From translation to organizing trips home, study abroad students often have more on their plate than the average Joe. Here there are some saving time apps, and really useful at the time to translate, meet up new people, organize events, compare prices (vouchers,..), find locations/places/private WiFi, communicate,…
Make calls to anyone anywhere in the whole world with Viber, as long as the receiver has the application on the phone. It is similar to Skype, but without the video, despite you can send video messages and text as well.
Free /Available on iPhone and Android
Sketch your next trip home (or adventure to another country) and find the cheapest flights using the handy search results display, which enables you to view prices by day, week, month or even a whole year. It also guides you to the cheapest company for each flight when booking.
Free /Available on iPhone and Android
This app allows you to translate your voice in over 100 languages as well as type what you want to interpret, for all those moments when you’re lost for words, but probably to help your diction and accent, mostly.
£1.49 / Available on iPhone
Can we take a second to gape at the modern communication? One week I’m two blocks away from you, sending you a Snapchat of a weird eclectic jazz band that I’ve just found, and the next week I’m three thousand miles away, still sending you the weird eclectic jazz band pictures. Because of Snapchat uses Wi-Fi instead of data, you can send these vital images of your afternoon cup of tea to your friends and family, or the beatiful view that you can see through your window.
Free /Available on iPhone and Android
Know just how far your money is going with this currency converter, which stores the latest rates to give a trustworthy figure when you’re not connected to WIFI or 3G. It also comes in a selection of various languages, which could come in handy.
Free /Available on iPhone and Android
This allows you to keep track of your everyday cost of living, which you can browse and filter by date, type or account. Also, you can view graphs to see if you’re sticking to your budget. If you have an iPhone, there are apps like Ontrees or Mint which do a similar job.
Free /Available on Android
The Mint.com app allows you to track, budget and manage your money all in one app, so you can see which are the expenses and where you can save up. Open an account, add your bank, credit, loan and retirement accounts and Mint will automatically pull in and categorize your transactions. Mint originates a customized budget based on your present spending, and sends bill reminders, alerts and advice right to your device so you can avoid late fees and monitor cash flow. It’s secure and easy to keep your monetary resources organized.
Free/ Just iOS
Instantly translate a text using the lens of your camera with this clever app – you can even use it offline. The only downside is that there are only packages available for a handful of languages, it doesn’t include Arabic or Mandarin.
£2.99 /Available on iPhone and Android
It can be hilarious translations and often too literal interpretations but it’s useful when you can’t remember something and want a quick translation for a specific word.
Free /Available on iPhone and Android
I’m still waiting for the day you can legitimately cite Wikipedia but I desist. Wikipanion has been designed for easy search, navigation and display of Wikipedia entries. Streamline your browsing with history grouped by visit date, and bookmarking that not only bookmarks individual entries, but individual sections within an entry. Featuring intelligent features such as multiple search methods, dual language searching and language switching, wiktionary dictionary, interactive font resizing, and image saving to the Photo library.
Free / Available on iOS
It’s just a dictionary, but it’s a dictionary that fits in the palm of your hand, and it’s free. You have access to over 2,000,000 definitions, synonyms and antonyms, daily content, including Word of the Day & The Hot Word, spelling suggestions, audio pronunciation, popular and local trending searches. Also, you can shake your iPhone to receive a random word. The knowledge is never enough.
Free / Available on Android
One of the most powerful language translators available for the iPhone, Interpret translation app leverages both Google and Bing translation engines. Interpret provides free translation for over fifty languages, both individual words and entire sentences, and enables you to your email the translations, posts your translations to Facebook, Tweets your translations on Twitter, tags translations as favorites, and saves a list of recent translations.
Free / Available for iOS
You never know how unpredictable the weather on this infinitesimal island can be, so don’t be caught out by a sudden drop in temperature or rain shower. You can also see what the weather is like at home, as the app allows you to have several locations available at the flick of your thumb.
Free /Available on iPhone or Android
Never pay full price again with. Whether you’re looking for somewhere to eat, something to do or you need a new laptop, find all the latest discounts on Vouchercloud. It also comes in an array of different languages. So useful!
Free / Available on iPhone or Android
Thanks, Evernote, for being the greatest app ever. Use it to record lectures and take notes in class, make grocery lists and create to-do lists for your travel destination. Evernote lets you make notes on your computer that automatically sync to your phone without Wi-Fi. Save your route, hotel information and address of the closest restaurant right to your phone for easy access when you’re on the go.
Free /Available on iPhone and Android
Hungry in the new city? Check your Foodspotting app – it scans your location for user-generated photos and reviews of good food in your area. This is perfect for people like me who go from “Hey, maybe I’m hungry” to “I am currently dying of starvation” in about thirty seconds. Foodspotting produces recommendations based on your location, so you can choose between lots of full of flavour options nearby.
Free /Available on iPhone and Android
Visual Travel Checklist (VTC) is an essential travel application that helps you prepare and pack your things for the trip. VTC provides an intuitive user interface which allows you to create up to 10 different checklists with 250+ tasks and items, all represented by their own special icons. As a bonus, there’s included a built-in visual tutorial.
Free /Available on iPhone and Android
(Probably you are familiarised with this app, but just in case) The Kayak is a multi-purpose travel app, helping you to find and book flights, , car rentals, hotels and more. It allows you to compare prices across a number of other travel aggregators like Orbitz, Expedia, and Priceline, comparing lots of travel packages all at once. Kayak is also handy for tracking flights, managing trips and itineraries, looking up baggage fees, and a long tail.
$0.99 / Available on iPhone and Android
AroundMe allows you to quickly find out information about your surroundings by identifying your position and enabling you to choose the nearest bank, gas station, gorcery, bar, hotel, hospital, restaurant, movie theater, supermarket, or a cab. AroundMe presents you a complete list of all the businesses in the category you have tapped on along with the distance from where you are, and for every listing you can choose to see its location on a Map, view the itinerary from where you are, add the information to your contact list or even email the information to a homie.
Free /Available on iPhone and Android
It’s always nice to know what other travelers think. With TripAdvisor Hotels Flights Restaurants, you can read real reviews and opinions from over 50 million fellow globetrotters. Write and post your own reviews, and share it with the world. Also you can save it to your favorites so you can find it anytime when you will be wondering to revisit the place.
Free /Available on iPhone and Android
Start your journey by downloading the free Lonely Planet Travel Guides app. You can buy and store your Lonely Planet country guides, city guides, audio phrasebooks and audio walking tours. The 80+ City guide apps feature GPS tracking and offline maps, hundreds of places to visit & things to do, and background content from their guidebooks all wrapped up in an easy to use app that doesn’t require an internet connection, so it works everywhere with no data or roaming fees.
$9.99 each guide (average) / Available on iPhone and Android
Trip Boss Expense & Budget was truly made for the conscious budget traveler. With Trip Boss you can record and track expenses in 50+ expense categories, with the option to display foreign expenses in your home currency. When it comes to the actual purchase, you’re provided with a tip/split calculator and currency converter, and you can even take photos of receipts for use with the included repayment functions.
$9.99 /Available on iPhone and Android
With the “Share-a-bill” app, you can define individual events and the group of people involved in each event. Fantastic for medium/big events. Enter each expense on the fly and keep track of who paid and how much. When you’re abroad, you can also define several currencies and exchange the rates. At the end of the trip/event, everybody knows exactly who owes what to whom, and if need be, you can email a detailed report from the event to your friends. Maybe, is it too formal?
$3.99 / Available on iOS
Essentially iTunes for books, iBooks is a convenient way to download any and all iBooks included the iBookstore. (You can read a free sample of any book on the iBookstore before making it a part of your collection) Browse your library on a virtual bookshelf, tap a book to open it, flip through pages with a swipe or a tap, and bookmark or add notes to your favorite passages.
Free /Available on iOS
While the Kindle is almost the same as iBooks, it’s one advantage is that it offers a massive selection of books compared to Apple’s iBook app. You’ll have access to over 1,000,000 books in the Kindle Store plus hundreds of newspapers and magazines. Amazon Whispersync automatically syncs your last page read, bookmarks, notes, and highlights across devices so you can pick up your book where you left off on another device. The Kindle app is optimized for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch, giving users the ability to read Kindle books, newspapers, magazines, textbooks and PDFs on an easy-to-use interface.
Free /Available on iOS
If you’re traveling overseas, international data charges can steal a serious amount of cash from your wallet, so using Wi-Fi instead of 3G is often your best option. With the Wi-Fi Finder app, you can quickly and easily find free or paid Wi-Fi in over 650,000 locations in 144 countries worldwide. Using the GPS function on your iPhone, the Wi-Fi finder will tell you exactly where the closest Wi-Fi hotspot is, and if you prefer certain providers such as Comcast, you’ll be able to see which hotspots are served by these providers. You can also filter by location type (restaurant, cafe, hotel, etc.).
Free /Available on iPhone and Android
You may know exactly what to do if an emergency happens at home, but what if something goes wrong abroad? TravelSafe Pro compiles all emergency contact numbers and embassy addresses for your specified country. So, if you run into trouble (even though it’s unlikely!), you won’t waste any time Googling the info you need.
€o,99 / Available on Android
One of the great things about traveling abroad is all the free WiFi – from airports to coffee shops to train stations, you can find it almost anywhere. The downside? All these unprotected signals can leave your information vulnerable to hackers.
Private WiFi runs in the background of your device and makes you invisible online. That means you can use all the free WiFi you want, while protecting your bank details, private emails, and even your Facebook password!
Free (with monthly subscription of $9.95 per month) / Available on iPhone and Android
Getting stressed at the thought of packing for a semester abroad in a country you’ve never visited? It’s hard to know what exactly to take with you! Though it’s tempting to pack every single pair of shoes you own, it might not be the best use of your backpack space.
If you need to get organized, Packing Pro lets you input where you’re going, how many people you’re packing for, and what the weather will be like, then it will give you a personalized packing guide. It’s good for making sure you remember to pack your phone charger instead of another pair of yoga pants!
$2.99, available on iPhone and iPad
Travel cheap on the weekends and during breaks with this app. CouchSurfing connects you with people who have at least a couch, but maybe even a bedroom, to let you sleep on for the night as you travel. Common courtesy suggests you buy them a beer.
Free/ Available on iPhone and Android
There are so many travel lodging apps out there (HostelWorld etc..) it is hard to choose one. I like this app because these are really unique places to stay and often times very cheap for study abroad students on a budget! I mean who wouldn’t want to stay in a gypsy wagon on a trip through France!? The best part, normally your local host is more than willing to show you the best places to go in the city and sometimes even takes you there. It is an instant local friend!
Free / Available on iPhone and Android
Want to find art lovers in Tokyo, a language exchange in Spain or surfers in Sydney? Meetup is a great app to allow you to get off your smart phone and go meet some real people.
Free/ Available on iPhone and Android
Are you thinking in some another app to share with us?
