6 Travel Apps for a Stress-Free International Trip
Your guides through the skincare chaos
Traveling abroad is much easier with the right apps on hand. They can help you pack smarter, choose the best SPF, translate menus, manage money, and even book a guide. Here are six of the best travel apps for confident international travel.
PackPoint
PackPoint helps you decide what to take with you on a trip. All you need to do is enter your destination, travel dates, and planned activities.
For instance, for a ten-night stay in Barcelona in the beginning of August that includes swimming, hiking, and dining in fancy restaurants, the app recommends a list of 70 items, ranging from essentials like a swimsuit or sunglasses to chapstick, tweezers, and earplugs. Once you put an item in your suitcase, tap it on the list to mark it as packed.
The only drawback is that it works best for trips with a single destination. For longer journeys with multiple destinations, activities, and weather conditions, you’ll need to create separate mini-trips with individual packing lists, which can be a bit inconvenient.
PackPoint is available on the App Store and Google Play.
OnSkin
OnSkin is a skincare ingredient checker that can be useful before and during your trip. Traveling often means exposing your skin to new climates, salt water, and other stressors, while cosmetic products labeled in foreign languages can make choosing the right skincare even more challenging.
For instance, if you’re not sure which SPF to buy, take a photo of the product or its QR code with OnSkin, or type its name in the search bar. The app will analyze its formula, explain what ingredients it contains, and tell you whether the product is a good match for your skin type and concerns.
You can also ask the app to create a personalized 4-step skincare routine with specific products for morning and evening care.
You can download OnSkin from the App Store or Google Play.
My Currency Converter & Rates
This converter supports more than 150 currencies, from the US dollar and euro to the Costa Rican colon and Chilean peso, as well as popular cryptocurrencies.
My Currency Converter is easy to use: just enter the amount and choose the currency you want to convert it to.
You can also add currencies to your favorites for quick access, view exchange rate trends from one day up to five years, and adjust the number of decimal places (0–4).
Another useful feature for travelers is that My Currency Converter can work offline using the last known exchange rates.
Important: The app shows the current exchange rate, while exchange offices and your credit card providers may offer a less favorable rate.
The app is available on iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch.
Google Translate
If you need help understanding a menu or a conversation in a foreign language, Google Translate can translate text, speech, and photos in more than 200 languages.
It also includes a Conversation mode, which allows people speaking different languages to communicate in real time. Simply speak into your phone, and the app will translate the conversation for both participants.
If you download language packs before your trip, you’ll be able to translate text without the internet. However, a connection is still needed for camera and speech translation.
You can download the app from the App Store and Google Play.
Bonus app: If you want to learn a few foreign expressions before or during your trip, try Duolingo. It’s a language-learning platform that offers lessons in over 40 languages for learners at all levels. Instead of checking Google Translate every time you hear an Italian “a presto” or “con piacere” from a waitress, you can learn it in just a couple of Duolingo lessons. It’s available for iOS and Android.
Taxi App
It’s a category rather than a single app. Different countries have different taxi services, and their rates can vary. Here are some of the most common ones:
- Uber. One of the most popular taxi apps worldwide (iOS, Android)
- Bolt. Very popular in Europe, Africa, and parts of Asia (iOS, Android)
- Freenow by Lyft. Available in many European countries (iOS, Android)
- Grab. The leading transportation app in many Southeast Asian countries (iOS, Android)
Pro Tip: Download taxi apps before you leave home. It’s much easier to create an account, add your payment details, and complete SMS verification before your trip.
GetYourGuide
GetYourGuide is a travel app that helps you discover and book tours and attractions around the world. If you’ve already planned your trip, you can search for your destination and browse activities to match your interests, from sightseeing tours to wine tastings. Museum tickets are available as well.
All experiences are reviewed by real travelers, so you can check ratings and feedback before booking. If you’re not ready to pay for a tour right away, you can save it to your wishlist.
GetYourGuide can also be helpful if you haven’t decided where to travel yet. The app features collections such as “top destinations,” “must-see attractions,” and “unique travel experiences,” which can help inspire your next trip.
Key Takeaways
These six travel apps serve different purposes, but together they can make your trip smoother:
- PackPoint helps you build smart packing lists based on your destination, dates, and planned activities
- OnSkin helps you make skincare choices by analyzing product ingredients and how they may affect your skin
- My Currency Converter & Rates makes it easy to convert over 150 currencies and track exchange trends
- Google Translate helps overcome language barriers
- Taxi apps like Uber, Bolt, Freenow, and Grab make getting around easier once you arrive in a new country
- GetYourGuide helps you find and book local tours and attractions
FAQ
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Where do I start with OnSkin?
Download the app and think of a product you’d like to know more about. Then, go to the main screen and choose how you’d like to get the info —by manually looking it up in the search bar, by scanning its barcode, or by simply taking a picture of the packaging. Once you’ve done any of these, you can see how safe the product is and if it suits your skin or hair (if this analysis is available).
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What is Safety Rating, and how is it calculated?
In OnSkin, we base product rates on ingredients. Each is closely studied by our medical team and then evaluated. This way, each product gets a score from 0 to 100, with 100 as the safest level.
Safety Levels
- Excellent (76–100)
- Good (51–75)
- Not great (26–50)
- Bad (0–25)
These scores are backed by the latest scientific studies. You can find links to the resources we’ve used on each ingredient page. To assess the safety of product ingredients, we evaluate them according to the following parameters/criteria
- Endocrine disruption risk / Reproductive toxicity
Indicates the probability of mimicking, blocking, or interfering with the body hormones.
- Сarcinogenicity
Measures the potential risk of inducing cancer.
- Allergy risk
Estimates the probability of an allergic reaction.
- High concentration alert
Determines the risk of being unsafe in certain amounts.
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What is Skin Match?
Based on the info you input about your skin type, age, skin care goal, and other “settings,” OnSkin checks how well a product is tailored to your unique skin needs — it’s basically like a dermatologist helping you find the right products, minus the fees and the long wait. The product you’re checking might be labeled as It’s a match!, Hit-or-miss, or Not a match for you. The app also detects ingredient groups such as Anti-acne, Anti-inflammatory, Moisturizes, May be drying, Comedogenic, and others — by tapping one, you see exactly what ingredients from this or that group are in the product.
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I seem to have a problem with using the app. Who should I contact?
Please reach out to us at [email protected], and we’ll carefully look into your issue. Your ideas for improving the app are also very welcome!
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Do you have an Android version?
Not yet! Hey Android users, we hear you, and we're thinking about making an Android version, but we haven't started the development yet.
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