Top 5 iOS Bicycle Touring Apps

29 Oct Top 5 iOS Bicycle Touring Apps

iPhone

I love my Apple iPhone 5 like the next guy.  Some tour riders view an iPhone, or any other smart phone, as a must-have tool, while many riders feel that riding with a smart phone ruins the experience of being one with nature.  I belong to the former group in which I use my iPhone for almost everything.  Without it, I can’t keep in touch with my friends & family, update my social media networks, continue to read my books and emails, and take fantastic pictures along the way.  Here are the top 5 bicycle touring apps I use the most on my rides, outside of Mail and various social media apps.

5. Wi-Fi Finder (Free)

For those who have blogs to update or are still working on-the-go, it is essential to find wifi hotspots so that you can continue your productivity even when on the road.  It is imperative to have access to these locations.  This free app is provided free of charge and allows you to download updated database of all wifi locations locally on your iPhone, giving you the ability to search when you don’t have Internet connectivity.  Very convenient if your cell service is limited.

4. Evernote (Free, $45/year for unlimited storage)

So maybe this isn’t a bicycle touring specific application, but this application has been an integral part of my digital tool set.  I use this application to help me with almost every aspect of my tour, including the planning and documentation.  The beauty of this app is the ability to index everything, even PDF files, which is very convenient to pull up information in an instant.  Need to find that itinerary for your hotel?  No problem!  Email it to your Evernote account, and it’s available on your iPhone app.  Evernote deserves another future post explaining how I use this application in-depth for my planning process.

3. TrackMyTour (Free – 2 maps, $4.99 Upgrade)

This application has been recommended in the circle of bicycle tourists.  This application allows you to “check-in” at various waypoints of your bicycle tour.  It allows you to document several aspects of your ride, like live weather forecasts, and allows you to keep a running log of your journey with a overviewing map for your family and friends.  The intent of this app is not to track you in real-time, but rather whenever you want people to know where you are and  conserve battery power.  TrackMyTour is free for 2 tour maps, but if you want to record several other tours, it is recommended to purchase the upgrade for $4.99 within the app.

2. Wikihood (Free)

This is one of my favorite apps to use whenever I find myself at a location and would like to learn more about my current location.  Based on your GPS location, the app can determine your city location and list all the landmarks and highlights.  This is very useful if you see an interesting building or a monument of some sort and want to know more about it.  I use this app not only on bike tours, but also when I’m doing road trips in a car.

1. Google Maps (Free)

Besides the camera app, the Google Maps app is my go-to application whenever the wheels stop moving.  When it comes to bicycle tour mapping options, this is the de facto application.  Say what you need to say about how terrible some of the results are, but compared to any other map applications (especially the Apple Maps) this is the best application by far.  It’s gotten us out of many jams when we were questioning when to make that fateful turn.  It has provided us options when our turn-by-turn route sheets didn’t.  One of the most highly anticipated feature that was released earlier this year was that it included bicycle-friendly directions.  Although Google has said that this feature is in beta, I have used this religiously to get from point A to point B without much issues.  If you haven’t already done it, I highly recommend that you download this application and use it for yourself.  You won’t regret it

We are always looking for good applications to use on our bike tours, so please feel free to leave a comment and let us know what other iPhone applications are out there.