when you get the hang of how to use the Journal app.
Don't let your hesitation to write prevent you from journaling because the Journal app comes with its own prompts and reflection features that carve out a nice little layout for you to start with. It links to various apps on your iPhone so you get personalized suggestions to help you write about the landmarks you've visited, the food you've tried, the music you've listened to on your mobile, and even add in pretty photos and videos you've taken along with the text.
Not in the mood to type? You can quickly open a new entry and press record to add in voice memos. If there was a way your iPhone could detect smell and touch, the Journal app would probably have had an aroma detector and a touch-sensitive feature, too.
Add a caption to your travel photos
However, if the idea of creating journal entries and travel logs is still too daunting for you but you still want to preserve the stories that come along with your photos, there is another great option for you in adding captions to your photos. This is one feature that comes as a surprise to many iPhone users, mostly because the setting for adding a caption is tucked away into a corner of your Photos app that you don't usually open. The feature is great since it requires minimal effort and is the perfect alternative for efficiency seekers.
All you need to do is swipe up on your photo or tap on the icon with the little i encircled. You will see a rectangular box saying Add a Caption right at the top of your pop-up, and you can simply type in whatever you want. We put in some pretty lengthy paragraphs there to test it out but failed to reach a set word limit, so feel free to flex your creative muscles and give it the whole nine yards. It's a pretty epic way of remembering what place you visited, what food you ate, or what that particular monument was called.
To sweeten the deal, you can use the search button in the Photos app to search for a word in your caption, and it will appear right up top! It's quite a handy trick to help you find your photos in a snap. Efficient, creative, convenient, and methodical — what's not to like?
Expedia
Traveling around new cities is all fun and games until you have to face the elephant in the room: the logistics involved in your trip. Flight schedules, hotel bookings, and car rentals are enough to make you want to throw in the towel and get back into the comfort of your cozy bed. Expedia offers travelers a seamless experience and manages your entire trip for you completely free of cost by integrating multiple services into one huge platform. Once you have those logistics quickly squared away, you can kick back and enjoy the fruits of your — or rather, Expedia's — labor.
Its core functionalities include searching, comparing, and buying flights from hundreds of airlines, along with booking stays from a wide array of places varying from luxurious resorts to minimalistic hotels. The homepage also features other valuable services including cars, packages, and activities, all complemented with extensive reviews and informative descriptions.
Expedia also presents users with some fantastic last-minute deals that are exclusive for app users so you've got to make sure to strike while the iron is still hot. What we truly love about the entity is its rewards programs for loyal users and members that give you points and airline miles you can use as currency across the app. Its user-centric approach is one reason the app has long been amongst the top 10 travel apps in the App Store.
AllTrails
When you hear adventure, you think outdoors, the wilderness, or a thrilling expedition — apologies to the indoor aficionados. If you're embarking on your travels with the determination to embody that essence, there's no better way than with Apple's 2023 iPhone app of the year, AllTrails. The word trails in the title may have given you a subtle clue that the app serves as your ally for outdoor exploration, but we're going to indulge in the details of all the benefits you can reap from this app.
Some of the outdoor activities that you can browse on the app are hiking, mountain biking, camping, and horse riding. You can search for your perfect fit using highly specific filters, ensuring you don't spend a large chunk of your time figuring out your route. Once you select a trail, each one comes with detailed directions, weather conditions, the length, and average time taken. There's a really cool preview button that shows you a satellite view of the area and a short video showing your start and endpoints. Of course, not all the features of AllTrails are free, but you can always opt for the free trial before you decide to pay for them.
The app also has an entire tab called Community, dedicated to connecting with other people who have posted pictures, reviews, and details of nearby urban trails. You can follow them, comment on their activities, and share their profiles with family and friends. It's a great way to connect with other people who may be exploring the city and have similar interests. The more the merrier, right? As the icing on the cake, the app is also available for your Apple Watch and is one of the best Apple Watch apps for hikers.
Live Photos
Make your photos move by enabling Live Photos in your Camera. All you do is take a picture from your iPhone as usual, but what your iPhone does is record 1.5 seconds before and after you take the photo, creating a three-second dynamic picture. In the Photos app, it's going to look like every other conventional image, but when you press and hold on your screen it plays a little clip, giving the pixels a purpose and the shots a story.
When you're on the road cruising around a new city, three seconds do not seem like much in the bigger gist of things. Fortunately, the quality of the memory you document isn't defined by that. Those few seconds are enough to capture the wind blowing in your hair, the gentle rhythm of the waves lapping at the seaside, a smile turning into outright laughter, and fireworks exploding in the sky. There's nothing like watching your travel pictures come to life right before your eyes.
It takes as little as a tap to enable and disable Live Photos. Just open Camera on your iPhone and tap on the icon with the concentric circles in the top right corner of your screen. It will turn yellow to indicate that it's enabled. You can find a separate album for your Live Photos in your Photos app, and you can edit them to change their key photo if you're not a fan of what you see upfront. Fun fact — you can even turn your Live Photo into a long exposure photo or a GIF.
Google Arts & Culture
We're going to round off this list just as strong as we began with Google Arts & Culture, an app so information-dense and visually appealing that it feels like nourishment for the heart and mind.
When you open the app on your iPhone, you are met with so many different features you don't know where to begin. If you want to decide if the place on your itinerary is worth your time or are just looking for some fun and authentic background information about your next stop, this app is perfect. Once you get there, use its Art Recognizer to learn more about the artwork you're pointing your camera at. Google Arts & Culture sports high-resolution images and virtual tours assisted by augmented reality with multilingual content to fulfill your travel needs.
The narratives and stories span over 80 countries and offer exceptional online exhibits for a staggering 3,000 cultural institutions, including the Eiffel Tower, Belvedere, and the Van Gogh Museum. The Explore page has a gateway to topics like visual arts, travel, history, and nature, all represented in exhaustive detail. It's even got these fun little art games you can bide the time with on your airplane or bus ride. It's futile to put into words just how extensive this app really is, so you'll just have to try it out yourself.