Discover the 6 must-have apps every traveler needs for a successful world adventure in 2025. From navigation to budgeting, these apps will help you travel smart and stress-free.
Over 3 years of our expedition around the world we have refined this list, and tested all of the apps over a long time and many continents. They are the best whatever is your travel mode.
iOverlander: The Must-Have Overlanding App for Travelers
If you have ever travelled with a vehicle over extended period, you would have heard iOverlander. It is a traveler’s MUST-HAVE. This app helps you discover campsites, mechanics, water refill points, laundromats, and much more. Travelers contribute updated information regularly, making it an excellent resource for road trip essentials. We’ve relied on iOverlander to find the latest border crossing requirements, it is the most reliable and easily accessible resource to get real, updated and detailed information directly from other travelers: A goldmine.
Check our article about Border crossings with a vehicle.
For specific regions other apps might be better: Park4Night in Europe and Wikicamp in Australia.
Googlemaps and MapOut: Offline navigation for the real travelers and overlanders.
Navigation is a key part of our travels, and we rely on two essential apps—Google Maps and MapOut (or Gaia on Android). We use Google Maps daily, especially for downloading offline maps of entire countries, ensuring we have navigation even without mobile data. It’s also great for finding campsites and scanning areas via satellite view. However, it doesn’t show all trails. For that, we use MapOut, which offers many more off-road routes, tracks and trails. It works offline, and provides topographic info, points of interest, and track recording. It is with MapOut that we record in detail all our expedition itineraries including exclusive wild camp spots. It’s our favorite app for discovering unique trails and planning hikes.
Download our recorded itineraries from:
Scandinavia
North America
Central America
South America
Australia
New Zealand
NordVPN: Overcome Geo-Restrictions and Stay Secure
We discovered while travelling that some websites might be inaccessible from overseas. Some countries block access to some parts of the internet and some websites block access to some countries. We ended up in situations ranging from not being able to watch the football world cup final to not being able to access a specific banking service. Let’s be honest: Both really annoying, … The only way to overcome this is a VPN (Virtual Private Network). VPN encrypt your internet connection making it invisible to third-party, securing it and allowing you to appear like you are connecting from another country than the one where you physically are.
We use NordVPN, we just open the app it allows us to connect to servers in more than 60 countries bypassing geo-restrictions. In just one click we have access to our content again.
Get 4 months extra on a 2 year’s subscription on NordVPN.
Buddy: Budgeting for Long-Term travel
Travelling long-term like we do requires keeping good track of our budget. For that we have been using the app buddy since we started saving for our journey. Buddy is a budget management app designed to help users track and manage their personal finances. The interface is simple, the app allows users to create budgets, categorize expenses, and monitor their financial progress. Users can set spending limits for various categories and receive notifications to stay within budget. We both can use it, and we can structure it virtually as we want. That is also how we compiled our budget reports outlining all of our expenses since we left on our world tour.
Check out our detailed expenses reports and our article on budgeting for a world tour journey.
Google Translate: Breaking Language Barriers
Last but not least, the one and only Google translate. Travelling in countries where you don’t speak the language can be a challenge. Google translate has made our life so much easier in countries we don’t speak the local language (Used it so much on this journey to Mongolia). The best feature is surely the fact that you can download some languages to be able to access them offline. When you are travelling you will also realize some people don’t know how to write or spell properly leading to bad translations. But the app also includes a voice recording option which allows individual to directly talk into the phone and receive a voice translation of the information. Pure MAGIC.
Overlanding the world in 2025 has never been easier with these 8 essential apps. From navigating off-the-beaten-path trails to managing your budget and breaking language barriers, these apps are crucial for a seamless and enjoyable overlanding experience. Download them before your next trip, and don’t forget to share your recommendations with us!
Let us know which apps you’ve found helpful during your travels, and feel free to reach out with any questions!
Nick & Mathilde