Apple Help: April 2015

Monday, April 27, 2015

14 travel apps to download before your next adventure

IMAGE: FLICKR,

Planning your next trip and want to be sure you find the best sightseeing, the best roadside restaurants and the best accommodation? Guess what. There's an app for that.

There are also apps for saving money at the airport and packing more efficiently.

In fact, there are so many apps, it can be difficult to know which ones are worth the effort.

But not to worry. Before you go on your next cross-country road trip or head home for the holidays, we've narrowed down a list of must-try travel apps.

Pocket

Pocket lets you easily save articles and videos for later.

All your items go into one place, and you can view, share and organize at any time and on any device. Add the extension to your browser so you can easily save longer articles you don't have time to read right away.

Available on iOS and Android.

Citymapper

New York City is great, but the subway system is not the easiest to master, especially for a first-time visitor. Citymapper helps you maneuver through all modes of transportation, so whether you're walking, bussing, subway-ing, cycling or cabbing, you can be sure you'll get to your destination.

Available on the web, Android and iOS.

SayHi Translate

Going to a country where people speak a different language, but haven't found time to learn it? SayHi will translate your plea for directions from English to Mandarin, Spanish, French and many more.

There is an extensive list of available languages available in a simple user interface.

Available on iOS.

HotelTonight

This app found success by offering travelers last-minute hotel reservations at great prices, and has since expanded to show great hotels at fantastic prices up to a week ahead of time.

HotelTonight also recently moved beyond accommodations to add recommendations for activities.

Available on iOS, Android and Windows.

GateGuru

GateGuru is your go-to app for an easy, breezy flight. The "JourneyCard" includes itineraries for current and future trips, and while you're on the road you can get detailed information about airport security wait times, suggested in-airport restaurants and shops.

Available on Android, Windows and iOS.

LoungeBuddy

Perfect for layovers, Lounge Buddy helps you find the closest lounges and chill-out spots in your airport.

Many travelers are aware that there are more comfortable chairs somewhere in the airport, but may not know if they have access to them. LoungeBuddy asks you about your status with different airlines in order to show you exactly what is available to you.

Available on Android and iOS.

Packing Pro

Are you obsessed with making sure you have everything you need? If so, this is your app. Packing Pro helps you get organized before a trip begins and after it's over.

It comes packed with tips and recommendations, and allows you to set reminders and export old lists.

Available on iOS.

Gogobot

Based on reviews from its users,Gogobot recommends restaurants, bars, shops, cafes, hotels and more.

The app also customizes recommendations based on what "tribe" you fit in. Examples tribes are "Foodies," "Backpackers" and "Families." Recommendations include badges that show what kind of traveler the activity or location is good for.

Available on Android and iOS.

Spottly

Spottly is a visual travel guide. It suggests places based on recommendations by fellow travelers and adventurers.

You can also share the great restaurants, bars, shops, and cafes you visited during your trip. The app also includes a video feature, so you can share that breathtaking sunset in Thailand with your friends.

Available on iOS, Android is in a limited beta.

AllTrails Hiking and Mountain Biking Trails

This is an app for the outdoor-loving folks who enjoy spending their time in nature. You can browse through more than 50,000 trails, with photos and reviews posted by fellow hikers and mountain lovers.

You can also save the trails you loved and share them with your friends and social networks.

Available on Android and iOS.

OMW (On My Way)

OMW allows you to share your location with your friends and family. So the next time you're in a car or on a bus, and you get an annoying 'where r u' text message, you can simply share your location in real time.

Once you arrive at your destination, your friend or family member will be notified and the app will automatically stop sharing your location.

Available on iOS.

Veg Travel Guide

HappyCow has made an app that helps vegans and vegetarians find quality places to eat on the road.

Although the app was developed to help people who don't eat meat find a great meal in an unfamiliar city, it's a great resource for anyone trying to stay healthy.

Available on Android, Windows and iOS.

Roadtrippers

Another app for the roadies, Roadtrippers helps you locate rest stops, campgrounds, and of course restaurants. The app also comes with reviews and photos, and if you enjoy a particular recommendation, you can save it for later.

Available on iOS and Android .

Radarcast

Radarcast is more than a weather forecast app: It offers detailed tracking of storms, going so far as to predict the precise times rain will start and stop on the map.

The app lets you bookmark multiple locations, so you can easily see the forecast and current radar of all your destinations.

Other features include severe weather warnings, storm direction arrows, hurricane forecast tracks and wildfires.

Available on iOS and Android.

Did we miss any of your must-have travel apps? Tell us in the comments.

23 Apple Watch apps that want to change the way you travel

The Apple Watch in the wild.

Travel apps were featured prominently during the reveal of the Apple Watch. And it makes sense — what better use of a smartwatch than portable translator,hotel room key and navigation aide?

Travel companies that have already announced additional app functionality for the Apple Watch include major airlines and hotels, as well as general booking sites, travel guide companies and transit apps.

If you are getting your Apple Watch on Friday (or in the coming months), here are the apps that want to change how you travel.

Maps

Apple Maps

Providing directions is a key feature of the watch, but Apple Maps will do more than that: Hotel reviews from TripAdvisor and Booking.com are baked into the mapping app.

CityMapper

CityMapper is focused on public transit, providing the fastest routes to your destination based on Google Maps data. Once you arrive, the watch will tap your wrist to make sure you know you've reached your destination.

The app notes your location, providing step-by-step instructions for catching the nearest bus or train. For options with published schedules, the app lists the next three arrivals.

Trip planning

TripAdvisor

The travel resource's watch app includes traveler reviews, ratings and photos of hotels, restaurants and attractions, cramming as much travel information as possible onto your wrist.

By swiping, users can view nearby points of interest based on location and time of day. For example, if you swipe rround lunchtime, you may see the highest-rated restaurant in the vicinity.

"It's all about location," Adam Medros, TripAdvisor's senior vice president of global product, told Mashable. "You're talking about increasingly knowing exactly where a user is, and even starting to know more context about time of day, weather, things like that that will help us make smarter and smarter recommendations based on what the user has already told us."

Medros said the goal with watch recommendations is to unobtrusively recommend to travelers the information they want, when they want it.

"It's a very personal device," he said. "There's potential for it to give me bits of information and bits of advice, to point me in a direction or to recognize things like it's 11 a.m. on a Wednesday, it might [know] I'm looking for coffee."

Priceline.com

Priceline.com's app will show four popular nearby hotel options for same-day booking, offering discounts from published rates. The deals link to the iPhone app, which can be used to complete the reservation.

The app also provides a view of existing itineraries, including flight, hotel and rental car details. If you need directions to one of the items on your itinerary, the app will link to Apple Maps.

The focus is on travel coming up in the next two days.

“Travelers with iPhone, iPad and iPod touch are a large and growing percentage of priceline.com’s customer base, particularly among last minute travelers,” Priceline.com's chief product officer, John Caine, said in a statement. The app "makes it that much easier and faster for travelers to access significant savings on the go.”

Expedia

Expedia's app includes upcoming trip itineraries, with both flight and hotel information. Flight info includes gates, terminals and departure and arrival times.

For hotels, you can get check-in and check-out times, ratings, locations, addresses and phone numbers."

Orbitz

The Orbitz app takes advantage of the "Glances" feature on the watch, putting itinerary information a swipe or two away, beginning 24 hours before the start of the trip.

Orbitz Rewards members will also be able to view their balance from the watch.

Notifications from the watch can include day-of travel updates on flight delays, gate changes and cancellations, as well as details like the number of the baggage claim carousel at the arrival airport. Notifications can also include deals and promotions.

TripCase

TripCase's app provides a look at upcoming trip items and lets users open the iPhone app, save places for later, and view destinations on a map.

The app also provides real-time flight alerts.

Gogobot

On the watch, travelers can find restaurants, accommodations and attractions nearby, including names, ratings and pricing.

Hotels

Booking.com

The Booking Now app enables booking directly from the Apple Watch, letting you choose from nearby hotels matched to your personal preferences (based on the site's previously collected data).

You can book your selected hotel, manage "key aspects" of your reservation, and check the room number and length of stay using the watch.

The app will be the "first and only travel app to enable users to book a stay directly from their watch, and in just one touch," according to Booking.com.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts

Starwood Hotels & Resorts lets you walk straight through the lobby, head to your room and unlock the door — without ever talking to a hotel clerk or even removing anything from your wallet.

The app will also provide you with directions to your hotel, check in, allow you to see reservation details and view your Starpoints balance.

Marriott

The Marriott Apple Watch app lets you complete an advance check-in, notifies you when your room is ready, and allows you to check out easily.

Marriott also accepts Apple Pay, so you could pay at the counter with your Apple Watch instead of opening your wallet.

HotelTonight

Popular last-minute booking app HotelTonight will offer its hand-picked selection of hotels on the watch. Booking on the smartphone app was easy; booking on the Apple Watch is easier.

In addition to same-day booking, HotelTonight also offers a look at prices for the next week.

Hotels.com

The Hotels.com app will provide details about upcoming itineraries on the watch (including directions). It also books deals for hotels in your current location.

Airlines

Many airlines are making their apps compatible with the Apple Watch, so you can get notifications about your upcoming itineraries and any problems or delays. Some airlines, like American, are also adding a check-in feature to the watch.

The airlines that will have apps on the watch include:

Transportation

On the ground, that is.

Uber

As soon as the Uber app is opened on the Apple Watch, you'll see an estimate for how long it will take for a car to reach you. From there, you can request the car and track its location on the map as it heads your way.

Hailo

Hailo will also have an Apple Watch app, which will allow for calling a car and show how long it will take to reach you.

Bonus apps

Since wearables come with us everywhere, almost anything on the watch could be considered a "travel" app. Here are some other apps that aren't necessarily travel-focused, but will help travelers get where they're going — and enjoy the journey.

Instagram

What better way to find the destinations you want to visit next than to see them through the eyes of the travelers who are there now?

Swim spot for today. Supposedly the busiest beach on Mahe Island #beauvallon #Seychelles #mahe #happyholidays #sunsandsea #soblue #666thpost #islandlife
A photo posted by Evita Louis (@_miss_louis_) on 5 days ago

On the Apple Watch, you can browse your Instagram feed, like photos and leave emoji comments.

IHG Translator

The translator app from InterContinental Hotels Group, provides on-demand translation "virtually anywhere in the world."

"By speaking directly into the watch, or selecting from a range of pre-loaded common phrases, travelers will be able to translate from English into 13 different languages, in real-time," IHG said in a statement. "Translations will appear instantly on the screen of the device in the chosen language, giving users the chance to read the word or phrase, with the help of phonetic spelling."

BONUS: Apple Watch Commercial Reveals Time Travel Feature

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7 things we just found out about the Apple Watch

Thought you knew everything there was to know about the Apple Watch? Think again.

Apple fans worldwide began posting their unboxing videos and first-impressions on Friday. While reviewshave been out for weeks, we did learn a couple of new things about Apple's first wearable.

1. You can use the charger with other gadgets.

The Apple Watch uses a MagSafe charger that magnetically attaches to the underside of the device. Apple Insiderreader Albert C. Lee was able to get a MagSafe charger early and discovered it could be used to charge his Moto 360 Android Wear smartwatch.

In theory, if the Apple Watch's MagSafe charger is compatible with Qi-based wireless chargers, you could use your own charger, or even buy a cheaper one (Apple's MagSafe charger sells for $29).Mashable tested the MagSafe charger on a Moto 360 and it worked, but we weren't able to get the Apple Watch to charge on two different Qi wireless chargers, so cheap alternate chargers for your Apple Watch probably aren't a thing.

2. It's more waterproof than you think.

The Apple Watch is water-resistant, not waterproof. FoneFox decided to test that claim by using the Apple Watch in the shower and lathering it up with shampoo and soap, submerging it in a bucket for five minutes, and swimming with it for 15 minutes. (Of course: We don't recommend you try any of this yourself.)

The Watch survived all of the tests. Here's one interesting tidbit: Although the touchscreen doesn't work underwater, the digital crown does.

3. It has a secret blood oxygen monitor.

Apple Watch teardown — Teardown of the Apple Watch reveals a secret feature built into the heart rate monitor.

The folks at iFixit flew to Australia to be among the first to get an Apple Watch and as with all new gadgets, they immediately got to cracking the thing open.

According to their teardown on a 38mm Apple Watch Sport, the heart-rate monitor is actually more powerful: It can measure blood oxygen levels. The strange thing is, Apple doesn't advertise this feature nor has it activated it in the Watch. Maybe it'll be activated in a future software update?

4. Worn off band? No returns for you!

Apple will reportedly not be accepting any returns or replacements for Apple Watch bands that show signs of discoloration, deformation or scratches and marks, according to an internal support document obtained by 9to5Mac.

Everyday wear and tear is to be expected. The document shows images of a leather band grossly discolored from sweat and lotions, as well as deformed leather bands and scratched stainless steel link bracelets.

5. The Apple Watch Sport has a plastic MagSafe charger, not a metallic one.

As if getting the Watch Sport wasn't enough of an announcement to the world that you got the cheapest model, the MagSafe charger that comes with it is also cheaper. First spotted by 9to5Mac, the Sport's MagSafe charger is made from plastic, not metal like the ones that come with the Watch and Watch Edition.

6. The Apple Watch charges fast.

The Apple Watch has a tiny, tiny battery. The 38mm Apple Watch has a 205 milliampere-hour (mAh) battery. The Verge's Tom Warren says his 42mm Apple Watch can go from 50% to 100% in one hour. Maybe you won't need those battery bands after all. Just keep your MagSafe charger and a battery pack handy on those long days.

7. The packaging differs depending on what model you get.

Everybody knows that Apple takes extreme pride in designing delightful packaging for its products. People love watching "unboxing" videos, where other people film themselves opening up new products and showing off the box's contents.

Naturally, since there are three different tiers of Apple Watch — Sport, "regular" and Edition — there are three different types of packaging. The Watch Sport model (above) comes with a rectangular-shaped box with the wearable laid flat.

The regular Watch (above) comes in a plastic square-shaped box. Of course, the holy grail Watch Edition (below) comes in the nicest packaging of them all: A premium box with leather lining that doubles as a charging dock.

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