Apps For The RVer
Convenient, helpful, and even safety-enhancing programs are available for your smartphone or tablet.
Perhaps the biggest change we’ve seen in our five years of very active RVing is how apps for our smartphones and tablets have come to be essential to our motorhome lifestyle.
Many RV travelers use apps such as All Stays Camp and RV (www.allstays.com/apps/camprv.htm/) to help them find campgrounds and dump stations, plus RV-friendly Walmart overnight parking. And there are money-saving apps such as the one from the Pilot Flying J chain of roadside service centers (www.pilotflyingj.com/mypilot) that help us manage fuel costs.
But we’ve found many others that enrich and assist us in our travels as well. I thought I’d share some of our favorites this month in hopes that you, too, will benefit from one or more of them. In no particular order, here are the 10 apps that Jennifer and I use the most these days as we travel North America in our motorhome.
1. Hoopla (www.hoopladigital.com).
We love listening to audiobooks as we drive. With CD players now becoming a thing of the past in new vehicles, downloading books and playing them back through a smartphone or similar device is the most common way to listen on the road. But they cost a fortune from the app stores. That’s where Hoopla comes in. Hoopla is a free app for Android, iOS (Apple), or Kindle that lets you download audiobooks directly to your smartphone or tablet from your home public library. For free. Naturally, you have to belong to a public library and have a valid membership.
Besides audiobooks, Hoopla lets you check out movies and TV shows and e-books. They download to your device for offline playback, which means you’re not streaming and eating up your data plan, or dependent on Wi-Fi, when you play them. Choose from hundreds of thousands of titles; more are added daily. Your selections are automatically “returned” and removed from your device at the end of the lending period, which is typically a month.
2. Scanner For Me (www.apalon.com/scan_and_print.html).
If you’ve ever wished you could use a scanner without, well, the scanner, you’re in luck. This free app instantly scans any written, printed, or graphic material — everything from business cards to receipts for tracking expenses. Scans go to a smartphone’s camera roll to be printed or shared. Scans can be edited with borders, filters, contrast adjustments, and more. The app is iOS- and Android-compatible.
3. Todoist (www.todoist.com).
We learned a long time ago that you really need to have a long to-do list for RV travel. This app is what we use. I have a packing list for trip planning and a departure checklist for reminding me to do all the tasks involved in packing up and leaving a campsite. We also use a shopping list for our travels. This app can be shared, meaning Jennifer and I both access it and her updates show on my list, and mine on hers. It sends out reminders, too, such as when it’s time for an oil change. The app is free for iOS and Android.
4. SmartReceipts (www.smartreceipts.co).
We track every single expense while traveling. This app makes it so easy. We use our smartphone camera to take a photo of the receipt and then enter the details, location, and item on a little form that pops up. It saves everything, categorizes everything, and then can be printed off or mailed to an accountant as a .pdf or .csv file. Looking at those reports and seeing just where my money goes has helped me know where to tighten up. Plus, once I have scanned those receipts with my smartphone, I can toss them away. No more bulging envelopes! It’s free for iOS and Android.
5. GoPetFriendly (www.gopetfriendly.com).
This is not an app. It’s a website. You may have seen it mentioned in the March 2017 issue of this magazine, in the “RV News And Notes” column (page 40). We access it on our tablets all the time. We always travel with Bo, our Norwegian elkhound. And this site is the absolute best we’ve found in helping us locate everything from pet-friendly campgrounds to off-leash parks to doggie beaches where he can swim. It even lists restaurants and wineries and other places where Bo is welcome to accompany us. It includes a list of pet stores and veterinarians by locale. There’s even a Road Trip Planner feature that locates pet-friendly spots along your route. Bo loves those off-leash parks, and we use this site to find the ones we will visit each day as we travel. Some days, we’ve hit as many as three, much to Bo’s delight.
6. Roadside America (www.roadsideamerica.com).
This app comes from the popular Roadside America website. It is only for iOS, and it costs $2.99. But we use it a lot, especially when traveling the back roads. The app helps us find all sorts of fun, off-the-beaten path oddities across the United States and Canada, from giant twine balls to the Cathedral of Junk in Austin, Texas. We search for attractions nearby, where we’re headed, or even by theme. The app delivers a short description, address, and directions.
7. History Here (www.history.com/history-here).
This travel app was developed by the makers of the History TV channel. It gives the history of just about any location, whether you are near home or venturing to someplace new. History Here also can send notifications when users are close to historical sites. Locations are displayed in zoomable, map-based views or a scrolling list. The app is free for iOS and Android.
8. My Garden Answers(www.gardenanswers.com).
As we travel, we encounter lots of beautiful flowers, shrubs, and trees. We often wonder what they are. This app gives us the answer. It helps identify more than 20,000 plants with detailed information. Take a picture of the plant, tap the “submit” button, and answers are instantly provided about what’s growing. My Garden Answers also provides details about plant diseases and insect infestations, with more than 200,000 commonly asked plant questions. The app is free for both types of devices.
9. Family Tracker (www.myfamilytracker.com).
Family members always wonder where we are. We wonder where they are. With Family Tracker, as long as everyone has their phones with them and is on the Family Tracker system, each person can see where everyone else is at any time. Users also can send messages to each other through Family Tracker. The app is $3.99 for iOS and $4.99 for Android, with in-app purchases available to expand capabilities.
10. GroupMe (www.groupme.com).
This is another app for keeping in touch with family, friends, or maybe others in an RV caravan group. It allows users to set up multiple texting groups. In addition to text messaging, you can share photos, videos, or your location. And if you don’t want to be bothered by anyone, GroupMe has a setting to block messages from coming through. The GroupMe app is available free foriOS, Android, and Windows devices.