25 Ways Your iPhone Can Help You While Traveling

Practical advice to help travelers use their iPhone efficiently and stay prepared during trips, including converting currencies with Spotlight search, saving offline maps, managing roaming settings, securing the device, organizing travel documents, optimizing battery life and more.
Your iPhone can help you in many ways when you are traveling. This list of tips is almost entirely about the apps that come with your iPhone.
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Video Transcript: Hi, this is Gary with MacMost.com. Here are some tips for using your iPhone while traveling. 
First let's start off with currency conversion. A quick way to do this is to use Spotlight Search. You can do this by swiping down in the middle of the screen or just tapping Search here on the Home screen and then instead of searching for something you can actually type. I can type out the word Euro or I can tap and hold the dollar sign here and you can see I get different symbols. So I can use this for Euro and you can see it gives me the conversion there. If I want to go the opposite way I can use the dollar sign in front and it is going to try to guess Euro. But if that's not what I want I can type something else, like this, and get the amount. 
But another way to do it is to use the Calculator App. What you want to do is tap on the bottom here at the bottom left and turn on Convert. Now you get units here. Choose the currency that you want and it will remember that so each time you type in a number, like this, it will do the conversion. You could always tap this button here to switch the direction. If you press Equals then you'll find that these calculations appear here in the history. 
Now your iPhone has a Translator App. It is built-in but a lot of people don't know it's there. So search for Translate and you can use this in a variety of different ways. The first one here allows you to type or speak text and it will translate it. You can set the language right here. So let's give it a try. "what do you recommend for a vegetarian." You can also use this button here to have your iPhone speak it for the other person to hear. You can also go to this Conversation Mode, here, and then talk back and forth with the other person using your iPhone as a translator. 
Another mode you've got is the Camera Mode. When you use that you'll actually be looking through the camera on your iPhone and you can translate things like signs or menus. You could also take a picture to save this. Very handy for saving menus or directions. 
Also after you've taken a picture you can use the Photos App to identify what it is you're seeing. So here I am in the Photos App. You can do the same thing when viewing the photo from the Camera App. If you tap on the button here at the bottom it's going to identify the landmark, like this. 
Now let's go to the Clock App. A pretty simple app but one of its functions here is the World Clock. You can add various clocks here. So you can add the places you're going to visit before you go and keep track, not only of the time and the place you're going to but what time it is at home and other places you may need to communicate with while traveling. You don't have to do the math in your head all the time. 
Also in the Weather App you've got this list here at the bottom right and you can add different locations around the world just by searching for them. So you can check on the weather before you leave. You can look at the weather when you're there. But also, of course, check on the weather back home as well. Just tap on any one of these to see what the weather is like there. You can also tap on the Map here. It will take you to
a map where you can move around and zoom in on a location. Really handy if you want to see the weather over the entire route. 
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The Maps App, of course, is a big app you're going to want to use when you're traveling. You can look at your location wherever you are in the world and there's tons of information. There are different guides, for instance. You can get, sometimes, 3D flyovers of the area. You can use it for directions whether you're driving or taking public transportation or walking. Notice here you also can download offline maps. So you can do it here but you can also just tap on ID here and one of the things you can do here if Offliine Maps. You can go to a location, like this, and you can define the area. So you get a larger area and it will tell you how much space it's going to take. You can then download it when you have WiFi and that way while you're moving around you're not using your mobile data so much to get map data. Plus, if you don't have a connection somewhere then you still have your maps available. 
Also, if there is place you want to go you cannot only get information about it but you can also go and add it to your Library so you can get easy access to it or Pin the location. You can even add Notes for location. So there's all sorts of stuff you can do in Maps. 
You also have the Compass App which could be useful if you're on a hike or something and you don't have Maps available. You can still use the this. Here on my demo iPhone it doesn't show up but normally you'll see longitude and latitude and also your altitude which could be useful if you want to keep track of that. 
Now if you want to track your flight you don't need a special app to do that. You can actually do that with default functionality on your phone. Either swipe down in the middle or use this Search button here to bring up Spotlight, just like I showed you before, and then type in the air flying flight code and you can see it comes up right here. You can actually tap on it and get tons of information about the flight. You can actually do the same in Messages whether you sent somebody else a flight code or they sent it to you. It should show up here as a Link. Here are two examples and if I tap here you can see I can preview the flight and get the flight information here, in Messages, as well. 
Now let's say you want to set Calendar events while traveling but you're not in the same time zone yet. You haven't actually gone to the place and yet you want to put in your calendar when you've got theater tickets or something. Well you can add an event and notice when you set the time here one of the things you can do is set the timezone and you can search for different timezones. So instead of trying to figure out what time to set here you could actually search for the place you're going to and make sure you're setting the event for the time in the correct timezone. Then let Calendar take care of the rest. 
Another thing you may want to do is to actually have a shared calendar with the people you're traveling with. So you go down to Calendars here and you can add a new calendar here. What you want to do with this is not only create a calendar that has, say, your flights and events and all sorts of things having to do with this trip but also you can add a person to add the other people in your family or group to this and everybody can see the events on the calendar and add them and look at the notes and everything. 
Now one of the things you may want to do when you go on a trip is to get a Travel Book for that location. But those can actually be pretty big and heavy to bring with you if you want to travel light. Instead just get it on your iPhone. In the Books app if you search for your location you will probably come up with a variety of different travel books. Here some of them will cost something but sometimes you can end up with free books that are available. But whatever you download from here is not going to add an ounce to what you're carrying and it's going to be searchable on your phone and always with you when you go out. If you prefer to use Amazon system you can always get the Kindle App and do the same thing.
Another thing to do is to search The App Store for where you're going. You may find some local apps, sometimes for free, that give you information about the place you're traveling to. They could be filled with ads and stuff but they still might give you some local events that you wouldn't find elsewhere.
Also do a web search for what ride sharing apps work in the location you're going to. Uber isn't available everywhere and you might find that the different taxi services offer different apps and different locations. So do some research on the web for that and then look for that app. Even if you're not planning on using it it is just handy to have it on your phone before you travel just in case. The same goes for using e-scooters and e-bikes. You may need a different app in that location than what you're used to. 
You probably also want to make sure you have the Official App from your Airline on your phone. That way you can have your Boarding Passes there, you can get updates, information, it can tell you things about where your bags are and stuff like that. A lot of times they will allow you to add your boarding pass to your Wallet but you need their App first. Another thing to look out for is sometimes airlines have a different app for accessing the inflight entertainment than the regular app for travel. You want to make sure you get that before you get on the plane. 
Now if you're in a completely different country why are you still listening to the same music you listened to back home. You have Apple Music. You can listen to top 100 lists from around the world. You can search for a place and find playlists and even streaming radio stations for that location. You can listen while you're there or maybe get ready for the trip by listening before you go. 
The Notes App can come in very handy while traveling. I use this all the time. You create a note and you put all your different ideas of places you may want to go, where things are located. Things like that. But you don't keep it to yourself. You actually use this button here and then you Share it for collaboration with others. So you have this shared note that everybody gets access to and use. Do that during the planning stages before you travel. Then while you're traveling it's easy for everybody to access all that information. 
Another thing Notes is handy for is you can use a little attach button here and then you can take a photo or scan documents. It's very useful while traveling if you just want something for reference, like maybe a sign with a map that just before you go on a hike or something like that. You may not want to have that in your Photos for later but you may want to have it in a Note here so you can access the photo, at least, temporarily. 
Remember you can lock Notes too. You may want to create another one that has pictures of, say, your passport and your driver's license and other important travel information just in case you need it. 
A lot of people like to keep a journal while traveling and you've got a Journal App on your iPhone. So you can easily add entries for this. The cool thing about this is as you move around, go to different places, and take photos it's going to know that and it's going to suggest things for your journal. So at the end of the day you can see where you've been and easily add those items there and write something about them. You can also add photos, take pictures directly here in the Journal App and you can use this button here to record a journal entry if you'd rather do that than typing. 
An alternative to the Journal App is Voice Memos. If you'd rather use that you can. On the latest iPhones it will transcribe what you say so you do have some text when you're done. 
Now let's talk about the Files App. You may want to store a lot of your travel documents in iCloud Drive. It is easy to maintain. You can maintain them on your Mac or iPad and you'll have them here on your iPhone as well. What you want to do is on your iPad go into the Files app and tap and hold a document that is very important and you want to make sure you have it available to you even when you're offline. You can use the Keep Downloaded button here. It will make sure it doesn't offload that to save space. You can even do that here for an entire folder. So put all your important travel documents in a folder for that trip and use Keep Downloaded to make sure you have it on your iPhone. 
Another thing you probably want to do is go into the Find My app which you may think of as a way to look at your iPhone if you've lost it. But you can also use this to share your location with the other people you're traveling with. That way everybody knows where they are. Very useful especially for families. But also in the Messages App at any time you can tap the Plus button here and among all the other things that you can share you can Share your location temporarily with somebody. So if you find a cool restaurant you can share your location in the Messages App and then tell everybody else to come meet your there without having to give them directions. 
Now you probably want to share your best photos while you're traveling with the people back home. So in the Photos App you can go to Shared Albums here and create a new Shared Album. You can even make it public or just make it available to certain people. Then they can see the Photos that you decide to put in this Shared Album. It is especially useful now when a lot of people would rather share their photos in their own place like this where they can control everything rather than putting them on some social media network. 
Another thing you may want to do is get one of these. This is an SD card reader. Get it to match the input on your iPhone and that way if you take pictures with a different camera you can actually load them directly on to your iPhone from the SD card, if you're not traveling with a laptop. That works great if you're using iCloud Photos. Because as you're traveling you're putting your photos on your iPhone, then they are going up to iCloud so you don't have to worry about what happens if your SD card fails or you loose your iPhone. All your photos are always going to iCloud as you travel. 
If you're traveling with your MacBook as well one problem you may have is getting your MacBook online. Well, remember your iPhone has the capability to be a personal hotspot. So, you can connect your MacBook to the internet through your iPhone. Of course this depends on which carrier you are using and whether or not they even make that service available while traveling. This is great when WiFi is not available but it is also good if you can use it when there is public WiFi. Using your own personal hotspot is probably a lot more secure.
Another thing I highly recommend is to make sure you have Apple Pay setup and use that while traveling. I find that Apple Pay is pretty widely available internationally and you can still use it with any of the credit cards that you normally use. But the great thing about it is that it is much more secure. Every transactions and individual transactions nobody can steal your credit card number when you use Apple Pay. But plus it also has the advantage that if your credit card is compromised and you have to get a new one usually you can't get ahold of that credit card until you get back home. However, usually your Apple Pay updates automatically so you can continue to use that same card through Apple Pay.
If you have a new iPhone with Apple Intelligence you can also use that for travel suggestions. For instance you can ask it for suggestions like this and if you have a more complex request it will even call out to ChatGPT for lists of recommendations. 
So if you take advantage of some of these things you'll find that your iPhone can be a great tool while traveling. Hope you found this useful. Thanks for watching.
Comments: 2 Responses to “25 Ways Your iPhone Can Help You While Traveling”

Jim Terrinoni
2 months ago
Yes! Useful. A number of little gems. Especially liked the explanation of ApplePay and benefits of leaving c.c. card behind. Not sure if I’m confident enough to do it, yet now that I know the tip I can try in advance pre-traveling.
Barbara Rozavsky
1 month ago
Excellent group of tips. I never knew my iPhone was capable of doing all of this.
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25 Ways Your iPhone Can Help You While Traveling

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