We are sharing a fresh list of 9 essential phone apps to help make your RV life a bit easier this month. Some of these you might have heard of before, but we hope there is at least 1 or 2 on the list that are new to you. Here is our list of the top 8 tools worth checking out:
RVing Phone Apps for both Apple and Android:
- Gas Buddy– it’s free and helps you find the cheapest gas in your area on the go! Gas prices are for USA and Canada only…and for every gas price reported you’ll earn points toward prize giveaway entries…They give away a $100 gas cards to keep reviewers motivated to share info.
- Trucker path – No matter what type of RV you have, we all know it’s easier to pull through a gas station that is made for longer, bigger vehicles. Trucker Path will help you find the closest truck-friendly gas station, let you know if overnight parking is available nearby, inform you of low clearance issues, while also giving you access to navigation, real time overnight parking estimates, and reviews from their 600K drivers updating info. This app is also claims to show which Walmart locations are overnight stay verified. (for iphone users try Truck Stops and Travel Plazas)
- RV parks & Campgrounds by ParkAdvisor (both) – this app shows a map and users click on their state and keep enlarging to see map pins that show RV Parks. While it does not claim to be an all-inclusive list, after a few clicks we discovered many of RV parks that appeared to be reviewed by seasoned travelers. Comments were clearly written to inform new travelers of key issues that RVers would want to know about like “many dogs roaming the park”, or “not a ‘resort’ by our definition, wooden steps had been built for several, decks had been added for several, and the bath house was in bad need of repairs”, or “Great campground with beautiful park. Spacious, paved, shaded camping spaces each with a picnic table and fire pit…”
- Oh Ranger! Park Finder is an excellent resource for RVers too -Oh, Ranger! ParkFinder contains an exclusive database with information on thousands of different types of public lands, which can be searched to find activities like RVing, Hiking, Boating, Camping, etc.
The app scours databases that include info on several different types of public lands including:
National Parks
• State Parks
• National Forests
• Wildlife Refuges
• Bureau of Land Management (BLM) sites - KOA App– allows users to filter, reserve, and mark campgrounds as a favorite in the app… and driving directions and KOA campground info is supposed to be available off-line which can be super helpful!
- WeatherBug (for Android and Apple) -When driving and traveling, accurate and current weather info is important for both safety and sight-seeing plans. WeatherBug, the best free weather app, powered by the world’s largest network of professional weather stations, providing the fastest weather alerts, real-time weather conditions, accurate hourly forecasts & 10-day forecasts, 18 weather maps including Doppler radar, satellite, lightning alerts, precipitation, local temperature, local pressure, local radar, wind chill, heat index, humid, wind, pollen, UV and much more!
RVing Phone Apps that are Apple Only:
- All Stays Camp and RV (iphone only) is on almost ever app review list we found on-line. For those with iphones, a few clicks gives users info on areas to camp and RV.
- LifePics is an app that is free and lets you order all of your iphone photos throug the LifePics Photofinisher network. This is network hsa over 18,000 stores located all over the world where you can print your photos and pic them up at places like CVS, Office depot, Ritz/Wolf Camera, etc.
RVing Website we had to include that’s not an App:
- RVDumps.com – this is not an app- but we tested it on our mobile phones and the website appears to be mobile responsive. Plus, we could not find another app that provides dumping station info nationwide. Using a mobile phone as a hot spot, or using free wi-fi at a restaurant, RVers can hop on RVDumps.com and find a geographic map of the US and then navigate visually by selecting a state, and selecting different push-pin location markers for dump stations. What’s fabulous is the little pop up for each push-pin will show if the dump station is supposed to be free or if a fee is required. It also appears as if the free dump stations might color coded differently from the paid dump stations. When testing the light blue ones seemed to be free and the dark blue icons appeared to be paid.
There are plenty of other travel apps and sight seeing apps to choose from, but with these top picks installed on your phone you’ll be well on your way to a successful trip this spring!
