9 Best Apps for Travel Photography (in 2023)

A Post By: Kevin Landwer-Johan

The best apps for travel photography

Your smartphone is one of the best travel photography accessories you own. When equipped with the right apps, your phone can save you time, put you in the right place for amazing images, and enhance the photos you’ve already taken.

But which apps are best for travel photography ? How do you pick the apps that are right for you?

Fortunately, whether you have an iOS or Android phone, there are plenty of apps perfect for travel shooting. Below, we share a roundup of our favorites – all of which are guaranteed to make your trip, and the photos you take, better than ever.

The best travel photography location apps

When you first arrive in a new location, it can be challenging to find your way around the area. That’s where location apps will come in handy, such as:

1. Maps.ME (for iOS and Android )

Maps.ME is a great mapping app that you can use without an internet connection. Once you have Maps.ME installed on your phone, you can download maps for pretty much any location.

These maps will provide you with turn-by-turn directions for each destination – and the app relies on open-source software, so it’s always up to date. 

The app will direct you to your hotel or any other specific address, and it can also help you find points of interest, trekking trails, etc.

Maps.ME is free for both Android and iOS devices.

Maps.ME travel photography app

2. Citymapper (for iOS and Android )

Most of us don’t have endless time at each location; the faster and more efficiently we can arrive at each location, the more time we have to be out and about. Citymapper is a clever little app that helps you make the most of your travel time.

With the Citymapper app installed on your phone, you can find the nearest bus stops and train stations. You can even book tickets and compare travel time and prices across different transport modes. And if you prefer to walk, scooter, or ride a bike, the app can help you with that, too.

Bottom line: Citymapper is a terrific app for navigating around larger cities pretty much anywhere in the world – and it’s free for both Android and iOS devices.

Citymapper travel photography app

3. Spot (for iOS )

Casual photographers are often satisfied with snapshots of the most touristy places – but more serious photographers want to discover interesting locations that are off the beaten path. They know that these less-popular locations will offer the opportunity to capture unique photos that don’t appear on every other Instagram feed.

So how do you find these hidden gems? You can use apps like Facebook and Instagram to search through location-tagged photos. But in my experience, there are better ways to locate top-notch areas. For instance, you can use the Spot app!

This free app is like a social media platform that shows you the locations photographers love; in fact, the developers boast that their app will help you find “the best places in the world.” Users are able to upload photos and share the cool places they visit. The app also pulls data on locations based on discussions elsewhere on the web.

You’ll even get recommendations for nearby places to eat or grab a coffee. And the app offers a strong social aspect; you can follow other users, see places they’ve visited, and build your own lists to share. In other words, Spot is more versatile and diverse than just a location tracker.

Spot is only available for iOS devices.

Spot travel photography app

The best apps for travel photography editing

Sharing photos on social media is all part of today’s travel culture. Naturally, these photos must look stellar, so editing must be done on the fly. 

Any rundown of the best apps for travel photography should include a selection of post-processing apps . Here are our picks:

1. VSCO (for iOS and Android )

Learning to use new editing apps, especially those that are very comprehensive, can be tricky. But not VSCO; you’ll notice how easy the app is to navigate as soon as you fire it up. 

There are plenty of quick and easy presets for enhancing the colors and contrast in your pictures. And once you’ve applied a preset, you can tweak it to match each photo you work on. You can also save your adjusted presets for later use.

There’s a free version of VSCO, but if you want more control over your images, consider grabbing the paid version, which offers extra tools and filters.

VSCO travel photography app

2. Snapseed (for iOS and Android )

Snapseed is the go-to photo-editing app for many professional and amateur photographers. It’s quick and easy to use, it offers a great selection of filters and presets, and you can create pretty much any edit you imagine.

The app offers tons of options for manual adjustments. The tools let you manage curves, apply vignettes, do selective edits, and so much more. You have a great deal of control over how your images look, and Snapseed even includes a feature that allows you to batch edit photos for a faster workflow.

Snapseed is free for both Android and iOS devices.

Snapseed travel photography app

3. Lightroom Mobile (for iOS and Android )

If you already have an Adobe subscription, then this editing app is a must-have. If you don’t own an Adobe subscription, you can still use the app, but the functionality is (slightly) limited.

Lightroom Mobile is easy to use for both beginners and experienced photographers. It provides tons of tools and features that give you plenty of control over your wonderful travel photos.

Within the app, you have dozens of adjustment options; you can clone unwanted elements, correct exposure issues, enhance contrast, and reduce noise. And the split toning, masking, and sharpening options make Lightroom Mobile one of the more advanced photo-editing apps available.

LR Mobile is free for both Android and iOS phones with limited functionality. But you can unlock the app’s full functionality with an Adobe Photography subscription .

Lightroom Mobile travel photography app

A few more handy travel photo apps

These three additional apps are bound to make your travel photography experience more enjoyable:

1. PhotoPills (for iOS and Android )

PhotoPills is like a toolbox for photographers. Take a peek inside, and you’ll be amazed at the array of features to help you make better travel photos. 

The app can help you calculate exposures , explore and manage the locations you want to visit, produce time-lapses, and much more. It’s basically an all-around photography assistant you can carry in your pocket. 

Do you need to know what time sunset is? Do you need to determine the phase of the moon? PhotoPills maps all of this out for you based on the date and location. It will help you plan your photos and execute them, too. 

PhotoPills is a paid app available for both Android and iOS devices.

PhotoPills travel photography app

2. WeatherBug (for iOS and Android )

WeatherBug isn’t strictly a photography app, but it’s one that photographers love – and it can certainly help you capture better photos while traveling.

WeatherBug helps you take the guesswork out of weather prediction. There’s nothing worse than heading to a sunrise location you’ve been wanting to capture for months only to find the sky obscured by clouds. Thanks to this app, you’ll know how the weather will pan out, so you can plan your shoots for the most suitable times.

WeatherBug will give you a forecast for up to ten days in advance. And it’s customizable, so you can tweak it to best suit your needs.

WeatherBug is free for both Android and iOS devices.

WeatherBug travel photography app

3. Phonto (for iOS and Android )

Phonto is a fun little app that lets you add text to your photos. It’s simple to use, and it’s a great way to enhance your travel shots with some fun text! There are tons of different fonts available, and you have the option to rotate, resize, and generally manage the text to get the effect you want.

In my opinion, adding text to your travel photos with Phonto will make them stand out on social media. Plus, it can let people know how much fun you’re having!

Phonto is free for both Android and iOS devices.

Phonto travel photography app

The best travel photography apps: final words

Woman touching her smartphone with one finger with brightly colored buildings in the background

Hopefully, you found this list helpful – and you’re ready to download one (or more!) of our favorite travel photography apps.

The apps we’ve shared will ensure you find the right locations, plan your photoshoots, edit on the fly, and more.

So enjoy your travels! And capture some amazing photos.

Which apps do you plan to get? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

9 Best Apps for Travel Photography (in 2023)

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Kevin Landwer-Johan

Kevin Landwer-Johan is a photographer, photography teacher, and author with over 30 years of experience that he loves to share with others.

Check out his website and his Buy Me a Coffee page .

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7 Best Travel Apps for Photographers in 2024 (Updated)

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Travel apps for photography can help you with anything from finding the best photo spots to editing while on the move. Here are a few of the best apps for travel photography options you need to download before exploring beautiful destinations on your bucket list.

7 Best Travel Apps for Photographers

We list travel apps for both iOS and Android. And there is a mix of free and paid apps.

7. Snapseed

Logo of Snapseed

  • App Type : Photo editor
  • Price : Free
  • Platform : iOS and Android

This is one of the best photography apps out there because of its features. It lets you do anything from color grading to adding all sorts of effects to make your travel photos look professional. Snapseed may be from Google, but it also supports iPhones . That means you don’t have to worry about any compatibility issues. And the good news is that all the tools it offers on Android are also available on the iPhone. Like any other editing app , Snapseed has all the basic tools you need, from adjusting exposure to correcting the white balance . But what differentiates it from the rest is the plethora of effects that it features. For instance, it has dozens of presets that let you create anything from retro film effects to classic black and white images . It also has advanced editing tools such as HDR . This lets you create vivid pictures even in challenging lighting conditions. Apart from the editing tools, Snapseed also includes frames and text tools to personalize your images. Using it allows you to create scrapbook-style images by adding borders and captions .

Illustrative photo of VSCO

  • Price: Free but has in-app purchases

While traveling, you don’t want to spend too much time on your phone editing your images. That’s why VSCO is one of the best apps for photographers because it’s so easy to use. Unlike Snapseed, VSCO doesn’t offer a lot of tools for advanced editing. Instead, it offers a streamlined experience. It lets you add presets and tweak basic exposure settings quickly. To use VSCO, all you have to do is tap a preset you like and adjust the sliders to alter the amount of effect you like on your images. You can also use sliders to change the brightness, contrast, saturation, highlights, and other exposure parameters. VSCO’s main selling point is its ability to recreate a film look . Its presets are based on real film stocks, making the result authentic. Apart from basic adjustments, you can also add fade and grain, among other effects, to help you customize the vintage style of your photo.

5. Pro HDR X (Discontinued)

Illustrative photo of Pro HDR X

  • App Type : HDR ( high dynamic range ) camera and editor
  • Price : $1.99

When you’re doing travel photography, a big chunk of photos are landscapes. And Pro HDR X is what you’ll need to make your images look more vivid and alive. HDR, or High Dynamic Range, is a technical term that describes the ability of an image to faithfully display shadows and highlights. Your phone cannot accurately capture the darkest and brightest elements, especially in bad lighting conditions. That’s why you’ll need Pro HDR X to make calibrations and ensure that your final image has rich blacks and bright whites. To create vivid landscapes, Pro HDR X captures three images with different exposures. It then automatically combines those pictures into one that has all the correct shadows and highlights. Just remember to only use Pro HDR X for static shots, preferably on a tripod . If you include moving subjects in your frame, they’ll end up blurry since the app sandwiches the three photos it takes into one image.

Illustrative photo of Spot

  • App Type : Photo sharing and social media

Looking for the best locations when traveling can be intimidating, even for veteran travelers. When you’re in a place you haven’t been, it’s easy to get lost and miss the beautiful gems you want to capture. Spot helps you locate picturesque destinations while traveling. Consider it a social media platform where photographers can share the local spots they discover in the areas they visit. Apart from featuring well-known destinations such as Paris , Spot showcases places that other people may not know about at all. This cool app even has maps to help you locate where the photos were shot. It’s for planning your shoots, especially if you want to include unique places in your portfolio . Spot also lets you share the places you discovered on your travels. When you upload your photos to the app, you get to add locations and even include tips to help your fellow photographers track the exact spot where you took the pictures.

3. Citymapper

Illustrative photo of Citymapper

  • App Type : GPS

When you’re doing travel photography, your ability to navigate places is just as crucial as your ability to take pictures. Knowing how to get there in the quickest way possible allows you to cover more areas. You can always use Google Maps to help you figure out where to go. But it doesn’t have all the information you need to get there. Citymapper shows you everything from routes to various transportation options to reach your destination. One of the biggest features of Citymapper is that it shows you the nearest train and bus stations. And it guides you on how to get there. It even shows the arrival and departure times, so you don’t miss your bus or train. Citymapper is available in major cities from Asia to Europe . The only catch is that it won’t be much use if you happen to be in lesser-known destinations. But if you happen to find yourself shooting around New York or Paris , this app is definitely for you.

2. PhotoPills

Illustrative photo of PhotoPills

  • App Type : Sun and moon tracker, photography assistant, and calculator
  • Price : $10.99

Think of PhotoPills as your photography instructor and assistant. It has all the tools you may need, from taking photos of the stars to calculating your depth of field . One of its main features is the sun/moon/ star tracker . It helps you figure out where the sun or the moon will be at your location at any time of the day. If you want to know where the moon will rise and set, you have to get your phone out. What’s great about PhotoPills is that it uses augmented reality to show you where the sun or moon will be in a real environment. Even if you use the app in the middle of the day, you can see a digital rendition of the moon on your screen like it’s there. PhotoPills is also perfect for tracking the Milky Way . You can use it to figure out its location so that when the night comes, you can go to the exact spot where you expect it to appear. Apart from the tracker, it also has calculators for DOF, FOV, Hyperfocal Table, Long Exposures , Time Lapse and Star Trails . So if you don’t like fumbling around to get your settings correct, you’ll find this app useful.

1. Weatherbug

Illustrative photo of Weatherbug

  • App Type : Weather forecast

Weatherbug isn’t exactly photography-related. But you’ll find yourself using it a lot, especially in places with unpredictable weather. One of the best reasons to use it is that it’s free. And it offers a forecast for up to ten days. That means it’s perfect for helping plan your itinerary for more than a week in advance. Another advantage of using Weatherbug is that it has 18 weather maps. They include wind, temperature, and lighting models, among others. And it even has a Doppler radar that shows real-time snapshots of what’s going on without resorting to news updates. But what truly makes Weatherbug indispensable to photographers is that it features weather widgets that you can customize according to your needs. For instance, you can activate traffic updates in your area if you’re in a busy tourist spot. You can even keep track of pollen count and air quality if you are allergic or have a health condition.

When doing travel photography, you must have all the tools to capture the places you visit. And having good photography apps on your phone would allow you to do just about anything, even when you move around a lot. You should also include non-photography travel apps that you’ll find useful when navigating new places. Remember that as a travel photographer , you need to be as skilled at looking for the perfect destinations as you are with your camera. Check out our Next Stop: Travel Photography e-book to learn how to take print-worthy photos!

Musement Blog

7 of the best travel photography apps for your smartphone

A Musement staffer/avid traveler/Instagram junkie shares her favorite photography apps.

If there’s one good thing about our smartphones, it’s that we don’t need to tote around a proper camera for our travels. Don’t get me wrong…I have nothing but the utmost respect for photographers and their art, and I do believe that nothing beats a real camera. However, I’m always up for lightening my load, and opting for my lightweight phone camera is always an effective way to do so.

As a proud iPhone owner, I am very grateful for the creative platform its camera has given me. iPhones produce decent quality pictures, is super light and has the capacity for something that takes my photos up several notches: Photography apps! And no, I don’t just mean Instagram …

In addition to Instagram, here’s a look at some of my favorite photography apps that I think every traveler or staycationer like myself should have.

1. Snapseed

I rarely post a picture on Instagram without first editing it in Snapseed. In addition to the expected editing options (yes, many of which Instagram has), there are plenty of other tools that will make your snap picture perfect. From blemish removing to white-balance adjustment to healing to cropping to “curves”, which lets you make image adjustments from multiple anchor points and more, you have a plethora of tools at your fingertips. You can even edit multiple photos pretty quickly by applying last edits to the latest photo. That being said, I’m not crazy about their filters, so that’s where VSCO comes in…. Download:  App Store , Google Play

View this post on Instagram La mia vera casa 🌊 . . . . #grottedelbuemarino #sea #amazingsea #summer #lovesardinia #sardiniaexperience #unionesarda #sardegnaofficial #calagonone #snapseed #nickpescettopresets #clearwater #leavemehere #home A post shared by alice. (@alicerocca) on Jul 14, 2020 at 2:45am PDT

Once I’ve edited my photo in Snapseed, I most likely go to VSCO for a “preset”, which is what they call filters. The free app has solid editing options–more than Instagram, but less than Snapseed–and comes with ten presets. F2 is my favorite, but I sometimes experiment with others. You can purchase more, which I did. Their all lovely, however, I do have one gripe: Deciding which one to use as they each add their own particular flair to the photo. Like Snapseed, you can save time with bulk editing by copying edits from another picture. Download: App Store , Google Play

View this post on Instagram Discover the diverse community behind the best tools and presets — explore the VSCO X collection to stay inspired and see how others create with #VSCOX. Link in bio. Image by VSCO Creator depetris (@mike.depetris) A post shared by VSCO (@vsco) on Dec 6, 2017 at 12:20pm PST

3. Pro HDR X

Dynamic range is the ratio of dark to light in photos. Yes, nowadays, our smartphone cameras do indeed have a built-in High Dynamic Range option. However, this app is quite dandy and well worth the $1.99 price tag. When you’re taking a picture, you have to be patient as it takes three different photos at different exposures to combine them into one, which you can then edit right then and there. Needless to say, this is great for night shots and photos where there’s a lot of light. Not so great for movement shots. Download:  App Store , Google Play

View this post on Instagram #sunset #Sheffield #sunsetsnow 3 AEB shots Merged #prohdrx #lightroom #mavicair #djimavicpro #dji #drones #drone #drone_countries #djispark #djiphantom3professional #djiphantom3standard #djiphantom4pro #djimavicpro #djiworld #djipilot #djiphantom4 #djiphantom3advanced #djisparkuk #goprohero5black #gopro #rothervalleycountrypark #rotherham #sheffield #arielphotography #arielview A post shared by Barry Butcher (@barry_butcher) on Feb 28, 2018 at 11:10am PST

4. TouchRetouch

Do you remember that time, say, you snapped a photo of spaghetti al pomodoro on a white plate?  You decided you’d post it later so you could eat the pasta before it got cold. Then later came and you noticed an unphotogenic splash of the tomato sauce on the rim of the bowl, and you wound up kicking yourself for not having noticed it sooner? If you did, you would have wiped it away with your napkin before snapping. Well, if you have TouchRetouch, all you have to do is upload the photo in the app, and you can correct it, removing that red splash for good. It’s also great for eliminating certain photobombs, like that lone swimmer who floated into your seascape. Download for $1.99: App Store , Google Play

View this post on Instagram Antes e depois do retouch A post shared by touch_retouch (@touch_retouch) on Mar 11, 2017 at 11:07am PST

5. NightCap Camera

Maybe you’ve been sprawled out on the cool sand at night listening to the soothing sound of the sea gently lapping against the shore. As you were admiring all the shimmering stars in the clear sky, you pondered how it would make such a gorgeous photo, but alas, you wouldn’t be able to capture it on your phone? Well, you can with NightCap Camera. Not only is this app good for night photography but also cityscapes, fireworks, sunsets and pretty much any type of night shot. As to be expected, there are lots of great editing features like long exposure and time-lapse. Download for $1.99:  App Store only

View this post on Instagram Captured the #ISS tonight with my iPhone, so impressed with how it turned out. #LongExposure #NightCappApp A post shared by @ london_astronomy on Aug 5, 2016 at 3:46pm PDT

6. Slow Shutter Cam 

Did you ever see those photos of Dubai at night from the top of the Burj Khalifa that capture the emirate aglow? Or the Eiffel Tower amid the motion blurs and light tails of the ongoing traffic? I  eventually learned that those type of photos were taken using a long exposure, whereby the shutter closes slowly, and Slow Shutter Cam app does that for you. This app is fun and feels a bit like magic making. Download for $1.99: App Store

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZcTYs6BTIk/

7. Lightroom Mobile

This is a photo-editing app from Adobe.  I honestly haven’t used it (yet), but everyone has such amazing things to say about it that I felt like I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least mention it. It’s free to download and most of the editing options are free, but you do have to pay if you want to unlock others. Download from App Store and Google Play .

View this post on Instagram #Lr_Moments photo by @into_theworld || Mountains can create striking shapes and reflect light so beautifully. Over the past few months, we've became more and more addicted to them. This image shows the famous and beautiful "Saxer Lücke,“ which we saw during a road trip through Switzerland. After hiking to the top, we were rewarded with a long, wonderful sunrise that casted some great light on the mountains. It made me forget about time and space. We are already planning to go back to this spot during the summer to see if we can get closer to the peak. • Share your favorite story by using #Lr_Moments for a chance to be featured. A post shared by Adobe Photoshop Lightroom (@lightroom) on Jan 25, 2018 at 9:19am PST

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Snapseed is the best app iv used. its my favorite app i use.

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5 Photo Apps You Need for Your Next Trip

Get more likes on your travel photos when you use these shooting, editing and storage apps.

Cropped Image Of Silhouette Person Holding Cell Phone Against Sky At Dusk

Getty Images

These must-have photo apps help you snap, edit and organize your vacation photos on the fly.

It takes more than an Instagram filter and a tap on your touch screen to get a winning photo. A good travel photo has to tell a story and capture the essence of the place. It also has to look aesthetically pleasing. Luckily, there's an app for that – there are plenty, actually. From editing like the pros to clearing up space on your phone for more pictures, these five tools will help you shoot, edit and organize your photos in a better way.

Ever wonder how people get those amazing landscape shots where everything looks bright and colorful? Often that's the result of HDR, or high dynamic range photography, and you can apply it to your own photos easily. Snapseed, a free app offers a wide range of gizmos, like HDR and red-eye reduction. Actually, there are so many different settings and variables to adjust, it can take some time to tap around and find the tools you need. But once you get into a Snapseed groove, you can swipe and slide your photos into great shape quickly. Plus, all edits made on the app are "non-destructive," meaning you won't be overwriting your original photo and you can retreat backwards through all your edits any time. You can also opt to "Save As" to create a new modified version of the picture while keeping your old one.

Ideal for:  Boosting color and detail Price:  Free Compatibility:   Android;  Phone (iOS 8 or later required)

VSCO is more than an editing app. It's a community-focused educational tool as well. The company makes plug-ins for Photoshop and Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. In other words, the tool is for serious photographers. The editing interface is simple and clean; you can choose from 10 free pre-set filters (more are available to buy) and make custom tweaks on top of them. Like Instagram, you can browse other VSCO users' photos in the "Explore" section. Unlike Instagram, the photos here show you which filters and settings the photographer used, so you can pick up techniques and ideas. Want more ways to learn? The new VSCO Academy just launched in February, offering a "place for photographers of all levels to learn, be inspired and engage in the art of photography."

Ideal for:  Learning new styles and techniques Price:  Free; includes in-app purchases Compatibility :   Android; iPhone (iOS 8 or later required)

Slow Shutter Cam

Ever wonder how people take those misty waterfall pics or those nighttime streetscapes where traffic lines zigzag across the screen? Shots such as these require a slow shutter speed, and as great as smartphone cameras have become, most do not feature manual controls. That's where the Slow Shutter Cam app comes in. With three different modes to capture pictures in dark settings (night shots), blurred motion (waterfalls) and light trails (traffic), the app lets you control your phone camera enough to get DSLR-style scenes. Plus, if you're an advanced photographer, you can also geek out with the metadata – you can pick your file type, resolution, geotagging and more.

Ideal for:  Night photography and capturing motion Price:  $1.99 Compatibility:  iPhone (iOS 7 or later required)

360 Panorama

Sometimes a panoramic shot just doesn't capture the full scene. The 360 Panorama app takes panoramas to a new level, creating interactive scenes that you can pan and scroll to look around and see what lies beyond the photo frame. Getting the panoramic shot is easy; just stand in one spot and scan your phone up and down and all around until you've snapped your entire surroundings. You can then share a link to the interactive view, embed it online or can flatten it to print or share it on social media. For a different view, you can also switch to "stenographic" mode, which morphs your shot into a globe-like scene, where you're at the center and your surroundings pop out around you.

Ideal for:  Capturing your surroundings Price:  $1.99 Compatibility:  Android;  iPhone (iOS 7 or later required)

Google Photos

It doesn't matter how great a photo is if you don't have room on your phone to save it. And if you're on a long trip, the last thing you want is to delete earlier photos to make space for the new ones. There are many apps that save your images for long-term storage (think: iCloud, Dropbox, Amazon Photos, etc.), but Google Photos tops them all because of its ability to sort and categorize your photos. You can set up the app so that every photo snapped on your phone is automatically synced to your Google Photos account. This makes your photos accessible from any device, computer or Google Drive and also means you don't have to keep the image stored on your phone. And when it comes time to find an old picture to add to an email or a social media post, you can browse your Google Photos library by date, location or even the subject featured in the picture (just search for terms like “mountains” or “food”).

Ideal for:  Backing up and categorizing your photos Price:  Free Compatibility:  Android;  iPhone (iOS 8.1 or later required)  

Tags: Travel , technology , iPhone , Travel Tips

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Photo Tips, Creative Photography + Travel Guides - The Wandering Lens

  • The 6 Best Apps for Travel Photographers
  • By Lisa Michele Burns

travel apps for photos

Photo Editing Apps + Handy Apps for Travel Photographers

Planning a photoshoot, capturing the shot and publishing the results are all components of photography. Having the ability to research, photograph and then share your work all with snappy little apps on your phone is pretty darn amazing if you ask me.

I’m not a huge app geek who uses an app for every single thing but…once you’ve discovered which apps work to help you achieve the results you’re after, it’s game changing.

Whether you need to calculate the best settings, check if the northern lights are dancing, schedule and publish your images, there’s an app for it. Heck, there’s an app for anything and everything now but the trick is narrowing it down to those of value that will help you and your photography.

So, without further ado below you’ll find a list of what I consider to be the best apps for travel photographers, if you have any other suggestions, please feel free to list them in the comments below!

Also, because photography is all about showcasing your work, if you use any of the apps mentioned below including Steller, Spot, Instagram or ImageBrief, feel free to leave a link to your account in the comments too so we can all see your work.

Read more: “How to Become a Professional Travel Photographer”

Okay, onto the apps…

Best For: Planning your trip, discovering new and interesting places to photograph

When you want to know where to shoot or visit based on other’s experiences, Spot is a great app to have in your kit! You can create lists of the best ‘spots’ within a city, suburb or even street providing images and info for others to view.

Their slogan is ‘The best places in the world according to the friends and experts you trust’ and this is spot on. Like what I did there 😉 It’s created by every day travellers recommending places based on their own experiences, you can also add friends directly from Facebook to connect, share spots and plan adventures.

One of the best features is that you can add your own tips and recommendations to other lists, in turn creating a collaborative hub of location tips. When you upload a spot you’ll automatically see recommendations of other places nearby that have been shared by other Spot users. If you’re logging in from a new location, it’ll highlight great places nearby to eat, shop or sights to see including maps showing the exact location. There’s something crazy like over 500,000 spots already on the app so chances are, you’re going to find somewhere new to explore and photograph!

To plan trips before arriving somewhere you can use the ‘Explore’ tab to search destinations around the world to see where and what people are recommending. I know I prefer to do some research beforehand so have found this feature to be really helpful in unearthing places I never would have considered. Once you’ve got your own profile created, you can then save spots and have an easy to access wish list of locations to photograph or visit.

Also soon they’ll be creating a Spot website so you can access all the info from your desktop too. You can create a Spot account by downloading the Spot app HERE .

Take a peek at the screenshots below to see both my personal profile and some of the layouts of Spot.

Photo Pills

Best For: Calculating the best settings and planning shoot locations

I’m not sure you’ll find an app jam packed with more photographer friendly tools than Photo Pills. It really has everything you could ever need to plan, prepare and photograph wherever you are in the world.

From Depth of Focus tables, Exposure calculators, Time lapse settings that tell you how much time, memory space and shots you require…it’s technically your best friend in the field.

One of my favourites is the ‘Star Trails’ tool, mainly because you can twirl your finger around the screen and choose how intense you want the trails to be. The app will then tell you how long you need to leave your camera clicking away or you can add the time you want to shoot for and it’ll give you the angle and assumed result. Fancy, huh!?

Their ‘Sun’ tool is created to make the job of finding a great direction to shoot by telling you when the blue hours are, sunrise, golden hour, astronomical twilight…it again is fancy. Not sure why I keep using that word but I really can’t think of a much better one to use. It’s fancy schmancy.

You can also use the app to upload your work and participate in awards within the Photo Pills community, plan shoots and join their academy…they also host photo tours around the world!

Download the Photo Pills app HERE and below are some screenshots of all the fanciness…

Steller + Article by Steller

Best For: Publishing your photography

If you’ve been reading The Wandering Lens you’re probably well aware of my love for the Steller app. It’s an app that allows you to create mini magazines from your trips, showcasing your photography and stories at the same time.

READ MORE – The 6 Best Social Platforms for Photographers

For creatives it’s a unique way to publish your work and rather than one photo at a time like Instagram, you can make a cohesive collection of images to tell a story. If for example you’ve just returned from Iceland, you can publish one full Steller story about the trip, or break it down into photo filled stories of each location. Because who really returns from Iceland with just one photo from each location!? It’s more like hundreds!

There are page layouts and font styles to choose between to create a story that’s uniquely yours, plus you can decide how many pages you want as you go.

What I love most about Steller is that it doesn’t feel as instant or forced as other social media apps can. People uploading stories to Steller are thinking about the process, planning how it looks and it shows in the published results. Also the community is really supportive and scrolling through stories based on topics you search will reveal so much talent you won’t know where to stop! Forget the algorithms and tricks of Instagram, Steller is still a genuine platform for sharing your images.

Also the team at Steller have created a second app called ‘Article by Steller’, it gives you even more options to create and publishes multimedia articles in a scrolling format.

Check out Steller HERE or download the new Article by Steller HERE .

The Best Editing Apps – Adobe Lightroom CC, PS Express + Snapseed

Okay so adding all three technically means this article should be called 9 apps for Travel Photographers however, you certainly don’t need all three. Pick your favourite and stick with it so you have a consistent editing style.

Adobe Lightroom CC and PS Express are mini versions of their parent programs and have all the tools available for you to adjust the basics. You can toggle with shadows, highlights, brightness, whites etc and also use a series of Presets to chance the colour and tone of your images.

Snapseed is quite a popular app for people who don’t necessarily use Lightroom or Photoshop on their computers and just want to make their photos look as good as possible. Snapseed actually has so many tools available within the app that it can really help you to create almost any look you like. My only hesitation with using Snapseed is that I find the toggle system a little hard to get used to. A big positive is that it’s got helpful tutorials accessible via it’s menu.

It’s really personal preference as to which editing app you prefer but having one on your phone definitely makes life easier as a travel photographer. Sometimes when you want to upload an image quickly to social media but are at the airport, or can’t get your laptop out, a quick phone edit works wonders.

Take a peek at some screenshots below to see the layouts and design of each editing app.

I’ll share a more detailed post about editing apps very soon…any questions just leave them in the comments below in the meantime 🙂

The best editing apps for your phone - Snapseed

Best For: Scheduling and planning your social media posts

Ever wondered how some photographers have those perfectly styled Instagram accounts? Where all the images line up beautifully and it’s more like scrolling through either a rainbow of colour or a muted splendour of all things minimal?

Well they might just be using Later. Later is an app that allows you to schedule your social media posts and plan in advance which images to post and when. Now it doesn’t break any rules and you can’t post directly from the Later app, however, it will notify you when your schedule post is ready and you can then click ‘post’ and it will copy all the details across to the Instagram app and away you go from there.

The layout of the Later app allows you to see the images together and how they would look as a cohesive account, plus it gives you insights into how your accounts are performing. You can track which images perform the best with engagement via comments, likes and also see graphs on how they stack up against each other.

Having these insights are so important to tracking your growth across social media, especially if you’re growing them organically (if you’re scamming, please feel free to exit my website, thanks). There are of course so many scams and tricks happening right now that it’s hard to know who is genuine and who isn’t, all you can really do is look after your own account and produce high quality work. Apps like Later make it nice and simple to use statistics in order to proactively choose when to publish content and what content receives more engagement with your audience.

The first plan is free for users and links through to your Instagram account, if you want to opt to add other platforms like Twitter, Pinterest and Facebook, you’ll need to sign up to a premium account to do so.

Download the Later app HERE.

Aurora Alerts

Best For: Photographing the aurora!

So if there’s one thing most photographers dream of shooting it’s the aurora, am I right!? Those dancing green waves that appear across the sky in the darker months, glowing like brilliant strips of magic.

You can of course head north (or south for the Aurora Australis) to places like Iceland, Scandinavia or Greenland to capture them and hope for the best but…there’s also an app for that.

Aurora Alerts (called Aurora Australis Forecast & Southern Lights Alerts in the App Store) is an app that will allow you to get at least a little sleep during the aurora season. If you’re on the hunt for aurora, trust me in the fact that you probably won’t sleep much. Finding them becomes an addition and you know that at any moment when the skies are clear, the aurora could be dancing above you…it’s just a matter of patience and luck.

This app gives you a little relief in the patience department. With Aurora Alerts you can input your location and it will tell you a short and long term forecast for aurora.

There’s also forecasts showing the possibility and strength of the aurora both overhead and on the horizon. If the ‘overhead’ rating is anything about 24%…it’s worth running outside to check what’s happening because sometimes the app can be a little harsh on its judgement of what’s impressive and what’s not.

You’ll find more details about apps like this in my post ‘ Weather Forecasting for Landscape Photographers ’ , in the meantime though download Aurora Alerts HERE , even if you’re not going anywhere, it’s fun to see where it’s happening and how strong it is…or maybe I’m just a weather nerd.

If you want share on Pinterest for later here’s a photo for you…

So, that’s my pick of the six best apps for travel photographers! What do you think?

Do you have any to add? If so, I’d love to hear about them in the comments below.

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travel apps for photos

Hello! I’m the founder and photographer behind The Wandering Lens. With 17+yrs experience as a professional travel and landscape photographer, all advice found on this site is from my personal experience on the road. I hope it’s useful for your own travels and would love to hear in the comments about your trips and experiences around the world.

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Blog comments.

August 24, 2017 at 3:38 am

I love your articles, they are so helpful and full of details! Thank you for sharing all that valuable information! 🙂

thewanderinglens

August 24, 2017 at 3:39 am

So happy you find them useful Iris! Feel free to leave a link to your Steller or Instagram account so we can see your photos 🙂

August 24, 2017 at 6:11 am

I am so ashamed to admit that the only one I know is Later. But I rarely am using photos on my phone these days (just been busy working and doing nothing pic-worthy aside from playing with my dog!) I think my favorite app is Sky Guide. I think I may be addicted to it just in general being an astro-nerd… but it can be good for photography purposes as well, I am sure! 🙂

Great app list and I’ll have to check them out!

September 1, 2017 at 2:10 am

There’s always space for puppy photos on your phone! Thanks for sharing Sky Guide, that’s the one where you can point it at the sky and see stars and their names? So cool!

September 2, 2017 at 1:31 am

Your article about weather apps was really helpful so it’s great to now be able to see other ones for sharing photos.

September 4, 2017 at 2:11 am

Great to hear Tony! Do you have any weather or photo apps you use regularly? There’s so many to choose from so it’s always nice to hear what other people recommend too!

Laura Thomson

September 13, 2017 at 3:06 pm

I tried Spot and found it really handy for finding great cafes and sights. Interesting you use it for photo locations, really cool idea.

September 21, 2017 at 4:21 am

Thanks for sharing. This is a great post. I’ve not heard about spot before, but it sounds awesome. I’ve been using locationscout, but do not always find the spots I’m looking for. I also use the app blue hour, which is great to know when the sun rises and sets and set my alarm clock 😉

Britannia Cars

January 23, 2018 at 6:18 am

Wow!!!!! Wonderful Suggestions for travelers is given in the blog.Very interesting to read,great helpful post.

January 29, 2018 at 2:19 am

THIS IS AMAZING!!!! Stellar sounds like such a fun app for those of us who can’t stand the insta-fake and prefer telling stories. Is it a pretty active network.

And Image Brief? Heck yeah! I need to sign myself up to start selling some. I love that you can start small scale! I mostly just use IG (@thefamilyvoyage) at the moment, but I vastly prefer sharing images on my actual website.

February 2, 2019 at 12:32 pm

This article is so great and so helpful! I usually just happen upon good locations for shooting (as I’m sure you do as well!), however, I’m planning a trip to Europe in the spring and I think that location finding app is going to be super helpful for finding cool vantage points in cities like Rome and Athens. Thanks lovely! Looking forward to reading more of your articles.

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The Best Apps for Travel Photography

My most-used apps for travel photography planning.

No matter what camera you’re using on your travels, having the right apps at your fingertips helps make it easier. There may not be a specific category for travel photography apps, but there definitely should be!

For nearly every trip I take, I use the apps on this list at least once to plan for my travel photos. Some of the best apps for travel photography weren’t originally photography apps at all, but they definitely deserve a place on any list of apps for travel photography.

real alcazar de segovia at sunrise

Using several of these apps in my Spain photography planning allowed me to plan this shot rather than leave it to chance.

This post includes select affiliate links. If you make a purchase through one of these, I earn a small commission at no extra cost for you. The support this provides is greatly appreciated!

Best Apps for Planning Travel Photography

Sure you can just show up and go with the flow, but if you’re hoping to get a specific shot the right app will help you avoid wasted time or ending up frustrated. Being in the right place at the right time is half the battle, and these apps will give you the advantage.

apps for planning travel photography make getting the shot much easier

What information would you need in order to successfully plan for a travel photo like this one?

Sun Seeker – Photography Planning App

One of my most used apps for travel photography, this free sunrise sunset app is essential in my travel photography planning . It’s also incredibly simple to use. Enter your travel destination and the date you’ll be there to view key information like sunrise, sunset, moon phases, blue hour, golden hour, and twilight times.

Since lighting is perhaps the most important element of photography, being able to preview how it falls across a specific location at an exact time is invaluable. My favorite feature of this app is the 3D view. This shows an overlay of the sun’s path as you look at the scene in front of you. It shows how much time I have before the sun dips behind a ridge or building and what direction the light will come from at a given time.

screenshot of sun seeker app 3d view used as a photography app and tool

The 3D live view of the Sun Seeker app is surprisingly accurate. Viewing the path of the sun while on location means being able to plan my travel photography more effectively – leaving time for other travel adventures as well.

There is also a map view option, making it a snap to plan ahead. Whether I’m photographing in a city or out in nature, this is invaluable planning information for my travel photography. It also saves time and aggravation – knowing ahead of time that the sun won’t line up with a desired feature means I can be flexible and come up with new ideas.

The Sun Seeker app is available for iOS and Android.

The Photographer’s Ephemeris – Photography App with Advanced Options

While I often use (and overall prefer) the desktop version of The Photographer’s Ephemeris (aka TPE), I also have their suite of photography planning apps on my phone. The TPE for Desktop and the TPE App are the simplest to use: enter your destination and the date you’ll be there to view sunrise and sunset times (plus blue hour, golden hour, and twilight times), or use the augmented reality tab if you’re on-location.

It is also very customizable for more advanced users: there are ways to adjust shadows for a given object height or elevation at horizon. Truthfully I have not used these, though I do plan to dedicate time to learning the more advanced features.

Tutorials for the Photo Ephemeris photography planning apps are available on their website , and are worth taking the time to go through if you find yourself needing the most detail and information possible. If you are not an advanced user, the free desktop version or just the TPE app for iPhone will be more than enough.

In addition to the TPE desktop and iPhone apps, Photo Ephemeris offers two additional apps with advanced features. Photo Ephemeris 3D was built for landscape photographers and is worth the investment if you’re very serious about landscape photography. It is incredibly detailed and advanced, and thus has a learning curve.

screenshot of photo ephemeris from iOS app sales page for tpe 3d photography app

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Photo Transit offers digital shot planning for outdoor photographers . Using this, you can select your camera and lens in relation to the subject (point on a map, a building, etc) and make sure you’ve selected the best lens for the shot. It can even integrate with Google Street View when available! Just like TPE 3D, Photo Transit has a learning curve too.

screenshots from the photo ephemeris iOS app called Photo Transit for outdoor photographers

The paid Photo Ephemeris apps are available (iOS only at this time) for $8.99 – $11.99, though occasionally the bundle of apps will go on sale. This is when I bought them, for about $20 if I recall correctly.

LensPick – Photography App

If you’re still learning photography, LensPick is helpful in several ways. What is does it let you see the effective field of view of a particular focal length. You can also choose aspect ratio (3:2, 4:3, 16:9 and so on) and cropped or full frame sensor size. This is particularly important, since a 35mm lens on a full frame sensor will have a wider field of view than a 35mm lens on a crop sensor.

screenshot from LensPick app showing the difference in field of view between full frame and cropped camera sensors

One of the challenges of travel photography is confidently deciding which lens to bring – on a photography outing or on the trip altogether. While bringing every lens I own is tempting, that means I have to drag it around (and worry about loss or damage) the whole time. For this reason, I count LensPick as yet another of the unexpected apps for travel photography.

LensPick is also useful as a learning tool – eventually you’ll be able to look at a particular scene and know which focal length is ideal for the shot you envision. Until then, using this app will help when choosing which lenses to pack in your camera bag.

Currently the LensPick app is available for iOS for $1.99

Astrospheric – Weather App as a Photography Planning App

Currently this app only works for destinations around North America. It’s not the most intuitive but I still found it incredibly useful during my 2 month solo road trip across the American West . While most basic weather apps are helpful in a broad sense, they don’t show the quality of a clear sky, what type of cloud cover there will be, and how much.

This weather-turned-photography planning app will be especially useful to landscape or outdoor photographers, but also for general travel photography. Knowing the height, type, and density of cloud cover in advance makes planning so much easier. Of course cloud conditions can change quickly, so it’s best to continue checking the app frequently as your planned excursion draws closer.

Astrospheric can be used on desktop or via the app for iOS or Android.

LPM – App for Night Photography and Dark Sky Photography

screenshot of light pollution app showing levels on a map

Light pollution is a growing problem for night photography endeavors. Light pollution makes night and dark sky photography extremely challenging , rendering stars less visible and creating odd glows on horizons.

While the latter can be used to creative effect, if you want to create landscape photos with as little light pollution as possible you’ll need to choose your location carefully. Billed as a weather app, LPM works as a travel photography app.

Generally the more densely populated an area is, the more difficult it will be to avoid light pollution. Using a night sky app like LPM will help suss out the spots with the lowest amount of light pollution.

Combined with a cloud forecasting app like Astrospheric (many advanced weather apps will include a cloud cover layer), you’ll have powerful tools to plan your night photography adventures.

LPM has a desktop option and is available as an app for iOS and Android .

ND Timer – Photography App

long exposure photo of a waterfall cloudland canyon under an overcast sky renders the water silky smooth

While not specifically for travel photography, this simple photography app is helpful when planning your travel photography . Choosing the right ND filter for a situation can be tricky. If you want to take a 120 second exposure in bright sun, you’ll need an extremely dark ND filter to achieve this.

For traveling photographers with very specific shots in mind, utilizing the right photography apps will help with choosing the right travel photography accessories for an upcoming trip. It wouldn’t be wild to think that a 10 stop ND filter would make a 120 second exposure possible in bright sun.

With the ND Timer app, you can see that a 10 stop filter only turns a 1/500 second exposure into a 2 second exposure – nowhere close to the desired 120 seconds! Using the app, you can decide to either stack two ND filters together or invest in a $200+ 16 stop ND filter. In this regard, it’s also helpful when making decisions about what photography equipment to buy.

While this photography app works as an actual timer once you select the parameters, it’s most useful as photography planning tool. Keep in mind that exposures over 60 seconds are often only possible with more advanced photography equipment.

The ND Timer App is $0.99 for iOS and there are several similar apps for Android.

DoFC – Photography App for Depth of Field and Exposure

DoFC is a simple yet powerful photography app. Choose your camera, focal length, and focus distance to see detailed depth of field information. The interface is simple and straightforward, letting you visualize the depth of field for your chosen settings of camera, lens, aperture, and focus distance.

screenshots from depth of field calculator app

This app shows the total depth of field , how much is in front of and behind the focus point (extremely useful when shooting with wide apertures or portrait subjects), as well as the hyperfocal distance. Knowing the hyperfocal distance will be most useful for intermediate to advanced landscape and nature photographers.

Learning to understand aperture and which elements in your photo are impacted is a critical part of learning more advanced photography techniques. This tool will also be helpful when deciding what lens to use or even buy.

Another killer feature of this app is the the Exposure tab. Enter your f/stop and ISO to see the recommended shutter speed for specific lighting situations. The lighting condition options are extremely specific – daylight hazy sunlight from the side, twilight street scenes with low light, and night aurora borealis medium for example. It makes shot planning and execution a breeze, and would be supremely helpful when shooting film on a camera without an exposure meter

DOFC app screenshots showing the Exposure feature

The DoFC photography app from $0.99 and currently available for iOS. The HyperFocal Pro app is available for Android and highly rated.

How to Choose: Which Photography Planning App is Best?

The type of travel photography you prefer, your current skill level, and particular goals will dictate which apps are the most useful for you. You don’t need to use every single one of these apps for your travel photography planning. Travel photography apps are another tool for your travel photography kit, just like a lens filter or compact tripod.

If you are primarily a landscape photographer, outdoor photographer, or night photographer the TPE apps, ND Timer, and Astrospheric, LPM, or SkyLive will be your most used apps.

For general travel photography , the best apps for intermediate or advanced photographers will be Sun Seeker, TPE for Desktop or iOS, and likely Astrospheric and ND Timer. For beginner photographers , adding LensPick and Depth of Field Calc will round out the photography apps for travel quite nicely.

A bonus travel photography planning app : Google Maps, especially Street View. A lot people forget that Google Maps is a travel app – one of the most feature rich out there.

The number of times I’ve used this to get the general lay of the land, preview a location, find places to pull safely off the road, and more is endless. Just remember that the images of street view may not be current.

Using TikTok and Instagram to plan travel (or even Pinterest) is generally NOT a good idea. However, sometimes recent posts will give a heads up to changes like scaffolding, road work, or other disruptions.

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travel apps for photos

8 Essential Apps for the Best Travel Photos

by Karin van Mierlo | Travel Photography , Phone Photography | 3 comments

photography apps

Table of Contents show Photography Apps for Travel Planning Apps Maps.me Golden Hour One Camera Apps ProCamera Slow Shutter Cam Editing Apps VSCO Snapseed Sharing Apps Instagram Steller

Photography Apps for Travel

For me, photography apps are my friendly little helpers and you can never have enough of those. Whether I’m traveling with my DSLR or I rely on my iPhone for my travel pics travel photography apps will help me to create the best images possible.

I’ve put together a list of travel photography apps I’ve come to rely on when I’m traveling to help you do the same. Some are specific for smartphone photography like the camera and editing apps. Others are for getting lost, planning, and sharing your adventures.

Planning Apps

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10 Best Night Photography Tips for Magnificent Night Skies

by Adam Gordon | Travel Photography | 12 Comments

Night Photography Tips If you’re just getting into astrophotography and feel a little overwhelmed, don’t worry! At first, night photography can seem like a scary thing because it involves learning about photography… in the dark.  You can’t see anything, there...

markshelby

Hello! i have read your article, it is very helpful for me, but on the other hand, i am a little bit confused about the VSCO that comes with a built-in camera app because i read different things on other website that’s why I am confused. Kindly elaborate more thanks.

Karin van Mierlo

Hi Mark, I’m glad you’ve found it helpful. I don’t recommend using it because a dedicated camera app usually gives better results. Of course that’s just one opinion 😉 Hope this helps

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Iceland

5 Best Camera Apps for Travel Photos

Quick ways to make your vacation pictures stand out.

5 Best Travel Photography Apps

Adobe Lightroom Mobile

Related tours, related blog posts.

travel apps for photos

Touching up our travel photos before they go out into the big wide world of social media is standard for most of us. A little crop, a light brush to enhance the colors and you’re ready to share that flawless vacation moment.

Nobody wants to spend ages working on their photos while there’s still so much to see and do on your vacation! So what are the best camera apps for travelers who want a quick and easy touch-up on the go?  

After speaking to our photographer, Matas Dauginis, I’ve learned how to take the best pictures in Iceland . Now, it’s time to step up our photography game and find out what magic we can do with photography apps you can download straight to your smartphone. 

As not much of an app user, I decided to experiment a bit. Over a few days, I tested various photo editing apps that work on both iOS and Android devices. I took a single photo from Iceland and touched it up with three of the most popular photo editing apps for semi-beginners. 

Meanwhile, Matas touched up the same photo with his own tools. Let’s see what is the best camera app for travel photos!

travel apps for photos

The original image - taken with iPhone XS

travel apps for photos

I used VSCO to sharpen and crop the picture

This app is easy to navigate and doesn’t take much time to crack , even if you’re using it for the first time. VSCO has a selection of presets that change the contrast and colors of your pictures. You can also decide how intense the preset should be. Simply choose a style and it’ll be saved in your history, so you don’t have to scroll forever the next time you want to use the same tones. 

The editing options are quite basic but include all the main tools : adjustment, contrast, white balance, etc. You can purchase a membership to unlock even more tools, such as borders and HSL ( hue, saturation, lightness ). 

One of the more interesting features on this app is the recipes . VSCO allows you to create a recipe based on your past edits, making the process even quicker, as it remembers all your most-used presets .

What Has Been Done to the Picture? I used one of the presets, slightly sharpened the picture and cropped it.

How Long Did it Take to Edit the Picture? About as long as making a cup of coffee.

How Easy Was the Process? Easy! It’s more complicated when trying to find out how to edit night photos with VSCO, but that’s something for next time.

How Much Is the App? It has a free version, which is pretty cool! It seems to have enough editing features for a quick touch-up. 

If you want to unlock more tools and filters, you need to sign up with a monthly subscription fee. They offer a 7-day free trial to help you make up your mind.

travel apps for photos

Snapseed offers to add some "Glamour Glow" to your shots

For a quick fix, this photography app offers a selection of different styles that change the colors of your photo. Looking for something more elaborate? Go into tools and choose from a number of features, including curves, grainy film, vignette, and double exposure. 

To make your picture more fun, the app offers to add “Retrolux” and a “Glamour Glow.” It even has a “Drama” button that allows you to choose from different filters to create a more dramatic effect . You can also add text and a frame to make your pictures fun and lively!

What Has Been Done to the Picture? I applied one of the styles, cropped and used the “Heal” function.

How Long Did it Take to Edit the Picture? Snapseed has more tools so it took me slightly longer than editing on VSCO. While I wasn’t sure what they all were at first, it took me only a minute or two to press on each and see what they did to the photo. Overall, no more than five minutes in total.

How Easy Was the Process? It wasn’t too hard, but it requires some time to get familiar with the tools .

How Much Is the App? Free to download.

travel apps for photos

Played with Instagram to create a more dramatic effect

If you only know one photo editing app, it’s probably this one. You can do more than just edit your photos on Instagram, it’s also a social network people use to share their pictures. It has many basic features like filters, color adjustments, and shadows. 

If you post your image as a story, you can edit it further with different text styles, drawings, and funny face filters. You can also film and edit videos on this app. It’s definitely a must have photography app.

What Has Been Done to the Picture? I added the “Ludwig” filter, cropped the photo, and slightly changed the saturation. I also adjusted the brightness and contrast to make the colors more dramatic.

How Long Did it Take to Edit the Picture? Less than two minutes, but to be fair, I’ve used this app before. However, even a first time user will figure the app in no time.

How Easy Was the Process? Very easy.

How Much Is the App? It’s free and some people even manage to make money.

travel apps for photos

After Adobe Lightroom Mobile

If you want more options than just changing your pictures into a black and white image, try Lightroom. One of its best features is that you can remove unwanted objects , for example, that tourist who photobombed you with his pineapple cocktail! This app is perfect for more experienced users who already know what to do with raw photos. 

Lightroom offers professional tools such as color tone curves, split toning, and masking that plays with sharpening the picture. The mobile app synchronizes with Lightroom desktop software, so you can use it on both your phone and computer .

Since I’m not an experienced user and certainly don’t know what to do with raw files, our photographer, Matas Dauginis, came to the rescue and used Lightroom to edit this picture.

What Has Been Done to the Picture? Matas used the healing brush to delete the person in the red jacket from the photo. He then cropped and slightly rotated the photo because the horizon wasn’t 100% straight. 

He added a Color Profile and adjusted the Color Panel as well as the Light menu by increasing exposure, adding contrast, and slightly lifting black colors. 

Tapping into the Remove Chromatic Aberration and Enable Lens Correction tools, he also changed the texture, sharpened the picture and corrected the optics.

How Long Did it Take to Edit the Picture? It took him around 10 to 15 minutes, but it wasn’t the first time Matas had used the app.

How Easy Was the Process? Fairly easy for a professional photographer who has used it before. Difficult for someone who’s only ever used Instagram filters, but nothing a few hours of practice wouldn’t fix.

How Much Is the App? Some of the tools on Adobe Lightroom are free. To get more features, the app can be purchased together with a Creative Cloud Photography plan .

travel apps for photos

It took 5-10 minutes to edit the picture with Darkroom

This app is one of Lightroom's main competitors. Darkroom is easier to navigate , even if you’re not a pro photo editor (yet!). It has slightly fewer tools, but all the major editing features are available . Darkroom is one of the best photo editing apps for iOS devices.

What Has Been Done to the Picture? First, Matas applied a color preset and changed the opacity. Then he adjusted the brightness, contrast, highlights, shadows, saturation, vibrancy, and white balance, and added fade, grain, vignette, and sharpness. The result is a photo that will make everyone jealous of your holiday in Iceland!

How Long Did it Take to Edit the Picture? Matas has used this app before and it took him 5-10 minutes.

How Easy Was the Process? It’s user-friendly and easier to use than Adobe Lightroom Mobile — just with fewer tools.

How Much Is the App? The app has a free basic version with limited features. More tools such as color adjustments and curves are available as in-app purchases.

After all the careful photo editing, I can confidently say that I wish I had known about these apps earlier! Even a light color adjustment can make a big difference and turn your casual picture into a pro-looking photograph you’ll want to hang on your wall.  

So what’s the verdict? When it comes to the best travel photo editor to use on the go, my personal favorite is VSCO . I also find it to be one of the best photo editing apps for Android. 

It only took a few minutes to brush up the picture, plus it was easy to use and had many tools to pick from , but not so many you’d get lost. When you’re on the road and want to hurry and get your shiny photos up on your feed fast — it’s one of the best phone photography apps. 

Try out these and other apps for yourself! Let us know which photo editing app you prefer for your holiday photos in the comments.

After all this careful photo editing, I can confidently say that I wish I had known about these apps earlier! Even a light color adjustment can make a big difference and turn your casual picture into a pro-looking photograph you’ll want to hang on your wall. 

So what’s the verdict?

When it comes to the best photo editing apps to use on the go, my personal favorite is VSCO. It only took a few minutes to brush up the picture, plus it was easy to use and had many tools to pick from, but not so many you’d get lost. When you’re on the road and want to hurry and get your shiny photos up on your feed fast — here’s an editing app that won’t disappoint. 

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travel apps for photos

12 Incredible Photo Editing Apps For Busy Travel Photographers

Post Summary: photo editing apps for travelers + tips to edit quickly on the go!

Let’s face it, there’s a high chance you’ve taken pictures on your latest vacation.

And we totally get it – those sandy beaches, tall mountains, or bustling cities are too good not to share. Berty and I have even made a full-time job out of sharing beautiful travel photos!

Normally for us, editing photos require a computer, multiple hard drives, essential photography accessories , and fast wifi. However, we’ve done our fair share of testing mobile editing apps so that we can be more efficient on the road.

Berty and I have experimented with so many and we’ve FINALLY found our favorites!

If you’ve stumbled upon this post for easy travel photography solutions, you’re in the right place.

In this post, we’re sharing the 12  best photo editing apps for travel photography , and additional tips on how you can stay organized and share on the go.

Berty Mandagie hand with iphone

This is our master list of the top photo editing apps, scheduling, and sharing tools for travel photographers.  

This post covers everything from editing photos on your mobile phone to sharing them on social media, and finally, scheduling them out for those times that wifi is unreliable.

As new photography apps come, we will try to update this post with the latest and greatest!

To the best of our knowledge, all these apps listed below are available on both iOS and Android smartphones. We’ll make sure to note if that’s not the case!

Berty Mandagie at Kaaterskill Falls, NY

1. Instasize

( download instasize here. ).

Price: Free Trial // $4.99 monthly for Premium (to unlock all the tools)

Instasize is an all-in-one photo and video editing app for creative photographers. Basic stories are out – take your creativity to the next level and make one-of-a-kind stories and static images to showcase your unique style!

With over 130 filters for photo and video, it’s one of the most comprehensive photo editing apps on the market. Resize your images, add borders (they are the OG for the Instagram white border trend!), make custom layouts, and even retouch your photos in one powerful tool.

We feel like they are constantly coming out with new features! Our next goal is to use their video editing tools to make engaging Reels for upcoming Instagram stories.

If you’re looking for one app to use for both image editing AND short form video , Instasize is definitely for you.

  • Pros:  Really intuitive design, easy to use. A huge platform of features, for both photo and video editing.
  • Cons:  Limited use in the free version. You need to get Premium to make the most of this tool!

2. Adobe Lightroom CC (Best app for professional photographers)

Lightroom preview for photo editing apps

( Download Adobe Lightroom CC Mobile Here. )

Price: Free (To access Adobe Creative cloud storage , you pay a subscription)

Adobe Lightroom CC is one of the most powerful mobile editing tools out there for professional photographers .

With the ease of use from desktop to mobile versions, you can download your own presets on both devices and get the same editing results wherever you go.

Along with custom preset creation, Adobe Lightroom CC has several advanced photo editing tools like tweaking tone curves, gradient, and effects to make a photo exactly how you want.

Become an experienced photo editor right from your phone!

Note: We don’t generally use Adobe Photoshop in our current work, but there are mobile versions available.  Click this link to see the whole Adobe Photoshop series.

  • Pros:  Professional photography editing capabilities, easily transfer work from desktop to mobile (with subscription).
  • Cons: Can be difficult to make precise changes on mobile, a steep learning curve if you are new to Adobe, subscription use only.

VSCO display example for photo editing apps

( Download VSCO Here. )

Price: FREE (with in-app purchases)

VSCO is loved by everyone from amateurs to photographers to designers!

VSCO’s incredibly on-trend filters and presets will have your photos insta-worthy in a matter of seconds. This photo editing app also has the option to purchase limited edition filters, so you can use one for each of your travel destinations.

VSCO also has a highly involved community that supports artists and their work! You can submit your own creations to their journal and have your own curated feed as another social platform to share your photographs.

We find that this is a great app to discover new artists and photographers.

  • Pros:  User-friendly, simple interface, able to copy and paste presets for multiple images.
  • Cons:  Limited use until purchasing more filters.

4. Snapseed

Snapseed preview for photo editing apps for mobile

( Download Snapseed Here. ) (Only available for iOS)

Price: FREE

One of the best free photo editing apps for its wide array of capabilities. It has sophisticated photo editing and social media sharing all in one app!

Snapseed (owned by Google) has an easy-to-use interface with quick and simple image adjustment tools like crop, saturation, and sharpness. You also have the ability to tweak more advanced details like colors, hiding blemishes, double exposure and more.

Snapseed provides everything from ready-made filters to tweaking every detail possible. So whether you’re a beginning photographer or a professional, try this free photo editing app!

  • Pros:  Huge array of photo editing features and filters. Ability to save your editing preferences (like presets) so your feed and aesthetic looks consistent. The app is completely free.
  • Cons: So simple it’s confusing sometimes. It can a while to test all the features to see what exactly they do. You can only upload and edit one photo at a time.

5. TouchRetouch (Best Photo Correction App)

TouchRetouch display for photo editing apps

( Download TouchRetouch here. )

Price: $1.99 In Apple Store

Say you’ve taken a photo, loved it, but later realized there’s an irritating telephone wire across your serene mountainscape. Do you bag the whole picture? No!

TouchRetouch makes it  easy to remove objects from a photo by using your finger to erase those blemishes out.

We use this tool for quick fixes and last minute observations in already-edited photos. We commonly use TouchRetouch to edit out logos, and things like garbage cans or signs.

The app makes it easy to erase and allows you to zoom in and use a “magnifying” tool for incredibly accurate precision.

You can also get creative with this app and come up with quirky and fun ideas like floating people or oceans in a jar!

  • Pros:  Tutorials provided in-app, intuitive user experiences, quick fixes for obvious photo eyesores.
  • Cons: Takes some practice for precision, not free (but worth the price).

6. CannonConnect

CanonConnect mobile app display for photo editing

( Download CannonConnect Here. )

If you own a Canon camera with wifi capabilities, which is basically everything newer than a Canon 5D Mark III (even the new entry-level  Rebel T6 has it!), you have the ability to transfer raw photos directly from your camera’s memory card to the camera roll on your phone .

Berty and I use this app very heavily while traveling . We love to pull photos from the memory card to edit and share with our Instagram followers in as close to real-time as possible.

CannonConnect also acts as a live viewer if your camera is on a tripod. You can snap the shutter from your phone, or even use it to capture the perfect selfies!

  • Pros: Immediate access to photos, the ability to transfer files without an intermediary device.
  • Cons: Photos can quickly take up memory on phone because of huge raw file image sizes, only for Canon users.

The Best Photo Scheduling Apps

Later display for photo scheduling apps

( Download Later here. )

Price: FREE for 30 day periods, monthly plan for extended use.

Later is not a photo editing tool, but rather a photo scheduling app. Once you’ve edited your photo to perfection, what’s the use if you don’t share it? 😉

This app allows you to manage your time for minimal planning and more time for other productive activities.

There are options to auto-post to Instagram, reminder notifications to post, and tools to draft up several pieces of Instagram content all in one app!

More Features:  Later has a super helpful blog with productivity and marketing tips. They also have a desktop version that provides more features. On a computer, you can now easily reply to comments!

  • Pros:  convenient auto-posting feature, downloading unlimited quantities of photos, has a desktop version available.
  • Cons: Difficult to see feed preview before it goes live,

Planoly display for photo scheduling tools

( Download Planoly here. )

Price: FREE for 30 uploads per month, monthly plans after that for extended use.

Why another scheduling tool?

For starters, the free plans for Later and Planoly only allow one account – after that, you’ll have to pay for it.

Therefore, we use one tool for each account @themandagies and @emilymandagie to save a few bucks and keep it free. Marketing hack!

We really like to use Planoly because we are able to see our Instagram feed before it goes live.

We can upload photos we want to publish, then drag and rearrange them in different combinations until we like the way they all look together.

If you’re into feed aesthetics and making things look cohesive, you’ll definitely benefit from this photo editing app.

  • Pros:  Easily arrange your Instagram feed before it goes live, auto-posting, in-app stats for top performing photos.
  • Cons: No ability to tag photos before they go live, limited use of the app without paying for the subscription.

Buffer example for mobile content scheduling tools

( Download Buffer App Here )

Price: FREE for the first 3 channels. (Subscription to add more)

Not all content does well across all social channels. This is why we like to use a split-scheduling tool called Buffer.

Buffer is a one-stop shop for photographers who want to share their images across multiple social channels without having to open 5+ apps on their phone.

For each channel, you can customize what content goes out and when. Example: We like to share a mini-photo album on Facebook , maybe two on Twitter with some hashtags, and one on Instagram .

With Buffer, you can easily personalize your captions and content for each social profile.

  • Pros: One app does all the scheduling, easily view what goes live and when, customizable for each account.
  • Cons: Limited to three channels unless upgrading to the paid version.

Best Photo Design Apps Smartphones

10. canva (best user-friendly graphic designer app).

Canva display example for mobile editing apps

( Download Canva Here. )

Price: Free. (Option to subscribe monthly for more tools)

Canva is our #1 tool for creating images with a text overlay.

We especially use this for the pins we share on Pinterest.  Canva just had a huge upgrade, so there are tons more free fonts, images, and graphics to use in your designs.

Note: There is a paid version, but I wouldn’t bother with it unless you will be constantly using it for graphic design. You essentially just pay for shortcuts, the ability to download fonts and resizing images quickly.

In our opinion, the subscription isn’t worth the simple tools it provides if you are just using the app occasionally.

  • Pros:  Ease of use between the mobile app and desktop, ability resize images for any social platform.
  • Cons:  Mobile version is a little more difficult to navigate, requires wifi.

11. Unfold (Best Instagram Story Sharing App)

Unfold example for instagram story creating

( Download Unfold Here. )

Price: FREE with in app features for purchase.

Unfold is a story creation & design tool , mostly used for Instagram stories but the app can also be used for Snapchat too.

Unfold has tons of creative effects to make your stories ultra-cool, engaging and stylish.

Some new filters and updates include polaroid frames, ripped paper layers, and computer crop frames. They occasionally have limited editing frames for unique story designs.

With this app, you can create one-of-a-kind social stories and share everything from video, collages, and professional photography galleries.

There are endless creative ways to use this app!

  • Pros:  Easy to use, extremely customizable, makes Instagram stories look professionally created.
  • Cons:  Basic templates until payment for more, clips shorter than 15 seconds repeat over.

12: *Bonus: Instagram (Best Social Media Photography App)

@themandagies Instagram preview -photo sharing app

It’s no surprise that Instagram is the largest photo sharing app out there.

With over 1 billion users on Instagram , you have the opportunity to share your work with the world. 

Not only is this a great tool to connect with other like-minded photographers, with the help of Instagram and these photo editing apps, you can also share your best pictures online!

For more photo editing inspiration, follow us at @themandagies to see how we edit, share, and schedule our photographs!

FINAL THOUGHTS

Modern technology has made it easy for the average smartphone user to become a travel photographer. 

Smartphones can sometimes be as good as their camera counterparts, and the average consumer now has access to creating beautiful photography in the palm of their hand .

We hope this post can inspire you to take what you have and simply start creating!  One of the hardest parts of growing as a creative photographer is just beginning.

We encourage you to take these simple mobile tools and use these as stepping stones in your journey.

Do I need all of these photography apps to be a good photographer?

Absolutely not! Many of these apps have similar features and capabilities, so try experimenting and see which photo editing apps work best for you!

What are some of your favorite photo editing apps? Let us know in the comments below!

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travel apps for photos

The 7 Best Travel Photo Book Websites of 2024

Amid countless digital images, special moments deserve to be printed

travel apps for photos

We independently evaluate all recommended products and services. If you click on links we provide, we may receive compensation. Learn more .

Nowadays, capturing stills and short videos of daily life is commonplace. And, haven't we all felt that spark of excitement (and maybe even a bit of envy) when our feeds fill with faraway cities, unbelievable landscapes, and famous monuments? The ever-changing nature of social media has also brought back the specialness of physical prints. And when it's your turn to explore new places, travel photo books are a great way to save memories from the most exciting and cherished times in our lives. Take a look at our picks for websites to create unique keepsakes. You'll also find our advice on selecting a photo book service, including ease of navigation, level of customization, and price points.

Best Overall

Artifact Uprising

Convenient data transfer options

Can make photo books for other occasions

Tips to improve your skills

Nothing yet

When you want to create a glossy, high-quality photo book that truly does justice to your treasured vacation memories, look no further than Artifact Uprising. The site has a wide-ranging line of layouts, bindings, and sizes to choose from, and each of their albums is made using eco-conscious materials, like acid-free recycled paper that’s Forest Stewardship Council certified. It’s also easy to upload images from Dropbox and Instagram, which is key. 

But it’s their modern, millennial-friendly designs that set this company apart. The Hardcover Photo Book is custom-bound in premium fabric, with your choice of a full-sized or partial dust jacket. Other favorites include the Layflat Photo Album, whose design was inspired by heirloom albums, with its thick pages and hand-stamped covers. And the Instagram Friendly Photo Book offers a fun, stylish way to catalog your feed.

Plus, the site itself is full of helpful content in the form of articles (like “ Organizing Your Phone Photos ” and “ A Practical Guide to Scanning Old Photos ”) that teach you how to be a better travel photographer and photo curator.

Sizes Available: 6 x 8 inches, 8.5 x 8.5 inches, 11 x 8.25 inches, and more | Cover Options: Hard, soft, photo-wrapped, fabric | Number of Pages: 50, 100, 150 | Shipping: Two weeks for standard shipping, one week for expedited shipping

Best Budget

Walmart photo.

Good selection

Site design could be improved

Just because you don’t have a big budget doesn’t mean you can’t have a quality photo book of your travels. Walmart lets you upload photos from a variety of sources—like your computer, Flickr, Dropbox, Google Photos, and Facebook—to create custom photo books that are more cost-effective than other sites. They offer different styles of books ranging from scrapbook-style albums to their full-page Destinations album. The Let’s Be Adventurers and Scenes to be Seen photo books have easy-to-use layouts and cute templates, with captions that read “Adventure Is Calling” and “Wild & Free” next to globe and suitcase clip art. 

Regardless of which book you choose, there are several cover options, including glossy hardcover, matte hardcover, softcover, linen cover, leather, and more, all printed on thick, semi-gloss finish paper. Size options range from 5 x 7 inches to 12 x 12 inches. Book prices start at $10 for a paper-cover book to $60 for a premium layflat photo album. Conveniently, if you’re in a hurry, some book styles offer same-day pickup.

Sizes Available: 5 x 7 inches, 8 x 8 inches, 11 x 14 inches, and more | Cover Options: Custom, linen, leather, paper | Number of Pages: 20 to 150 | Shipping: Free shipping on orders over $35

Easiest to Use

Well organized

Good level of customization

If you’re not exactly a pro when it comes to uploading and rearranging photos, why not let Printique do the heavy lifting for you? Yes, the site offers a variety of layouts and customizable templates, but there’s also an auto-fill option if you don’t want to start from scratch or you simply don’t have hours to spend designing a photo book. If you use the auto-build feature, your book will be ready in a matter of minutes.

Choose from one of just three styles—Build Your Own, Birch Forest, or By the Shore—and from there, it’s only a matter of ticking off the boxes. You can create both softcover and hardcover books or opt for premium options like genuine leather and full fabric. They have portrait, square, and landscape-oriented books available, and you can even pick your own paper.

The site also has excellent tips and articles on everything from how to create a killer travel photo book to how to narrow down which photos to use in your book. 

Sizes Available: 6 x 7.5 inches, 8 x 10 inches, 10 x 12.5 inches, and more | Cover Options: Hard, soft, leather, fabric | Number of Pages: 10 to 100 | Shipping: Free on orders over $100 with some exclusions

Most Binding Options

Snapfish hardcover photo book.

Easy to follow

Mobile-friendly

If it’s options that you want, Snapfish is a great go-to photo book maker. The site has enough templates, sizes, and binding options to make your head spin. All in all, there are 14 travel photo book themes to select from, including Life at the Beach, Wanderlust, Summer Snapshots, Roadtrip, Destination Stamps, and others.

There are nine binding types available: hardcover, matte hardcover, layflat hardcover, layflat matte hardcover, premium layflat hardcover, linen hardcover, leather hardcover, softcover, and matte softcover. Sizes range from 5 x 7 inches to 12 x 12 inches, and you can include up to 150 pages. As a bonus, Snapfish has an app that allows you to create and order prints and even design your photo book straight from your phone.

Sizes Available: 8 x 8 inches, 8 x 11 inches, 11 x 14 inches, and more | Cover Options: Hard, soft, photo-wrapped, linen, leather | Number of Pages: 20 to 150 | Shipping: Free shipping on orders $29+ with code (check deals tab)

Best for Creative Layouts

Allows for original work

Plenty of auto-fill options

Other products available

May be intimidating for some

Want to craft a thoughtful, one-of-a-kind travel photo book? Mixbook offers a plethora of layouts to choose from for a more personalized experience. They have a staggering number of travel-themed templates, all of which are thoughtfully created and fun, like Instagood, J’adore Paris, Retro Road Trip, and Camping Adventures, among many others. 

Get those creative juices flowing as you curate your book—to start, you can pick from different orientations, sizes, papers, and styles. Then, every aspect of the design and layout process is customizable, which means you can rearrange photos, change and delete text, and even upload your own backgrounds. Prices range from $20 for softcover books to $175 for leather-bound albums.

Sizes Available: 6 x 8 inches, 8.5 x 8.5 inches, 11 x 8.5 inches, and more | Cover Options: Hard, soft | Number of Pages: 25 up to 399 | Shipping: Free on orders $79+

Best for Hardcover

Established company

Designer service

Some reviews advise double-checking final product

When most people think about creating a travel photo book, they often think of Shutterfly—and for good reason. This powerhouse photo maker has a site that’s easy to navigate, and they frequently run sales on their (already affordably priced) photo books. Although you have the option of selecting a softcover, the company makes excellent hardcover and premium leather cover books. 

Choose from one of six book sizes that run from 7 x 9 inches to 12 x 12 inches and from over 30 unique styles that are as specific as Aloha Hawaii and National Parks, plus plenty of generic travel themes like Modern Europe, Beach Travel, Family Vacation, and more. From there, you can upload your photos or even let Shutterfly select the best ones for you.

Sizes Available: 8 x 8 inches, 10 x 10 inches, 12 x 12 inches, and more | Cover Options: Hard, soft, leather and eco-leather, acrylic | Number of Pages: 20 up to 111 | Shipping: Ships in 1-2 days

Best for Softcover

Pinhole Press

Offers a variety of products

Easy to navigate

Well reviewed

For those who’d prefer a softcover photo book, Pinhole Press offers a range of softcover styles, which are available in square, portrait, and landscape. These offer up to 50 pages and four different sizes, ranging from 5.25 x 5.25 inches to 8.75 x 11.25 inches. Feel free to get creative: After uploading your photos, you can choose your own photo for the cover and write any text that you want to include. And, in terms of photo layout, you can place the photos yourself or let the site do the work for you. 

The books ship relatively fast, and the site is very user-friendly, both of which are always a big plus. 

Sizes Available: 5 x 5 inches, 8.5 x 6.5 inches, 11 x 8.5 inches, and more | Cover Options: Hard or soft | Number of Pages: 20 to 50 | Shipping: Ships in 5-7 business days

Final Verdict

For a seamless and convenient experience, we like Artifact Uprising . They make eco-friendly photo books with plenty of options to personalize. Cost-effective and popular, Walmart offers a good array of products.

What to Look For in a Travel Photo Book Website

Ease of use.

Nobody likes a website that is cluttered or overwhelming. When you are making a customized keepsake or gift, you can bet you'll be spending more time using that page. Sites that are simple, clear, and well-organized are going to improve your experience and translate into a book that you are happier with.

Level of Customization

All the websites we researched offer more and less in-depth options. Maybe you got the idea to make a photo book last minute for that wanderlust friend who is difficult to shop for. In this case, using an auto-fill option will streamline the process and take creative pressure off of you. Shutterfly , for example, offers a free designer service. On the other hand, if you are looking to impress a loved one and try your hand at adding special and meaningful touches, almost every website offers an option to start from a blank canvas.

When it comes to travel photo books, prices vary widely. Depending on the level of customization, size, type of cover, number of pages, additional features such as glossy pages, and shipping speed, you could pay as little as $20 to more than $400. To be specific, an 8 x 8 inch, layflat, glossy hardcover book with 20 pages at Snapfish starts at $43.

Why Trust TripSavvy?

Justine Harrington loves seeing all her travel photos on the page rather than keeping them stored away in her phone or on the computer, where they almost never see the light of day. She's been using Shutterfly for years (and Walmart when she's in a time crunch) to create photo books that she looks back on whenever she wants to relive the best memories from her avid travels.

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The Best Digital Tools for Travel Journaling

When it comes to logging your travel memories, the modern era poses a unique set of problems. You don’t want to upload a hundred vacation photos to Facebook (newsflash: no one’s looking), and you know you won't get around to printing all those snapshots—but one or two Instagram posts just aren't enough to do your trip justice. Enter the digital travel journal: an elevated way to share photos, jot down memories, geo-tag restaurants, and track your itinerary in real time.

Kristen Dold is a Chicago-based freelance writer and content strategist who focuses on health, travel, and lifestyle topics. Her work has appeared in Women’s Health, Travel + Leisure, Runner’s World, Marie Claire, GQ, Vogue, and New York magazine.

Best For: Building stunning photo-centric narratives

Exposure’s clean, minimalist aesthetic has made it a fast favorite among the professional photog set, but it’s easy enough to use for amateurs. The concept is simple: drag and drop your snapshots into grids, add some brief titles and descriptors, then let your followers bask in full-bleed photos that have the highbrow feel of a digital magazine. (Take a look at some of their featured stories to see what we mean.)

Price: Free for the first three stories, $5+ a month after that

Best for: sharing real-time updates with close friends.

No more overposting anxiety— Tripcast is like a private Instagram feed for the folks who really do care about your every move. (Hi, Mom.) Friends at home and fellow explorers can get notifications on your whereabouts and comment on trip photos that automatically upload to a travel map. Another perk: travel pals can build albums together so everyone’s memories are in one spot.

Price: Free

Best for: keeping a quick chronicle while on the move.

The newly revamped version of the Day One app (called ‘Day One 2’) makes journaling as easy as posting to Twitter. Jot down some highlights, attach a photo, and the app will stamp your location, the date, time, weather, and even your step count, if you want it. Plus you can tag posts, so it's easy to keep past excursions organized for future reference. (If you like microjournaling, the app can keep separate journals for things like work, health or sleep.) Features like audio recording and tagging your friends are coming soon.

Cost: $4.99

Best for: getting wordy without wifi.

Words and images get equal real estate on Bonjournal , a Tumblr-like platform ( here’s what it looks like) which allows you to add tags like ‘food & drink’ or ‘nightlife’ to entries, share them on social media (a privacy lock is available for any posts you want to keep to yourself) and even give your experiences a grade. The best feature: you can create posts offline and upload them later, ideal for long flights home without wifi.

30 essential travel apps every traveler needs before their next trip

Lori Zaino

When it comes to planning and taking a vacation, travelers rely on their phones now more than ever.

Travel apps are a source of inspiration and are extremely useful for booking and managing logistics — even making restaurant reservations or finding a great fitness class wherever in the world you're flying next.

From apps that help with everything from day-of hotel bookings and last-minute flight changes to those that serve as guidebooks and foreign-language dictionaries, travel is infinitely easier thanks to technology.

Apps can help you navigate a new city, make currency conversions, pack a perfect suitcase and even provide on-the-ground local expertise. Whatever you need when you hit the road, there's an app for that.

We've rounded up the most-loved apps here at TPG. Some may be obvious, and others more obscure, but either way, get ready to download.

Best apps for researching and booking trips

In addition to the apps for the airlines you fly most frequently and your favorite hotel brands, these apps can help you save money on flights and accommodations.

travel apps for photos

Hopper has changed in recent years from just offering a price prediction tool for flights to being a true online travel agency. The app helps travelers find the cheapest flights, hotels and rental cars.

Of course, Hopper also still offers its signature price prediction technology to help you plan out when to book, as well as travel protection options and a price freeze to help you lock in the lowest possible price on hotels and flights.

travel apps for photos

Kiwi is used mainly to book flights, but it also helps you book hotels (using its partnership with Booking.com) and car rentals (using its partnership with RentalCars.com).

Some of the app's most interesting features include the "Deals" section, which pulls in discounted flights, and the "Travel hacks" section, which includes options for hidden city ticketing, throwaway ticketing (making one-way flights more affordable) and free price alerts.

Hotel Tonight

travel apps for photos

A dream for last-minute travelers, Hotel Tonight ( now owned by Airbnb ) lets you book stays for the same evening up to a few months in advance in thousands of cities worldwide. Available hotel rooms are categorized into sections like basic, luxe, hip, charming and solid, so you can select what works for your vibe. Take advantage of the daily drop feature, where you swipe to find a personalized deal with a special price only valid for 15 minutes after unlocked.

At TPG, we love a good loyalty program, and HT Perks, the app's nine-level reward program, is extensive. Not unlike a video game, you "level up" by reaching specific spending thresholds on the app, and you'll gain access to perks like discounts, VIP customer support and credits. Also, your levels never expire, so you can only continue to move up.

travel apps for photos

To book home rentals instead of hotels, use the Airbnb app. After entering your destination and dates, you can filter results based on the home type, price, requisite amenities and more. If you find something you like, you can book directly through the app.

The app is ideal for managing your trips while on the road — you can access all your bookings under the "Trips" tab, where you can view your reservation (and the address or directions), contact the host or change your reservation. Once you have a booking, you can also explore and book local experiences in your destination, such as wine tastings, kayak tours, hikes, shows and concerts.

travel apps for photos

We can't talk about travel apps without mentioning the TPG App. Use it to track your credit card, airline and hotel points balances; earn points and miles efficiently through using the right credit card ; and research how many points or miles you'll need to book your dream getaway. You can even curate your own news feed so you see the news and advice that matters most to you first.

The TPG App is available for download on iOS . Android users can join the waitlist here .

Related: The TPG App has arrived — here's why you should download it now

Best apps for organizing a trip

From keeping all your documents in order to perfectly packing your suitcase without forgetting a thing, these are the best apps for organizing travel plans.

travel apps for photos

TripIt declutters your itineraries and documents by keeping them organized in one place. You can set your reservations to automatically send to TripIt, which lets you view travel confirmations, flight itineraries, tickets, hotel and Airbnb booking information, rental car reservations, ferry tickets and driving directions without ever leaving the app.

TripIt also makes it simple to share your trip plans with whoever picks you up from the airport or train station or anyone else who may need to coordinate with you. TripIt Pro subscriptions cost $49 per year and include extras like real-time flight alerts, security wait times, baggage claim information and updates on your loyalty reward programs.

Roadtrippers

travel apps for photos

Perfect for organizing that epic road trip you've always wanted to take, Roadtrippers plans out your driving route and lets you book hotels and activities along the way. The app is especially useful for finding interesting and off-the-beaten-path roadside attractions, cool restaurants and can't-miss landmarks you can bookmark.

A Roadtrippers Premium membership includes offline maps, live traffic information, overnight RV parking and more for $59.99 per year. For those looking to only venture on a few road trips per year, the app also offers a Pro ($49.99 per year) and Basic ($35.99 per year) membership.

travel apps for photos

PackPoint takes all the stress out of packing . The app shows you what to bring based on the length of your trip, the weather in your destination and any activities you're planning along the way. If you have access to laundry facilities at your destination, PackPoint even allows you to account for washing your clothes and wearing them multiple times.

Just download and install the app, type in the city you're visiting and plug in your travel details. So, stop waiting until the day before your trip — or the hours before you have to leave for the airport — and start packing now.

Best apps for navigating the airport and flights

Track flights, navigate airports and find airport lounges with these apps.

LoungeBuddy

travel apps for photos

LoungeBuddy offers access to premium airport lounges around the world, regardless of the airline or class you're flying. When you create a trip in the app and type in the credit cards you currently hold, it will tell you which lounges you have access to based on the airports you'll be transiting through and how to purchase access if you don't already have it.

You can purchase access on the day you're traveling or up to two months in advance if you're the plan-ahead type. If you prefer to search by lounge or lounge program, the app will tell you exactly what is needed to use them.

Priority Pass

travel apps for photos

Priority Pass offers access to more than 1,300 lounges worldwide and provides meal vouchers at select airport restaurants across the world for an annual fee starting at $99.

Several cards, including The Platinum Card® from American Express , the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card and the Chase Sapphire Reserve , offer Priority Pass memberships for all cardholders (enrollment required). Otherwise, you'll have to pay an annual fee to be a member and, depending on your membership tier, a fee to enter each lounge on top of the annual fee.

To use the Priority Pass app, enter the name or code of the airport you're in, and Priority Pass will pull up the lounges or restaurants that you have access to, including photos, hours, amenities and specific location information. For more information on the Priority Pass Program and how to gain lounge access, click here . Enrollment is required for select benefits.

Related: The best credit cards for Priority Pass lounge access

FlightAware

travel apps for photos

The FlightAware app allows you to track flights online, see a live map of a flight and check on delays, cancellations and gate changes. This app is especially helpful if you have a tight connection or want to track your flight.

It's also useful when picking up friends and family at the airport, as you can track their flight and see updated landing times or delays. AvGeeks will enjoy digging into flight statistics, flight maps and community aviation discussions on the app.

Best apps to use during your flight

Timeshifter.

travel apps for photos

What better way to cure jet lag than with an app? Timeshifter actually helps you avoid jet lag long before your flight takes off and also offers inflight and post-flight suggestions. The app relies on neuroscience research about sleep and circadian rhythms to provide personalized recommendations, taking into consideration your age, gender and normal sleep patterns — as well as specifics about your trip and travel plans. Timeshifter maps out when you should avoid or seek light, take a nap or try to stay awake. It even tells you if you should consider supplementing with melatonin or caffeine.

Your first jet lag plan is free, then $9.99 per plan, or you can enjoy unlimited plans for a year for $24.99.

travel apps for photos

Flying can cause anxiety — or provide a welcome relief from constant contact with our digital devices. Either way, use travel as an opportunity to relax, meditate or listen to soothing sounds that will lull you to sleep or a deep, relaxed state. Or, perhaps, you'll simply find it helps pass the time during a long flight.

Calm offers meditations on topics such as self-awareness, calming anxiety, breathing, lowering stress levels and happiness, among others. The app also has music options for focusing, relaxing and sleeping, as well as stories for adults and content for kids.

A limited selection of meditations and music is available for free (which you can download to use when you're offline or in flight). The premium version of the app costs $14.99 per month or $69.99 annually.

travel apps for photos

OK, so Netflix isn't really a travel app, but it can be a lifesaver during a long flight on an aircraft without seatback inflight entertainment or at the airport during an unexpected flight delay or boring layover. If you have a Netflix account, the app allows you to download your favorite shows onto your device to watch offline.

Just make sure to download your shows while connected to Wi-Fi before flying and check them again preflight to make sure they haven't expired (you can usually renew any expired downloads, but you must be connected to Wi-Fi or data to do so). Monthly prices vary depending on the plan.

Another app that's not really a travel app, Spotify can still be incredibly useful during tedious travel moments — just pop in those noise-canceling headphones and listen to your favorite music, meditations, podcasts and more.

The app's Premium plans (prices vary) allow you to download all your content offline on your phone, so you'll have it during long flights or when you don't have data or Wi-Fi access. Whether you want to take a morning jog in Bali to your favorite tunes or pass the time with a podcast on the metro in Barcelona, Spotify has it all.

Best apps to use in your destination

From exchanging money and sightseeing to communicating and knowing all the local tips and tricks, you don't want to land in a foreign city for the first time without these key apps.

XE Currency Converter

travel apps for photos

The XE Currency Converter app quickly provides live, up-to-the-minute currency rates, then allows you to store and view them even when you're offline. You'll never need to wonder if you're really getting a good deal in another country if you have this app.

Google Translate

travel apps for photos

Google Translate is a translation app that allows you to do it all — translate into more than 100 languages by typing, access 59 languages offline, translate via photo, translate bilingual conversations and even use the handwriting tool to translate.

The app is simple to use, too, with icons at the top you can click on to draw, take a photo, speak or type.

travel apps for photos

Not quite sure how much to tip when traveling internationally? GlobeTips will advise you on how to tip appropriately in more than 200 countries. It also offers a tip calculator for easy math. Globe also has apps for currency conversion, unit conversion and more that may be useful for travelers.

Related: The ultimate guide to tipping while traveling

travel apps for photos

For travelers globe-trotting with friends and family members or simply splitting the cost between groups, Tricount calculates shared costs and splits bills so you don't have to think twice about who owes what. Just enter your trip and currency and invite your travel mates to join your trip.

Each time someone pays for something, you enter the amount in Tricount, and the app splits everything up. You can also snap and store photos of receipts in the app. At the end of your trip, it will show the balances of who owes who what, making it easy to settle up.

Metric Conversions

travel apps for photos

Never be baffled by Celsius temperatures or suitcase weight in kilograms again with the Metric Conversions app . Whether you're measuring flour to cook at your Airbnb, figuring out distances for your Europe road trip or deciding whether to take a sweatshirt with you during your walking tour of the Great Wall of China, this app has you covered with easy conversions in volume, weight, temperature, area and more.

Google Maps

travel apps for photos

Google Maps is essential when visiting a new city (or even for getting around your hometown). You can map locations, get directions (walking, driving, public transportation, ride-hailing services and beyond) and see how crowded your subway will be in select cities .

You can make restaurant reservations, save your favorite spots and read and write reviews of attractions, eateries, shops and more. Make sure to download specific city or area maps ahead of time for offline access if you know you'll be without internet at your destination. For obvious reasons, the app works best when your GPS is turned on.

travel apps for photos

WhatsApp is a handy messaging service for travelers abroad as it uses an internet connection to avoid SMS fees.

It works like most other messaging apps: You start by creating an account, then add your friends and family members to contact and voila! You're able to call, video chat and send messages, images, voice memos, gifs and files just as you would in, say, iMessage (but with Android users too). You can also download WhatsApp on your Windows or Mac computer.

Best apps for planning activities

Traveling is about more than just getting from point A to point B. If you're looking for activities to add to your itinerary, check out these apps.

travel apps for photos

Meetup is an app designed for interacting with locals and other travelers who have mutual interests or shared hobbies. Whether you're traveling or at home, take what you love and do more of it with Meetup.

The app shows you groups that are formed around particular interests in your city, including yoga, photography, cooking, wine tasting, hiking, cinema and other activities. You can join groups to get updates on particular events you may want to participate in. The app can even help with networking, as there are many groups dedicated to business and technology. You might even be able to join a coworking group. Travelers with kids can participate in family-friendly meetups, and it's a great way for solo travelers to make friends and connect with others.

travel apps for photos

TheFork is one of the most useful resources for making restaurant reservations in Europe. Similar to OpenTable or Resy, the app lets you browse different restaurants by category and make reservations. TheFork features more than 60,000 restaurants in cities like London, Madrid and Geneva, as well as spots outside of Europe like Sydney, Australia.

The biggest perk is that many restaurant reservations come with discounts — in some cases, you can get up to 50% off your meal just by reserving a table through TheFork. Since we here at TPG are always down for earning rewards, make sure to monitor your YUMS — TheFork's reward system. You'll earn YUMS with each reservation, and when you hit 1,000, you receive a discount on your bill. Foodie travelers should also consider downloading these apps , too.

travel apps for photos

Happy Cow helps vegan and vegetarian eaters locate more than 180,000 restaurants, coffee shops, bakeries, farmers markets and grocery stores in over 180 countries around the world. The app allows you to filter by not only vegan and vegetarian but also gluten-free and cuisine types. You can also read reviews and get recipes on the app as well.

The app does cost $3.99, but it's a one-time expense.

TripAdvisor

Besides reading reviews of restaurants, hotels and attractions, you can book almost anything on TripAdvisor, from vacation rentals and restaurant reservations to tours and tickets.

The app has grown to include almost all things travel, allowing you to search by destination or interest (like the outdoors, food and drink, family or by the water, for example), which can give you inspiration for a trip or help you get your activities, meals and accommodations organized before traveling or on the fly.

With over 400,000 curated trails, AllTrails can help you find the hike or walk perfect for you and your group. It's not just mountain trails — AllTrails offers city walks, too, like easy meanders through the Marais district in Paris or peaceful strolls through Bangkok's Lumpini Park in Thailand.

See photos, updated weather predictions and key information about each route and connect with other travelers through reviews and forums. Access to AllTrails+ is $35.99 per year, which offers perks like offline maps and wrong turn alerts.

Best apps for staying safe

Use these apps to stay safe when traveling.

Smart Traveler

travel apps for photos

Smart Traveler is a free service that offers tips and information specifically for U.S. travelers. You can see what visas and vaccines you'll need before traveling and where to find help if you need it during your trip.

Register your trip on the app, which gives your information to local embassies and consulates in your destination. If there's any kind of disaster or tragedy, the local embassy can contact you to see if you need help.

TripWhistle

travel apps for photos

Another app dedicated to keeping you safe, TripWhistle maps your location and allows you to easily text or send your GPS coordinates or location. It also provides emergency numbers for firefighters, medical personnel and police in nearly 200 countries. After all, 911 is only for U.S.-based emergencies: Each country has its own specific emergency number.

Yes, Uber (or any local ride-hailing service app) is convenient, but it may also keep you safe. Using this app when traveling means you'll never get stuck wandering around in an unfamiliar area late at night or have to deal with unscrupulous taxi drivers trying to scam you. Uber also has in-app safety features such as an emergency assistance button which will allow you to call local emergency services right in the app.

Shoot Experience | Vlogging & Travel Photography Tips

19 insanely useful apps for editing photos & videos while traveling (Free & Paid options)

Best free and paid apps for editing photos and videos while traveling

Looking for the best apps to edit your travel photos or make videos and vlogs on the road? Want to know the best free photography apps, or the ones which are worth paying a little more for to improve your shots? Which ones are easiest to use while traveling to create beautiful memories of your trips?

We asked other travel photographers their favourite apps to use on the road- and here are their answers!

We work hard to make this the best travel photography and experience website possible. Shoot Experience is supported by our readers and if you make a purchase through a link on this site, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We are proud of our editorial integrity and only recommend cameras, gear and accessories we find truly useful. We hope you find the information in this post helpful.

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Best Apps for Photo Editing for professional results

Whether you’re a complete beginner (here are some travel photography tips for beginners ), or you’ve been around the block (ha- excuse the rubbish pun) , there are still plenty of things to learn and improve when it comes to editing travel photos.

To start, let’s look at some of the best and most popular photo editing apps for travelers. Most of these apps are available on both iOS and Android and they come with a huge range of uses and features. Because these are the ‘creme de la creme’, most of them need to be purchased or subscribed to for a monthly or annual fee.

If you’re looking for FREE or very cheap photo editing apps, keep scrolling to the next section.

Enlight Pixaloop

Photos app on iphone, ipad and mac, photo pills- be in the right place at the right time, adobe photoshop express.

Recommended by Erki from Genem Photography

Name of App: Photoshop Express Photo Editor

Available platforms: iOS and Android

Cost of app: Paid (free 30-day trial)

Adobe is one of the most well-known companies when it comes to photo editing. There are a great variety of different programs under Adobe and it’s perfect for more advanced photographers or travelers who want to take their photos to the next level.

Adobe offers different packages, depending on what you need. If you plan to do a lot of photo editing, you can get a Photography Package, which is around 11.99€ per month. The package includes three programs: Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom (mobile based, works on all platforms), and Lightroom Classic (desktop only). Adobe offers a 30-day free trial to see if it’s a good fit for you.

Photoshop has many features to tune up your travel photos. You can start small, with simple editing like adjusting exposure, color grading, and vignetting. But you can also make bigger changes to your captured photo, such as changing overexposed sky or brightening just one area.

You can also remove unwanted people or items- which is especially useful for travelers visiting popular locations like the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy or the Taj Mahal in India. The expectation is to get a perfect picture of the landmark with no distractions, but the reality is that these places are often overcrowded. The magic happens in Photoshop, where you can eliminate unwanted subjects and have a perfect photo for Instagram.

Adobe Photoshop is a very advanced photo editing software and takes some time to get to know all the bits and pieces. However, there are several learning videos by Adobe to learn the basics throughout the program.

Lightroom- one of the best photography editing apps

Recommended by Vicki from VickiViaja

Name of App: Lightroom

Cost of app: Paid (free trial)

Why this photo editing app might be best for you: Lightroom is considered one of the best and most professional image editing software on the market. It’s important to realise that there are TWO versions- a computer/ laptop software and then a phone app. If you don’t want to pay for the expensive Computer program from Adobe, you can simply download the free Lightroom app.

The app has a large number of editing functions, similar to what you would find in the computer program. It also has the capability to create and use presets. A preset is basically a set of pre-defined editing filters that you can use to enhance your pictures with just one click. There are numerous tutorials and blog posts on the internet explain how to create your own presets to edit your images in a flash, or you can purchase and use other peoples.

Reasons Vicki loves this app to edit her travel photos: “Some of the pictures I take in  my hometown Barcelona  can look a bit boring (since the Gothic quarter consists mostly of stone). I created my own preset in Lightroom that precisely fit the tones and colors of my Barcelona pictures. Now I can edit my images quickly and easily without having to start from scratch every time.”

Using the photo editing app Lightroom to enhance travel photos.

A Color Story

Recommended by Jade from Traveling Transylvania

Name of App: A Color Story

Cost of app: Paid (even free version needs packs to purchase)

A Color Story is a great photo editing app with a wide variety of filters and lens effects. With the ‘free’ version, you can choose individual filter packs to purchase (ranging from 2-6$ USD).  If you upgrade to the paid version (ACS+- costs around $32.99/ yr), you automatically get all new filter and effect packs.  Depending on how much you use the filters, it may or may not make sense for you to get the paid subscription.

You can apply multiple filters to a photo at different levels of intensity, and save your editing process, which makes it easy to apply the same edits to a large number of photos which is pretty cool.  You can do this with the free or the paid subscription.

Why Jade chose to pay for ACS+: “The main reason I opted for the main subscription was for the Color+ feature.  Do you ever adjust the saturation on your photos only to find that one color group is taking over?  The reds become too red or peoples’ skin becomes too orange?  Enter Color+.  With Color+, you can adjust the hue, saturation, and luminance of each color family.  This is a game changer and makes editing photos so much easier!”

Lens Distortions

Recommended by Isabella from Issy’s Escapades

Name of App: Lens Distortions

What is it best for? Making your photos look ‘wow’!

Price of app: free for certain limited features, upgrade to all features for $23.99 per year.

As your photography advances and you become more involved in the nuances of post-production and the impact this can have on a shot, you may find that some other photo apps are lacking in that extra something that makes you look at a photo and say “wow”. 

Lens Distortions is an extremely useful tool for the more experienced photographer to have in their arsenal. It allows you to introduce cinematic tones and effects like light leaks, fog, rain etc to create some extra drama and create atmosphere in a shot. It works on a ‘layer’ basis, allowing you to add features gradually and to layer on top of each. You can easily combine a range of layers and add and remove as you see fit. 

The app allows you to use a certain amount of features for free on a limited basis, across a range of the various colour, light and weather layers, but you need to upgrade and pay in order to access all features. Once you start using the app, you’ll discover that this is highly worth it as you’ll always find something that you need to make your image that extra bit special. 

As someone based in Ireland that takes lots of landscape images and shots taken in nature, I find the app invaluable for its post production features. I particularly love using it for woodland scenes to introduce light leaks through trees, or also for rugged mountain shots, where I like to introduce effects like fog to make the scene moody and dramatic. 

Isabelle’s top tips for using this app: Remember that less is more and bear in mind that the app was created to allow photographers to create subtle effects into their imagery! Also, use the eraser tool so that your effect is applied to certain parts of the image – like around a subject, but not including the subject, as an example. 

Use the Lens Distortions photo editing app to make your photos unforgettable.

VSCO Photo editing app

Recommended by Victoria from GuideYourTravel.com

Name of App: VSCO

What is it best for? Touching up photos

Cost of app: Free and Paid- Free trial for 7 days

VSCO is a popular photo editing app that is perfect for editing images for Instagram or other purposes. If you like editing photos on your phone VSCO is definitely a must-have app. It is loved for its filters that are highly adjustable and work more like presets. They have a modern look and will transform your travel photos completely.

The free version gets you a fantastic selection of filters although there are more available if you get a pro membership. This costs from $19.99 per year which is fairly reasonable and definitely worth it if you want to get the most out of the VSCO app. If you’re not quite sure yet whether this is a good option for you why not try the 7-day free trial? You can cancel any time so no risk involved.

VSCO also has some social media functionalities as users can share their photos on a feed. This is a great way to collect all your photos in one place and look at other people’s content while you are on the app. The app also automatically saves any photos you edit so you can easily access them when needed.

Recommended by Mikhaela from YouthSoloArtsy.com

Name of App: Enlight Pixaloop

What is it best for? Touching up and animating photos

Cost of app: Paid- Free trial for 7 days

  • 1 month: from 5.99/mo;
  • 12 months: from 17.99/mo
  • One-Time Purchase: from 54.99

Why this photo editing app might be best for you: Enlight Pixaloop is great for touching up and animating photos. Aside from that, it is easy to use, even for beginners who want to try out advanced photo editing and improve their photography. You can also use this for creating video clips, gifs, and social media posts on Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, and many more. Super easy and convenient to use for creative individuals out there.

In the Pro version, there are a lot of extra functions to try out, and you can remove the watermark which is present in the free version.

TIPS TO USE ENLIGHT PIXALOOP

Here are some ideas to get the most from this photo editing app.

  • TO ANIMATE: Click the animate button, click patch, click the area you want to animate, or add motion in your photo.
  • If the whole photo is moving, you could click the freeze button to select a specific object, person, or area you want to remove the animation.
  • Choose the camera fx to add more actionable and live-motion acts in the photo.
  • Choose filters, overlay effects, and add other graphics to make your photo more interesting.

FREE (or very cheap) photography editing apps

If you’re just starting out with travel photography, investing in one of the ‘big boys’ can be expensive- and possibly unnecessary. Until you know what sort of photos you enjoy taking, it’s hard to know exactly what you’ll need.

Instead, we recommend using some of these free photo editing apps to help you get started.

Snapseed- one of the best FREE photo editing apps

Recommended by Utkarsh from journeysfromheart.com

Name of App: Snapseed

Cost of app: Free

Snapseed is a free photo editing tool available both on android and iOS. It was initially developed for Apple’s iPad in 2011 and has gained huge popularity since then.

It has a range of inbuilt presets, a whole lot of filters, color tools and much more. There is a very easy to use interface and a quick learning curve, especially for beginners. It is a free tool and gives access to many of the advanced features like selective adjustments of photos for free, which are usually is paid in similar tools.

Reasons Utkarsh recommends this photo editing app: “I really like using it for my Instagram pages and love the quick-to-use editing features. Travelers can quickly tweak, edit and upload images on the go. It can handle both jpeg and RAW file formats.

There are some special features like Healing,text shadow effects, perspective which make this app an all time favourite for me. I use healing a lot as it helps removes stains, undesirable marks and lets you ‘clean’ the picture.”

Snapseed is a perfect fit for all travel photographers who are looking for a free solution and want to quickly edit and share their photos.

Touch ReTouch- the best photo editing app to remove unwanted items from your images

Recommended by Haley of Haley Blackall Travel  

Name of App: Touch Retouch

Cost of app: Paid – $1.99

TouchRetouch from Adva Soft is one of the best apps on the market for eliminating unwanted objects from your photos. At an economical $1.99USD purchase price, the app can be downloaded on Apple and Android products alike.

The TouchRetouch app features object removal, line removal, and a cloning function, all of which can easily be used to edit your travel photos. There are no complicated features here, as most objects and lines can be removed in two simple steps. This app is what most travel bloggers or influencers use for creating crystal clear images that showcase stunning architecture or landscapes. 

The object removal function itself includes a brush, lasso, and eraser function, giving you options for how you edit. TouchRetouch has stepped up its game over the last year to include an innovative line removal feature. It allows you to flick over a section of a line, and the app’s smart technology will remove the rest for you without you having to fiddle or spend too much time. If all you want to do is eliminate a blemish or two, there is an option for that, as well. 

The cloning stamp is more advanced and can allow you to simply remove objects, or you can spice up your editing game and use it to duplicate or mirror parts of your image to create an interesting effect.

TouchRetouch has a higher precision when it comes to eliminating unwanted objects from your photo. It can be tricky to try to establish boundaries in apps like Lightroom, and TouchRetouch is a more innovative application with a single purpose to create clear, precise edits to your valuable travel photos. 

Lensa- is this the best FREE selfie editing app?

Recommended by Parimita from Mumbai Gloss

Name of the app: Lensa: Photo Editor for Perfect Pictures 

What is it used for: You can use this app to edit selfies, close-ups, portraits, full lengths, etc. Anything where the face is clearly visible in your photos. This is a wonderful app for photo retouching and creating vibrant, studio level, natural looking images for faces and individuals. You can upload images from your phone folders or open the app in the camera mode.

Play Store Review score: 4.7

Cost of app: You can download the app for free and get 5 photo credits to try it out. You can edit 5 photos for free every week. After that you need to pay (although there is an option to share a link with family and friends to get more credits.)

The paid version includes unlimited photo edits using it’s advanced one touch features like changing photo backgrounds, one touch magic correction, foreground, and background adjustments, etc. Lensa provides Premium Subscriptions on Apple store which are currently $7.99/month and $29.99/year. The plans auto renew till cancelled.

You can upgrade to the paid version if you like but if you are not a heavy photo editor, the free version should be sufficient for creating impeccable selfies for your social media accounts or blogs for a week. Moreover, you can use almost all the features of the app in the free version including one touch background change, one touch magic correction, foreground and background adjustments, various filters, etc.

Why Parimita loves this app for photo editing:

This app enhances your best features without any unnatural looking filters. You can deepen the colour of your eyebrows, remove eyebags and under eye circles, smoothen the skin on your neck, make your lips look plump and even change the colour of your hair without making it look artificial. It is remarkably simple to use, with a very interactive user interface.

TOP TIP to use it better: Combine with other photo editing apps like PicsArt (see below) to change eye colour, to make your selfies pop.

Recommended by Jackie from JouJouTravels.com

Name of App: PicsArt

Cost of app: Free and paid versions($4.99/mo)

PicsArt is a free mobile editing app available on iOS & Android. The app is very simple to use bringing the fun back into editing as even beginners can use it with more ease than Photoshop. There’s a large variety of filters, stickers, and artistic text that you can apply to your image and make a boring picture stand out with more creative flair.

If you want to upgrade to the paid version, you will pay £4.99/mo and get access to more features including more fonts, templates, stickers, and premium photo & video editing tools. This app is much loved because the creative opportunities are endless and it’s so simple to use. There are many templates within the apps to get you started if you’re new to it.

If you want to combine an image with another you can easily do that and erase part of the second image to blend the two images nicely. This is perfect if you like how the subject looks in one photo but the background is more suitable in another. You can also easily remove the background and change the color or pattern with one of the many filters you can choose.

Jackie’s tip: “Another fun option is adding glitter or texture to parts of the photo or even a rainbow to brighten up a sky like this one in  Alberobello, Italy !”

travel apps for photos

Recommended by Mal from rawmalroams.com

Name of App: Facetune 2

Cost of app: Free and paid

Why this might be the best photo editing app for you: Face Tune 2 is an excellent app to easily remove imperfections, fine-tune your photos, and add some extra fun elements. 

The app costs £33 for the full version for a year, but there is also a free version with more limited features. The main reason why you would want to upgrade is that the full version saves photos in full quality, which may be important to you if you’re going to share your travel photos on social media and want to preserve the full resolution. 

Facetune 2 is particularly good to improve selfies and portrait photos. It works super well with removing skin imperfections and blemishes. You can smooth the subject’s skin with one touch, and this function is also included in the free version. Other functions include coloring, which can be handy if, for example, your lips came out unnaturally pale. You can also resize or reshape the body. Reshaping can be a controversial topic, but if you want some slight adjustment, such as posture, this app is a true hero.

Finally, the app has also some fun features such as defocusing the background, which works particularly well with portrait photos, adding elements to your background or clothes and some cool light effects, which you can use before saving or sending to your portable photo printer .

Lightleap (formerly Quickshot)

Recommended by Corina from Packed Again

Name of App: Lightleap (used to be known as Quickshot)

What is it used for?: Editing photos quickly while traveling, quickly and efficiently.

Cost of app: Free and Paid

Lightleap is an image editing program/app for use on the go when it needs to be done quickly and you don’t have time to use Lightroom or Photoshop. As simple as 10 seconds and you can have a photo edited.

The app can be used for free but you can upgrade. The paid version has many cool effects if you need this for your photo editing. Another great feature of the Lightleap App is the “repair. Quickly remove unwanted people, background stains and simply retouch your picture within minutes and it is ready to upload.

What Corina loves about this photo editing app: ” My favorite feature and the one I use the most are “The Sky under control”. Although moody grey skies can be great, but sometimes I just need a bit of blue and clouds to bring the photo back to live and Lightleap App can do that. You can choose from several different skies from the sunny blue sky all the way to the stargazing night sky. Add it to the photo and most of the times it looks perfect.”

TOP TIP for using this app to edit photos: If you know you will need the App to replace a sky for example, make sure there are NO trees within the skies so that it works better.

Recommended by Jyoti from Story at Every Corner 

Name of App: Photos

What is it used for?: Photo editing, organizing, searching, and sharing.

Available platforms: iOS only

Cost of app: Free- comes on your phone

Sometimes the simplest solution is the best. If you have an iPhone, iPad or Mac, you’ll already have the Photos app installed on your device. The app ties in with your Apple ID and can sync images across your Apple devices using iCloud. If you need more storage, you can purchase a subscription for extra iCloud storage. With the additional iCloud storage, you can store all your apps in the cloud and access it from all your devices. You can also share it in Shared Albums on iCloud. 

I love the Photos app because it’s extremely easy to use. It’s on all my devices. The app provides quick and easy photo editing seamlessly. The photos are automatically stored on iCloud and available on all devices for uploads on social media and blogs. You can also use air drop to share them with others.

TOP TIP to use the app better: The app is so simple that you really can not go wrong when editing photos. However, very few users know about all the advanced features you can use to take your photos to the next level. Luckily Apple stores and third providers have classes to master photography and editing with native and free apps on our iPhones, iPads or Macs. Apple classes and YouTube videos for taking your photos to the next level are free of charge. 

Reasons Jyoti loves the Photos App when traveling: “Typically we carry our large Nikon SLR camera for photography and use Photoshop for photo editing on my Mac. But as the iPhone camera is getting better and better, there are times we leave the photography equipment at home in favor of traveling light. This works extremely well when we’re shooting in good lighting. The quality is remarkable and we can get more candid shots because phone is a lot less intimidating for the subject. All our Barcelona photos such those in the Park Güell photo gallery were taken on our iPhone and edited using the Photos app on the iPhone.

Other awesome photography apps to try

Recommended by Ilse from Digital Travel Couple

Name of App: Photo Pills

Cost of app: Paid- around $13.50

The Photo Pills app is less of an editing app and more of a planner- but it’s still a great tool to plan your travel photography adventures. With this app you will always be in the right place at the right time. You can buy it in the app store for $13,50 and it’s absolutely worth the investment. Once you start using the app you will see all the options it has.

The different tools, known as pills, all serve a different purpose. Some of the pills help you to research and plan your photos in advance. Others help you to execute your photos when you’re on location and there are even pills that help you to choose the best lens for the shot you want to create!

You can use the planner to find a good date and time if you already know where you want to shoot. At the top panel you can select various elements on the map. These include the position of the sun, moon, milky way and shadows. Thanks to the Augmented Reality you can see the path of the sun and moon, as well as the directions of the sunrise and sunset and the moonrise and moonset.

Reasons why Ilse loves using the Photo Pills app: “Personally I am a huge fan of the PhotoPills app as it helped me many times to get the right framing and timing for a shoot. A few months ago I went on a spontaneous Full Moonrise mission to capture the Big Moon above a mountain peak with a person in the moonlight. It was a huge success thanks to PhotoPills that showed exactly the place where the moon would rise behind the mountains. Below you can see the result:

travel apps for photos

Best apps for Video Editing while traveling

There are lots of programs which will edit video footage, but not many apps worth a mention. Here are some of the best available.

Name of App: iMovie

App Store Rating: 4*/5

iMovie makes video editing easier. Seriously, I’ve run a Youtube channel for our motorhome blog for years. I’ve tried Final Cut Pro and countless others- and I always come back to iMovie. It’s simple to use, even if you’re a complete beginner, and it’s easy to import your videos, select the clips you want and export or share your finished masterpiece. Unless you’re planning on doing professional video editing, or you’re overly concerned about color grading, personally I see little reason to use anything else.

Final Cut Pro

Recommended by Pubali from Paradise Catchers

Name of App: Final Cut Pro

Rating on the App store: 4.2/5 ( see it here )

Cost of app: Paid

Final Cut Pro is Apple’s native video editing software for Mac and great for both enthusiasts and professionals. You get a 90 days free trial for this paid software with a price tag of 299 USD. However, the good news is that it is a one time purchase that includes any future update.

Being part of Apple’s arsenal, the hardware-software combo makes FCP fast, particularly noticeable while rendering large 4K videos. We realized the difference after we struggled combining travel clips from our phone, camera, Xiaomi Fimi X8 SE drone and GoPro, in some other editing software. It was a beach holiday where we had several clips ranging from drone shots of the coastline to snorkeling shots. We decided to try FCP and it worked seamlessly.

Final Cut Pro has bit of a learning curve if you are used to other editing software. However, it has a great user community and you can easily access tons of tutorials that can get you up to speed in no time. The project managing interface is easy to use and the features are comparable to other professional level software.

If you are regularly shooting in 4K, looking for a video editing option in the Mac world and ready to move beyond free software, give FCP a try for 90 days and buy if you like it, without worrying about recurring payments or future updates.

Recommended by Rachita from MeanderWander.com

Name of App: Inshot

Why this video editing app might be right for you: Perfect for editing short-form video content such as reels, stories, etc. With the free version, you get access to a lot of features such as video editing, adding filters and effects to the videos, adding music, stickers, etc. to video, and a lot more.

The paid version currently costs $14.99 per year. With this subscription, users get access to more features and editing options to make the videos even better than before. Most importantly, you can get rid of the watermark and the advertisements.

Why Rachita loves this app for editing videos: “Personally, what I love about this app is that it is extremely easy to use and is great for making reels and short videos on the go. Whether I am on a flight or a boat, I can utilize my time by making videos to share across my Instagram or blogs. Plus, it is so easy to use and saves a lot of time with all the options that are already available for editing the videos.

One of my favourite things about Inshot is that it allows you to export the video in your desired resolution so that you can maintain the quality of the video. Installing this app on my mobile phone has made video editing so much easier and quicker for me.”

Recommended by Ruma from The Holiday Story

Available platforms: iPhone only and Android

Rating on App Store: 4.6/5

What does the app do? Filmora is one of the best applications to create and edit travel videos on the go.

It allows you to merge multiple videos, trim clips, add royalty free music, do a voiceover, add text, effects, transitions and stickers and share your finished creation with the world.

You can use it to create travel videos, reels, vlogs, GIFs, stories and even TikToks.

Features : –  The Filmora app has many features like adding external music, simple roll, transition, Fisheye Roll, Zoom, Orb, Motion. It also has a few free pieces of music for editing. You can get only three filters free, and with the pro version, you can get 12 filters. Also, You can make a video with your photos. This app’s unique feature is you can merge more than two videos. Those are also available in the basic version.

With the pro version, you can get access to 5500+ stickers and Templates, 1080P HD video export option, and the most important thing in this pro version is you can remove the watermark of this app. The pro version also has 1000+ stock music tracks and 150+ effects for photo and video editing. The 150+ effects are unique and attractive. 

Tips: –    Filmora video editing app is very easy to use. It has tutorials for first-time users and you do not need to be an expert to create great travel videos and vlogs with it. If you create a lot of videos, you’ll get use out of the pro plan- each month you get new stickers and effects to use to make the videos unique.

Recommended by Jiayi from the Diary of a Nomad

Name of App: Splice

What does the app do? Video editing- free and easy

Splice is a popular go-to app for editing travel videos. It is free, easy to use, and allows you to do a wide variety of actions to create the most engaging videos. 

On Splice, you can easily trim videos, stitch them together, and choose a transition effect. You can also add a lot of other things such as a title, music, special effects, and text/captions in a variety of fonts, colors, and styles. The special effects range from Chroma to Vintage, and they’re perfect for those who enjoy playing with creative aesthetics.

The best thing about Splice is that it’s super user-friendly. It’s laid out in a way that makes everything very intuitive, so even if you’ve never used the app before, you’ll quickly learn how to trim, crop, and stitch your videos together to create a beautiful, cohesive final video. 

TOP TIP to use this video editing app: To make the most of Splice, be sure to explore the many sound effects it offers, including cars, claps, footsteps, and instruments. You can really get creative with them!

Why Jiayi chose Splice: One of my favorite videos created on Splice was a compilation of short videos I’ve taken on many hikes around the world. After stitching them together with a cross-fade transition, I added some inspirational hiking quotes to each video using the text overlay feature of the app. I then added some music in the app, and it turned out to be a great ode to some of my most cherished hiking adventures.

Best apps for Go Pro users

Got a Go Pro? Here are some of the best apps for you to use and edit your photos and videos. If you’re new to action cameras, you might enjoy these easy Go Pro tips for beginners.

Quik App by Go Pro

Recommended by Martin from TravelExplorator.com

Name of App: Quik App from Go Pro

Cost of app: Free to download, but needs 49.99 yearly Go Pro subscription or 9.99 just for the app.

Why this might be the right app for you: If you use a GoPro to take photos or videos on your travels, this app is a must use. The user interface is straightforward and isn’t cluttered with confusing options.

Even if you’re a complete Go Pro beginner and it’s your first time using apps to edit a video or image, this app is a great choice. Photos and videos are automatically uploaded from your Go Pro, so you don’t have to worry about uploading large files to an app. It’s called “Quik” because it was designed for the user to be upload and edit footage quickly and easily.

It’s perfect for editing pictures and videos taken with your action camera, but you can also use it to edit other footage no matter what camera or drone you took them with. 

The extra features you get with the premium versions are :

  • access to their royalty-free tracks you can add to your videos.
  • access to all unlocked video editing features like Quik-exclusive filters and video themes.
  • unlimited cloud backup of the original photos and videos you import to the app.

Looking for the best apps to edit your travel photos or make videos and vlogs on the road? Want to know the best free photography apps, or the ones which are worth paying a little more for to improve your shots? Which ones are easiest to use while traveling to create beautiful memories of your trips? #travelphotography #travelphotographytips #travelphotos #traveltips #photographytips

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10 Best Travel Journal Apps to Organize Your Travel Memories

As a digital nomad or frequent traveler, you likely want to keep a log of your travel activities. But what and how you record is a very personal experience.

You may want to write extensively about your experiences and feelings and keep them private. If so, you are probably better off with a paper journal and a pen.

Or maybe, you want to log the most important moments, photos, and travel routes and share them with your family and friends. In that case, a digital travel journal makes more sense.

Perhaps you’re an Instagram Influencer or blogger and want to keep copious notes for future posts/reels.

No matter your reason, if you’re looking for a travel journal app to maintain a digital log, this list of the 10 best travel journal apps will help you find the one that suits your needs.

Let’s start!

Table of Contents

10 Best Travel Journal Apps

1. day one journal.

With a Twitter-like interface, the Day One Journal is about capturing the important moments of your trip. The app can collect data such as location, weather, and music, for your travel photos and videos.

You can use this app as a digital diary and write using your finger or Apple Pencil and quickly comb through the entries using photos, timeline, or calendar. It even accepts voice commands.

This travel journal app can record fine details such as temperature, moon phase, weather, address, etc.

A free version is available, but upgrading to the premium version gives unlimited journal entries, photo storage, cloud sync, audio recording, and 25% off on book printing (if at some point you’d love to create a printed book of your adventures).

Platforms Supported:

  • Apple Watch
  • Safari and Chrome browser extensions

Cost: $2.92 per month billed annually.

Perfect for: Anyone looking for an online version of a standard journal that can also include images, voice recordings and track your locations

2. Find Penguins

One of the top digital travel journals, Find Penguins uses GPS tracking and AI to automatically track your journeys.

It also updates temperature, weather, altitude, etc., giving you a quick snapshot of the conditions on a particular day.

All the data that the app gathers is then displayed in a fun way on an interactive map as a trail and posts.

Find Penguins refers to those posts as footprints that are essentially blog posts where you can attach photos, videos, and texts as diary entries.

If you want, you can order a printed photo journal complete with maps, photos, and footprints.

Cost : Free with in-app purchases. You can buy a monthly or yearly subscription for $4.99 a month or $29.99 a year respectively.

Perfect for: Anyone who needs the best travel journal app for automatic journey tracking.

3. Polarsteps

If you need a completely free travel journal app that not only helps you to plan and track your journeys but also doubles up as a digital travel diary, Polarsteps is one of the top travel diary apps you can find.

It comes complete with an editable itinerary planner and transport planner. It even plots and automatically tracks your path on a digital world map.

You are free to add thoughts, videos, and photos. If you want, you can leave tips for the traveling community, or retrace your steps by scrolling through your travel stats, photos, and places.

The app also supports printing a hardcover travel book with just a touch of a button. The best part? It works offline and allows you to manually add journal entries that can later sync when the internet is available.

Perfect for: Anyone looking for a free travel tracker app that can track the travel route and keep the family informed!

Momento is more than just a travel journal app. It can double up as a project/work journal, pregnancy journal, or private journal.

This app can organize and streamline your social network activities from 11 social platforms. You can add photos & videos, tag your fellow travelers and places you visit , and even record your pregnancy journey!

Momento can also give daily, monthly, or yearly visual summaries, and allow you to explore past timelines.

Cost: Free with in-app purchases for paid upgrades.

Perfect for: People who need a multi-purpose digital journal that works not only as an online travel journal but also as a private and/or work journal.

5. Journi Blog

Journi Blog is a unique photo journaling app that you can use to record your travel experiences as timelines and maps or even have them printed as a photo book to show off to your friends and family members.

Whether you have a travel blog where you write about your vacations and travels, or whether you are maintaining personal travel diaries or recording your kids’ photo album, Journi Blog helps to capture all the moments and stories.

With this travel diary app, you can create a public travel journal or create a private journal entry.

Cost : Free with in-app premium membership purchase options. Membership costs €9.99 for one month, €43.99 for 6 months, and €53.99 for one year.

Perfect for: Those who want a photo journaling app.

Penzu isn’t particularly designed to be a travel journal app. In fact, it is more of a reflective journal meant for note-keeping and milestone tracking. However, it can be used as a pregnancy journal, a food diary, and even a travel diary.

It will give you the feel of maintaining an online travel blog with the ability to add images, add photos, and write your travel stories. You can use custom tags to categorize your travel logs.

Penzu has an incredibly simple interface where you can record beautiful memories of your entire trip.

Cost : Free, Pro for $19.99 a year, and Pro+ for $49.99 a year.

Perfect for : Anyone who needs a private online journal or a digital diary with syncing ability across the web and multiple mobile devices.

7. Tripcast

Tripcast is one of the favorite travel journal apps for many users worldwide. The app is perfect to keep your friends and family members updated about your journey.

With Tripcast, you can create shared photo albums where your fellow travelers can upload and share photos they click and store them in a single place.

The app uses photo geotagging to create a map of the places you visit.

Cost: Free!

Perfect for: Those who are on a group vacation, or participating in volunteer projects.

8. Journey: Diary, Journal

Journey was listed as the Google Editors’ choice in the best travel apps category. Just like other travel diaries, Journey will help you to maintain a travel journal complete with texts, audio files, images, and videos.

You can also use this dedicated app to add location and weather details to all your journal entries.

If you want, you can download and keep your entries private on your computer. Alternatively, you can export them as PDF or DOCX files for easy sharing.

Journey is not just a simple travel journal app. It is a multi-purpose app that allows users to record anything they want such as a stress management journey, sleep journey, better habits development journey, and so on.

Cost : Journey is a free app, but there is an in-app membership purchase option for $3.99 a month or $29.99 a year.

Perfect for: Those who need a multi-purpose journal app that can also be used as a digital travel diary.

Diarium is another great app that allows maintaining a travel journal using a calendar interface.

You can quickly attach texts, audio files, and images, and even tag multiple entries in a single day.

There is an option of adding a sitemap with location info. Plus, the app will display a wide range of data including your fitness data, weather info, and calendar events.

You can easily export entries in HTML or DOCX formats. Journal entry is possible using a laptop, PC, mobile, or tablet.

Cost: Diarium is free, but offers in-app purchases. You can purchase a lifetime pro version for $5.99.

Perfect for : Those who want a travel journal app without committing to a monthly or yearly subscription.

10. Worldee Trip Planner & Journal

Worldee is a popular digital travel diary that not only allows you to organize and store your travel memories.

You can mark the countries visited on an interactive world map, add timelines, photos, and maps, and even share your trips.

You can share your stories with other travelers or you can keep everything private. The app will also help you to plan your next trip using the integrated trip planner.

With the trip planner, you can set your itinerary and travel map on the same screen and then share your trip details with your travel partners.

Cost: The app is completely free to use.

Perfect for: Those who want a completely free digital travel journal.

More Journal Apps to Consider

1. trotter it.

Trotter It is a digital travel journal app that allows you to create and share travel stories with travelers across the world. It also doubles up as a social networking app for travelers. The app is available only through Google Play Store and is completely free to use.

2. Jauntlet

A mix of a travel journal and a free travel blog, Jauntlet allows you to present your trips in a neat timeline. The app connects with Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, and imports photos from different profiles.

You can add the location to a post to add it to the map and write your story. Jauntlet is a web application that offers a platform-independent mobile site.

3. Esplorio

A beautiful and interactive travel journal app, Esplorio can record trips even without a data connection. You can choose what to share publicly and what to keep private.

It easily integrates with social platforms to retrieve previous journeys. The app is free but there is a pro plan available for $49.99 per year. It is available on iOS devices and through a web app.

4. Traverous

Traverous is an automated travel journal application that uses GPS data to track and record your trip. It also records media and location to create a personalized animated travel diary. The app is free to use but to unleash its full potential, you will need a premium account that costs $4.99 a month or $54.99 a year. The app is available for both iOS and Android devices.

How to Choose the Best Online Journal App

Choosing the best online journal app can be tricky. They’re all so good and you need to pick one that does everything you want it to.

Here are a few tips on choosing the best online journal app:

  • Ease of use : The app you select should be straightforward and easy to use. An overly complex app will only make your life difficult.
  • Mobile apps : Since you will mostly be traveling with your phone or ipad, the app must have versions for either iOS or Android or both. However, digital nomads traveling with laptops can always use web apps.
  • Social features : The app you select must be able to integrate with social platforms. If the app has a built-in community feature, it is even better, especially for group tours and backpackers.
  • History : The company developing the app must have a proven history of offering digital journaling services. You will not want to use it only to see that it is no longer under development.
  • Cost : The app you select must be cheap. Expensive subscription plans can put budgetary pressure.
  • Security: If you want your journal entries to be private you need to ensure the app has end to end encryption services.

Best Travel Journal Apps FAQs

Is there a free journaling app.

Yes, there are a few free travel journal apps available today. While some are dedicated digital travel diaries, others are all-purpose digital journals that can be used for keeping travel records.

Day One Journal has a free version, Polarsteps is completely free, Penzu has a free version and Tripcast is free. Try them out and see which one you like the best!

What’s the best app to track everywhere I’ve traveled?

Most of the digital travel diaries listed above can track every place you have traveled . Apps like Day One Journal and Find Penguins can not only track the places you visit but also add additional data like weather, temperature, altitude, address, and more.

Best Travel Journal Apps Summary

Digital travel diaries or journal apps are immensely beneficial (and fun) as they help to organize your travel experiences and keep your memories stored in a single place.

They will allow you to add written notes, images, videos, audio files, tags, etc., and help you to easily share your experiences with friends and family, or other users.

For digital nomads or influencers, some come with customizable layouts for enhanced personalization and some will even allow you to blog automatically and share moments of your trips with your readers.

Try a few out and select the one that is within your budget and meets your needs the best. Hopefully, this list of the best travel journal apps will assist you in finding an awesome journal for your travels! 🙂

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A Little Adrift Travel Blog

A Little Journal… These Digital Travel Diary Apps Are Worth Your Time

Last updated on January 4, 2024 by Shannon

As travel enthusiasts, we yearn to capture the essence of extraordinary travel moments and freeze them in time. We even want those mundane details preserved—what was the name of that hilarious taxi driver who shuttled you from the airport to your guesthouse?

If you’ve logged those details in a travel journal, you don’t have to remember—that’s where travel journaling apps come in, offering a digital travel scrapbook that easily documents even the craziest travel adventures.

travel apps for photos

I’ve been traveling the world for 15 years, writing, photographing, and sharing my travel stories from the first day. That means I have pretty high expectations when it comes to using digital travel diaries meant to preserve the memories of your expeditions. Here’s what you need to know about the best online travel journal apps available.

Table of Contents

What are Digital Travel Diaries?

reflecting on Loch Ness about what to write in my travel journal app

While journaling about your travels via a paper notebook used to be called a travel log, the more modern equivalent is an online travel journaling app. That said, even diary app is just a new way to log the most important moments of your travels—and the mundane ones too.

Travel journals essential just document your experiences, capturing your memories as you travel the world. By logging your travel memories in real time via a journaling app, you ensure the smaller details are captured.

Was it a torrential downpour on the day you had booked an “any-weather” tour of the Norwegian fjords? Log that and then share how you felt at that very moment, otherwise the details fade with time.

That’s the real magic of keeping a travel log in any form, a beloved notebook, an app, or a blog. I’ve used all three over my 15+ years of travel. This travel blog was my primary travel log, but at times I’ve used these travel apps to capture moments more immediately.

thoughtful travel journal diary  apps

And no matter my online travel journal app of choice, I always, always have a small physical journal. Even if you diligently record all of the best moments of your trip in your digital travel diary app, you should also carry a small travel journal that acts as your travel log—you use it to jot down funny off-the-cuff moments, or even just mundane details.

Perhaps you press between the pages ticket stubs, a pretty flower from your world wanders, and other small memorabilia that can’t be captured in a journaling app. It becomes a place to log currency conversions you can surreptitiously glance at when haggling at a market, or jot down lists and travel plans.

I never travel without a pocket Field Notes waterproof notebook and this Moleskine travel journal —its these two things that have allowed me to share such rich details on this blog, my personal travel log that’s been running 15 years and counting.

How to Choose an Online Travel Journal App

travel apps for photos

Travel journal apps are not one-size-fits-all. The best apps offer the exact range of features you need and at a price point you can afford—which can mean free! Many journaling apps offer a free version that may just meet your needs. Often its the more sophisticated features that require a paid upgrade.

Given that you’re probably snowed under travel planning, don’t waste your time downloading every travel diary app here. To pick the right app for your travels, consider these things before you download it:

When choosing an online travel diary app, there are several factors to consider that can help you find the one that best fits your needs. Here are some tips to help you make a decision:

  • Features : Review what the journaling app actually does—what are the key features these app developers believe are the hallmarks of their app? That will tell you a lot about functionality. Standard features of most digital travel diaries include: text entry, photo and video uploading, geotagging, and weather data. Decide which features are important to you and ensure that the app provides them. Maybe you want an awesome map interface because you’re hopscotching around the world for a year ? Or you’re studying abroad you might want an app with more functionality around text and photo entries.
  • Platform Compatibility : Check if the digital journaling app is available on your preferred platforms, such as iOS, Android, web-based, and desktop. If you’re bringing both a smartphone and laptop on your travels , you may wan a travel diary app that seamlessly switches between the two devices.
  • Syncing and Backup : Consider whether the app offers syncing and backup options—and if those are free or paid features. You want access your travel diary across multiple devices, and you want it securely backed up to the cloud.
  • Export and Sharing Options : If you plan to share your travel diary with others or would like to have a backup of your entries outside of the app, check if it offers export options, such as PDF or other file formats.
  • Company Story : If the travel journaling app you’re considering using hasn’t been around for at least two-to-five years, run in the other direction. Companies, especially app makers, fold quickly. The last thing you want is an email saying you have a matter of days to download your cherished memories before they’re all deleted.

Best Travel Journaling Apps

Day One is the best travel journal app

Day One tops most of these lists because it’s actually that good—and it’s been around since 2011, so you know your travel memories are safe with this online diary app. The company has invested in a high-quality product, and updates over the years have responded to user reviews and feedback—which is enthusiastic across the board.

Its clean interface and seamless integration with iOS (both iPhones and Macs) and Android make it a joy to use. You can effortlessly capture each destination through text and photos, while popping in location data too.

Best app features : The “On This Day” functionality is neat because it doesn’t pull in the best of anything, but rather that exact moment years ago when you were on an incredible adventure out there in the world—or maybe you had logged a tasty hot chocolate at a hipster spot near that landmark you were visiting.

Either way, you’ll be transported back there in an instant and that app feature is maybe one of the strongest motivators to journal about all the big (and small) things that happen as you travel.

Cost : The free version is enough to see if you like it, but if you’re using this as your main digital travel journal then the one photo per entry restriction on free plans isn’t going to cut it. Premium is affordable though, at just under $3 per month, which buys you unlimited photos, videos, audio, drawings, and more.

Journey online journaling app

If you go all in on Journey as your travel journal app, it will become your trusted companion. Rather than being a journaling app that’s great for travel, this travel-centric journaling app goes above and beyond with its extensive features.

Geotagging allows you to pinpoint the exact location of you experiences, while the inclusion of weather data and “mood” status adds depth to entries. You can import photos from your camera roll directly into journal entires, creating vivid visual narratives of your travels.

This robust app works on iOS devices and Android phones, Mac or Windows computers, and there’s even a web app! Basically, it’s an accessible and essential tool for any travel writer seeking to document their adventures with style and precision. Not only because of the features, but also because it allows multi-media exports in PDF or doc format.

It’s also a bit cheeky and has a handy guide to what Journey offers versus Day One or Daylio .

Best app features : Stand out for many will be the features that let you automatically sync and import social media content from Instagram and the like—what a time saver! And the full text editing screen is nice—you can bold, bullet, color, or link to anything you’d like right inside the text. Surprisingly, that’s not in every diary journaling app.

But one of the neater travel-focused elements are the three views for your journal—media (where you scroll by photos), map (which shows your entries pinpointed on a map of the world) and calendar (journals organized by date).

Cost : Unlike essentially all competitors, Journey offers a one time purchase license—currently $18. You can buy a membership for ~$4.20.

Daylio is a super slick online journal app

Daylio , billed as a “simple micro-diary app,” adds an interesting twist to a travel journaling routine. As a mood and activity tracker, it enables you to record daily experiences and emotions with ease—and without writing anything. It’s an interesting way to to reflect on how your travel adventures have impacted your overall well-being .

It’s not for the hardcore travel writer, but rather, Daylio captures the essence of the travel experiences in a uniquely personal way. It’s a good companion for those seeking to intertwine their emotional journey with their physical travels. And for those who want a more streamlined diary app with fewer features and just straight to the meat of what you want to do.

Best app features : This app is dead simple to use and can be updated in under a minute thanks to the tap interface. It’s certainly not going to be the only way you record you travels, but if you’re already planning to share extensively on a Facebook or Instagram page , then this ease of use may just ensure that you use it every day.

Cost : You could get pretty far with the free version, or upgrade for just $3 per month—only the premium version supports exporting to PDF.

4. Evernote

Evernote for travel journaling

Real talk: The digital travel journal of your dreams may be something you’re already using. When it comes to versatile note-taking, Evernote reigns supreme. Its functionality goes beyond simple journaling, allowing the creation of multimedia-rich entries.

I’ve organized my entire life via Evernote—travel pans, stories, etc—and its robust features make a compelling case for this being one of the best journaling apps out there, period. Not just in travel, but in general.

As one of the best digital diary apps, you can update it seamlessly across iOS, Android, Mac, and Windows.

Best app features : Well, you could use Evernote to basically plan and execute your trip, in addition to using it as a digital journal. You can also stay ruthlessly organized.

Cost : The free version offers 60 MB monthly uploads, which is constraining for travelers looking for an online app where they could add photos and videos to Evernote itself—this would like be better if you’re embedding YouTube videos, for example, versus storing them in Evernote.

The Personal version offers a more reasonable 10 GB in monthly uploads, but costs $11/month for that perk. If you’re already paying for Evernote for other reasons then this could be an excellent online travel journal, otherwise some of the other ones are likely better priced for a traveler.

5. Travel Diaries

Travel Diaries app is not free but is very cheap

For those seeking a dedicated travel journaling app, Travel Diaries hits the mark. It’s really a truly solid option. As a travel writer, I’m captivated by its interactive features. You can easily create immersive travelogues, complete with photos, maps, and annotations.

It’s also a captivating way to showcase your journey to fellow travelers (and your family and friends back home, of course!). The ability to share your travel stories and explore others’ adventures on the platform adds a sense of community not available in the other digital travel journaling apps.

It’s available as software for web, iOS and Android, but will only work with an internet connection (either cell data or wifi)—which means this might not be the best journaling app for those going far off-the-beaten path .

Best app features : A broad range of fonts and styles allow you to design your travel diary according to your own taste, and your travel log can include itineraries, travel photos, and a traveling map. The layout as an actual travel journal is a fun and personal touch that makes it feel like your digital diary is just as capable of creativity as a blank page in front of you.

Cost : There is no free version of Travel Diaries—it’ll be a subscription for as long as you want access to your travel journal. The basic plan costs $1 a month and includes unlimited storage and is really all most travelers will need for a robust travel journal. If you want to export your stories to PDF, you’ll have to upgrade to $3 per month.

Diaro general journaling app that would work for travelers

Diaro App is a reliable companion for millions of people, not just globetrotters. This comprehensive diary app offers an array of features that elevate a travel journaling experience. Sometimes the best travel journal is, well, just a great online diary that you happen to use to document your travels.

The ability to add text, photos, tags, and organize entries into folders keeps this app well-organized—you can effortlessly find specific memories or delve into specific themes from your trips. It has a map of entry locations, which is especially important for those using this as a travel journal diary.

Diaro’s sleek interface and user-friendly design make the process of documenting adventures a true pleasure. Available on web, iOS or Android devices (with cross-device syncing via Dropbox) Diaro is a go-to app for travelers who want to capture the essence of their trip with elegance and efficiency.

Best app features : The multilingual UI (30+languages) may be a real boon for those for whom English is not their native language, but the shining standout features is just how easy it is to create a robust diary accounting for all of the key moments on your trip.

Cost : The free version has robust functionality. Upgrading to Diario Pro costs $10 per month and offers more customizability.

7. Polarsteps

Polarsteps online journal app

Polarsteps is a great travel journal app that offers automatic tracking of your journey, making it effortless to document and share your trips. With its GPS technology, the app traces your route in real-time, creating a visually appealing map of your adventure without requiring any manual input.

This feature sets Polarsteps apart from other travel journal apps, as it eliminates the need for constant updates and allows you to focus on enjoying your trip while the app takes care of recording your route—and uses minimal data and power to do so.

What truly makes Polarsteps unique is its ability to create a beautifully presented travel log that showcases your journey. This app is made for the travel photographers out there also wanting a digital travel log of their journey.

Along with the automatic tracking, the app allows you to add photos, captions, and personal insights to your entries. These elements are then combined to create a visually stunning travel journal that can be shared with friends, family, and fellow travelers. I think this is one of the prettier apps—the maps alone are just a step up from the others.

Best app features : The GPS tracking is easily the standout here. You’ll know the precise spot you took a photo, and can then include a quick note—an inside joke you shared with a friend while there, a tidbit about the day, and more. This kind of precise location data is invaluable in the months and years after you travel.

Cost : It’s free! Polarsteps offers you a printed travel journal of your trip, which is how it’s monetized.

8. Waffle Journal

Waffle Journal travel diary screenshot for iphone

Waffle Journal stands out from the rest as a a collaborative journaling app that allows you to document and share your travel experiences with others—probably those on your same trip. Its unique approach fosters collaboration, allowing friends, family, or fellow travelers to contribute to your journal. With the ability to add stories, photos, and memories, everyone can create a collective travel diary that captures the essence of your adventures.

The app goes beyond traditional journaling by integrating multimedia elements. You can include photos, videos, and audio recordings. It’s not a travel journal specifically, so you’re not going to have any of those map features the travel apps have integrated into the experience, but it could be a great option for those travel in a group, or a group of friends who just love to share their travel adventures with each other. Social sharing features make it easy to showcase your travel adventures on social media platforms or via email.

BONUS: RIP: Bonjournal

Bonjournal captured my attention many years ago for its visually stunning approach to travel journaling. As you penned your travel stories, this app transformed them into beautifully presented narratives—and it made you choose just one photo to represent your day. Which was really quite neat.

This travel journal app is no longer available! Even though other websites are still recommending it as a travel diary app, the gorgeous app that debuted more than a decade ago is no longer up and running. Instead, a new app with the same name launched in 2021—it’s not a viable alternative. This new Bon Journal diary app is glitchy and poorly rated—storing your cherished travel memories there is not a good idea.

Don’t forget a paper journal as well.

This Moleskin travel journal is well made and worth the space it will take up in your bag. There will be times you just want to put pen to paper—you’ll be glad you have an analog record of your travels too.

How to Safely Store Travel Photos and Videos

travel apps for photos

These travel journaling apps are a terrific way to document your journey for personal memories, and to share with others. Although some long-term travelers create a travel blog to record their trips, using a travel diary instead is a great alternative.

You get amazing functionality and the ability to share your travel stories without the hassle of running a blog—which can get pricey and generally lacks the ability to share some stories privately with family, or keep other journal entries entirely private.

One thing all of these apps have are general constraints on how you upload, store, and present your travel photos and videos. Although some of these apps offer paid subscriptions with unlimited uploads, you’re likely safer if you store your actual travel photos elsewhere, too. Here’s a quick review of other places you can store travel photos, and the perks of using them in addition to, or instead of, a travel diary app.

  • Facebook pages : Rather than use your personal profile, consider setting up a Facebook page for your trip—then you can share unlimited stories, photos, and videos. And you’re creating and sharing in a place where it’s likely your family and friends are already hanging out.
  • Instagram : This is a great way to share photos, but videos and stories are a little more constrained on this platform. This might be a good option in addition to a digital travel diary.
  • SmugMug : If you need a place to both store and display all of your travel photos, SmugMug is a great option. I’ve had an annual plan for more than a decade and it offers unlimited storage for all of my photos from all over the world for $88 per year. And it’s totally customizable—you can create gorgeous albums on a custom domain name if you own one.
  • Google Drive : If you just need a backup solution without the need to share then Google Drive is a good option (I find Google Photos a chore to use). It’s just $2 a month for 100GB of cloud storage.

Ready for some travel inspiration? These are the best travel stories of travelers to follow now, inspiring books from historic travels, and short reads, too.

Essential Travel Planning Resources

❗ Yes, you need travel insurance . IMG Global is the travel insurance I’ve used for well over a decade of traveling solo, and with kids. Here’s why .

🧳 Smart packing can save your trip. Shop my favorite travel gear , including all of the packing essentials for world travel , gear to keep you safe on the road, my favorite travel books , and more.

🛏️ Find great accommodation . Booking.com is essentially the only hotel booking site that I use. It has a wide and affordable selection of traditional hotels, but also hostels and vacation rentals, too. Use these pro tips to find the best travel accommodation .

📍 Navigate more effectively. Rome2Rio is super handy to assess the full range of transport options between two cities—shows everything from flights to trains, buses, minibuses, and more. If you’re booking a rental car, I’ve always found the best deals on RentalCars.com .

✈️ Book affordable flights. Expedia is one of the first places I look for low-cost flights .

☕ Peruse all of my tips for round the world travel , or learn how to move and live abroad .

52 Perfect Days

The 23 Best Travel Apps for Android & iOS

B elow is a great list of the Best Travel Apps  that are the most useful for planning a trip, getting around, finding friends, and saving money along the way. Most apps are free and available for Android and iOS.

Instead of combing through dozens of the latest travel apps to determine which tools are the most useful for travelers, I went to the best source; travel bloggers. I asked some of the most seasoned travel bloggers about their favorite travel app .

23 Best Travel Apps

The world seems to be in the throes of a love affair with Starbucks that just refuses to die. For serious coffee lovers, finding a decent barista-brewed coffee can sometimes be a challenge, especially when you are traveling and don’t know the local area. 

Beanhunter uses GPS to find your location and points you in the direction of the best coffee shops in your area. You can read reviews from coffee gurus who have been there before you, and leave your own reviews for others. The best bit – no chain shops are included on the app; this is for independent, specialty shops only.

—   courtesy of Marianne Rogerson from Mum on the Move    Make sure to Follow her on Instagram @hungrymaz

CityMaps2Go

I work, live and travel in countries that are off the usual travel plans. The problem that I encounter more often is that I have difficulties in finding my way through the country, especially if I am on a road trip, as signs are not very common.

The Internet is not always available, and even when I can find cheap sims or Wi-Fi, the network is almost always really bad. And when I am technologically fine, the problems come with GoogleMaps, which obviously does not show all the tracks in the middle of Uganda or Madagascar. A solution that I found is CityMaps2Go .

It is updated and it works offline. In the free version, you can download all the maps of a country, but for less than 10$ you can have the pro version, with all the world downloadable. And once in a while it is available for free, a very nice deal!

Dosh  is a free app that allows you to save money while traveling. The app promises to put money back in your pocket “auto-magically”. Simply shop as usual and any business also signed up with Dosh, will turn into a cash back bonus.

The app helps you start earning cash back (in the form of Dosh) when you shop at any of their partners that include retail stores, restaurants, and hotels. The cashback (dosh) goes into your DOSH wallet and is easily viewable in the app. Your cashback then converts into real money that you can transfer to your bank or PayPal account.

— courtesy of me; alexa from 52Perfectdays Please follow me on Instagram @52Perfectdays

My favorite and most used travel app has nothing to do with searching for flights or hotels. But, it has everything to do with organizing the chaos that is travel planning and life in general. It’s Evernote , one of the most popular productivity apps on the market. The free version has plenty of features that will help you get organized. Not only can you make typewritten notes and lists, you also have an option to create audio notes (voice recordings), camera notes that let you save a picture directly to your Evernote, and ink notes when you need to make a drawing.

Web clipper browser extension allows you to bookmark and save full web pages (including an option of saving text-only version of a page), emails, PDFs, and images. Free version of Evernote can be used on up to two devices. I like to plan my trips (create lists of must-visit places, must-eat foods, and daily schedules) on my computer. Evernote automatically syncs notes on all devices so when I am out and about I can easily access my notes on the phone.

— courtesy of Yulia Dyukova from  thefoodiemiles.com  Follow her on Instagram @thefoodfamilies

If you’re a wanderer, there’s nothing like the thrill of stumbling upon something amazing. But what about the great things in the other direction, or down another street? That’s where my favorite travel app, Field Trip , comes in. The Field Trip app is filled with information about interesting sights around you from a variety of categories, including architecture, historic places & events, lifestyle, food, drinks, & fun, cool & unique, and art & museums. Field Trip will send you notifications as you move, helping you find cool places to check out. The thrill of finding a fantastic new spot is one of the best parts of traveling. While it’s great to randomly find those yourself, a useful travel app like Field Trip can help you find even more of them.

—   courtesy of Jonathan Sacks – Everybody Hates A Tourist   Please follow him on Instagram @everybodyhatesatourist

I’ve been using Foursquare extensively for years. I’ve found that it’s a lot more unbiased than Yelp is and has better photos. So why do I love using the app for travel? It’s a really intuitive way to find and save different types of list for a place, category, and more. You can also search other users’ list if you don’t have the time to make your own.

It’s also great for on-the-fly suggestions. I’ve found incredible places on accident using the app in multiple cities and not just major ones. This is key when you’re wandering around and #hangry. Another plus about Foursquare is that it connects with Swarm, so that you can always look up that place in that neighborhood in Paris that you went to two years ago! — courtesy of Anna from  www.ventureandeat.com  Follow her on Instagram:  @ventureandeat

While I may be biased,  Get Stoked  is a Thailand-based travel app that my partner and I developed. The idea behind it is that this app allows you to browse through things to do and instantly message companies as soon as you get to a place. We currently have playlists on various things to do in all the main hotspots around Thailand. Instead of leafing through outdated brochures or spending hours reading articles online, you can just open our app and find all our top recommendations on things to do. What I love about the app (if I can say so myself) is the fact that I can instantly message companies to ask them any questions about tour availability. No more walking under the hot sun trying to haggle and bargain! —  courtesy of  Anna Faustino from  www.adventureinyou.com . Follow her on Instagram @adventrurein_you ! 

Google Maps

There is only one app that I repeatedly use across all the countries that we visit:  Google Maps . Prior to travelling anywhere I “favourite” key places of interest that we may like to visit on our adventure so it’s ready to go when we land. Google Maps also has the key ability of providing local transport options. Worried about it chewing up your data? You can download some country maps in advance as well. I found Google Maps most useful on our trip to Japan where the train stations can be very confusing. This app not only lets you know when the train is coming but identifies the platform and has it colour coded too so there’s not getting lost. It’s brilliant and so easy to use – even my 8 year old can work it! — courstesy of Leah from the Kid Bucket List  Follow her on Instagram  @thekidbucketlist

Google Translate

Google Translate is a must have travel app when you are traveling to a place where you can’t speak or read the language.  If you want to communicate with someone in a foreign language, you can type something and Google Translate will translate it to one of 103 languages.  The other person can either read the translation on your phone or there is a voice that says what you wrote in their language.  You can even draw characters instead of using your keyboard for most of the languages.

The app offers additional cool and useful features for some of the languages including the ability to use your camera to translate text instantly and two-way automatic speech translation.  Google Translate can even be used offline by downloading language packs ahead of time. —   courtesy of Patti from The Savvy Globetrotter  Follow her on Twitter @   https://twitter.com/savvyglobetrot

HotelTonight

HotelTonight is one of my favorite travel apps for finding and booking last minute hotel deals.  Hotel deals are exclusively available on the app – you cannot search for or book hotels on their website. HotelTonight is able to offer lower rates because they work with hotels that give them last minute discounts on their empty rooms.   The app is fast and simple to use with categories (like basic, hip and luxe) to make it easy to find a hotel in your budget.  As the name implies, you can book a room for the same night, but they also offer discounted hotels up to week in advance. — Matilda from The Travel Sisters  https://twitter.com/travel_sisters

Our favorite travel app is Instagram . Whilst it’s more famous as a social media app, we’ve found it one of the most invaluable apps for getting inspiration for our travel planning as well as with connecting with locals in that destination or fellow travelers. We always check out the hashtag or geo location of the place we want to visit, which helps us get an idea of what the highlights are and also, gives us inspiration of what sort of photos/poses we want to take. We also found fellow travelers do the same thing and we’ve reached out and made many new friends with them. We also love to meet locals when we travel, particularly in the gay community. Often, the local LGBT communities will have their own hashtag and have found this a great way to connect with them. Our use of Instagram has flourished since we began our travels and we highly recommend it to all travelers to use. —  courtesy of Stefan and Sebastien from  nomadicboys.com . Follow them on Instagram @nomadicboy s

Everyone’s got their fun travel apps (myself included) but at the end of the day when you’re gallivanting around the world you’ve got to keep your s**t safe. My number one app rec? KeepSafe . It’s a FREE password protected app that allows you to store photos, documents and more. I highly recommend taking photos of your passport, birth certificate, credit cards, and anything else of importance, and locking them in them in the KeepSafe “vault”, ensuring you have access to all of your important personal information. And if your phone gets jacked? Your information is safe and password protected. I use the free version, but for a couple bucks you also have the option to upgrade to premium. Must have! Travel on Nomads!  —  courtesy of Aaron Radcliffe from NomadsNation.com & Please follow on Instagram   @aaronradcliffe_nomadsnation

If you haven’t heard already, there is an amazing app called  Maps.Me   which allows you to download maps and use them offline  FOR FREE . They have detailed maps from all over the world so you only download what you need – and you can even do responsive, A to B directions on them! You can wave goodbye to the GPS charge car hire companies try and stick you with – and have no worries at all about racking up a huge data bill. Maps. me is the best map app you could ever have!” — courtesy of Vicki Garside from  maketimetoseetheworld.com  Follow her on Instagram @maketimetoseetheworld

Period Tracker

One of my favorite travel apps is for the solo female travelers! Travel can wreck havoc on your menstrual cycle sometimes, due to long flights and a change in your diet and exercise regime. Therefore, I love to use Period Tracker to keep track of my monthly cycle. It’s free to download and will tell you when you’re ovulating and when you need to be ready with your feminine hygiene products. It’s a good way to know when you need to be prepared, especially if you’re going to be in the backcountry camping or going on a long hike. — courtesy of  Alice Teacake from  www.teacaketravels.com  Follow her on Instagram @teacaketravels

When I’m checking into my flight online I always like to look at one of my favorite travel apps, SeatGuru to work out where the best place on each flight is to sit. Each airline has different aircraft models and seat layouts. By using Seatguru the app allows me to locate the best seat location with insider tips from frequent flyers. I love how the app is kept up-to-date to ensure the best information is available. Especially when a flight is longer than three hours its great to get advice such as seats that don’t decline, locations for power plugs and notes such as if the seat is by a toilet and would cause noise. The perfect app for smart travelers that like to plan ahead and travel in comfort. —   courtesy of Dave Brett from Travel Dave UK . Follow him on Instagram

I couldn’t travel with Spotify premium. I need music on tap to be the soundtrack of my trips. Luckily for me, my husband makes playlists for everywhere we go and with Spotify you can follow them (you can too @ Craig Armit). No 3G? No problem! Spoty let’s you download to your phone or device in WiFi and use out with. Need new music? They also create a weekly ‘Discovery’ playlists for you of music similar to what you’ve been listening to. No inspiration? Just browse the themed Spotify playlists – Indie, Sunday chill, summer vibes, wedding playlists, etc. Podcasts are also available. All of this is included in your monthly payment, no wonder Taylor Swift came grovelling back to Team Spotify! — Gemma from www.twoscotsabroad.com  Follow her on Instagram @twoscotsabroad

 TraffickCam

TraffickCam is an app that enables travelers to help combat sex trafficking around the world. After downloading the app you can upload photos of the hotel rooms you stay in while traveling. The app asks for the hotel name, room number, and up to four photos. They recommend taking two photos of the entire room from varying locations, one picture from the foot of the bed, and one photo of the bathroom from the doorway. Traffickers typically post photos of their victims in hotel rooms for advertisements to online trafficking sites. The photographs you upload on the TraffickCam app can be used to help find those in sex trafficking rings. Once you’ve uploaded your photos to TraffickCam, it is saved in a database so that investigators can easily search and match images with those posted on trafficking sites. —  courtesy of Logan & Kallsy from Pages of Travel   Follow them on Instagram @pagesoftravel  

Trail Wallet

As a budget traveller, Trail Wallet has to be my absolute favourite travel app. Although I cringed a bit at the $4.99 price tag (your first 25 entries are free, but you have to pay to add more), it has turned out to be worth every single penny. At it’s core, Trail Wallet allows you to set a daily budget, input your spending, and see how much you’ve spent each day and over your whole trip in both your home and the country’s currency. The feature I probably turn the most often too, though, is the pie chart, which shows how much you’ve spent in one of any number of categories. The app is also highly customizable, which means no matter what kind of traveller you are it can work for you. — courtesy of Addie from AddieAbroad.com  Follow her on Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/addieabroad/

 TripHax

As a budget traveler, Trail Wallet has to be my absolute favorite travel app. Although I cringed a bit at the $4.99 price tag (your first 25 entries are free, but you have to pay to add more), it has turned out to be worth every single penny.

At its core, Trail Wallet allows you to set a daily budget, input your spending, and see how much you’ve spent each day and over your whole trip in both your home and the country’s currency. The feature I probably turn the most often too, though, is the pie chart, which shows how much you’ve spent in one of any number of categories.

The app is also highly customizable, which means no matter what kind of traveler you are it can work for you. — courtesy of Addie from AddieAbroad.com  

One of our recent favorite travel apps is TripHax – a multinational platform for travelers. It provides information that helps travelers to save money, time or to visit interesting places. Every user can upload/share the smart “Hacks” (as we call the pieces of advice) and can search for such, uploaded by others.

The most powerful feature is that in return of one uploaded hack users can get plentiful of useful information from every point of the Earth. The platform can function online and offline. Users can save some important hacks for offline usage. Every user can brand their profile page and redirect followers to their personal social media page. That makes it easy to share TripHax content to social media platforms.

We love the platform because it builds a loyal community of travelers, willing to help each other!  — courtesy of  Bistra from  www.themagicoftraveling.com  and follow her on Twitter URL  @tmoftraveling

TripIt is one of my favorite travel apps from the last few years. It not only helps you organize all your travel plans in just one place but as long you give Tripit access to your inbox, all the information related to your upcoming trips such as hotel and flight bookings are automatically pulled from your inbox to your Tripit account. That’s how you can create a master itinerary. With the pro version, you also get notifications of any travel delays and cancellations as well as other important information. I cannot live without it. When traveling I use this app more than my agenda! — courtesy of Inma Gregorio from www.aworldtotravel.com   Please also follow on Instagram @aworldtotravel

Although there are many genuine taxi drivers out there, there are many that prey on tourists. Thankfully, there also Uber . Gone are the days when taxi drivers can say the “meter isn’t working”: with Uber you can now see how much a journey will cost you before you get in. This allows travelers to not only avoid unfair taxi fares, but also to more accurately plan trips and to decide whether it’s worth taking a taxi or another form of transport instead.

 Apps like Uber have raised a lot of concern over safety, but in many ways it’s much safer. With Uber, your taxi trip (including the car’s licence plate) is monitored. You can even set your account up to let a next of kin know whenever you take a trip. And, if you ever forget something in a taxi, you’ll have the contact details for the taxi driver to hand. – –  courtesy of  James Cave from  www.portugalist.com  Please follow him on Facebook @portugalistdotcom

I may very well be the only successful travel blogger in the world who has never owned a smartphone. Fortunately my wife/business partner Mary does, and Waze is the one app we simply cannot live without. How do we love this GPS app?

Let us count the Waze ! First off, it uses user-generated data to tell you the quickest route from point A to point B, adjusting in real-time to accidents, congestion, etc. It finds CRAZY backroad juke moves to avoid traffic (which we loathe), and has even introduced us to awesome shortcuts in our own area.

Better still, it will alert you to stalled vehicles, objects in the road, and even police speed traps ahead. We’ve been using Waze on all our road trips for the past year, and can’t imagine driving long distances without it. It may even convince me to finally get my own smartphone!  –- – courtesy of Bret Love of Green Global Travel  Follow him on Twitter:  @GreenGlobalTrvl

One of the best ways of experiencing a new destination is by trying the local food. In most of cases, it is best to follow the recommendations of the locals when it comes to where to eat, what to order, etc.

One app that makes this process super simple is – Zomato . Not only can you read the reviews, but you can also read the entire menus of most of the restaurants that are listed on this app.

I love this feature because it gives me the ability to quickly find a restaurant that fits my budget, find walking directions to it, and figure out what to order while I’m there as per the recommendations.  – – courtesy of Sonal Kwatra Paladini of  Drifter Planet  & Please follow on Twitter @DrifterPlanet

There you have it! The  Best Travel Apps  that are the most useful for planning a trip, getting around, finding friends, and saving money along the way. Have a favorite app that isn’t included in our list? Please share it below in the comments!

Recommended Travel Resources

  • Travel Insurance: World Nomads .
  • Transport: CheapOAir and Skyscanner (Best Sites to Research Flight Prices) 
  • Best Car Rental Deals: Rentalcars.com
  • Best Sites to Find Hotel Deals: Hotels.com and Booking.com
  • My Favorite Hotel Review Website: TripAdvisor
  • Best Tours: Viator and Get Your Guide

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The post The 23 Best Travel Apps for Android & iOS appeared first on 52 Perfect Days .

Below is a great list of the Best Travel Apps that are the most useful for planning a trip, getting around, finding friends, and saving money along the way. Most apps are free and available for Android and iOS. Instead of combing through dozens of the latest travel apps to determine which tools are the most useful...

Photos: Temporary lake forms in Death Valley National Park, people come to play

Heavy rains led to a temporary lake forming in the normally bone-dry park in california. nature lovers have been taking advantage of the rare event..

Tourists enjoy the rare opportunity to walk in water as they visit Badwater Basin, normally the driest place in the U.S., in Death Valley National Park, California on Feb. 19, 2024. Badwater Basin was flooded by Hurricane Hilary in August 2023 and recent rains in California.

Tourists in Death Valley National Park have been enjoying a rare event: the opportunity to play in a lake in one of the driest places in the world.

A temporary lake in Badwater Basin was replenished as California was hit again by an atmospheric river storm over the weekend. The lake was first formed in the wake of Hurricane Hillary in August .

Satellite images show that the lake shrunk but persisted through the fall and was replenished by a " Pineapple Express " and other atmospheric river storms .

Tourists flocked to the basin − the lowest point in North America at 282 feet below sea level − to witness what the National Park Service called an "extremely rare event."

“The lake was deep enough to kayak for a few weeks after Hurricane Hilary, but unfortunately people couldn’t come enjoy it then,” park ranger Abbey Wines said in a statement. “Every road in the park was damaged by flash floods, and it took two months to open the first road into the park.

But they're able to enjoy it now, with the park service saying that kayaking in the informally named Lake Manly may last for a couple more weeks and could even remain deep enough to create reflections through April.

Tourists flock to Badwater Basin to bask in lake

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Delta's special total solar eclipse flight sold out in 24 hours

Diba Mohtasham

travel apps for photos

The sun is shown in the first phase of a total eclipse in this photo taken in August 2017 from Grand Teton National Park outside Jackson, Wyo. George Frey/Getty Images hide caption

The sun is shown in the first phase of a total eclipse in this photo taken in August 2017 from Grand Teton National Park outside Jackson, Wyo.

A total solar eclipse — when the moon passes between the sun and Earth, completely blocking the face of the sun — will be visible across North and Central America on April 8. For people in the contiguous U.S., it will be 20 years until their next opportunity to see one, according to NASA .

Planning To Watch The Eclipse? Here's What You Need To Protect Your Eyes

Shots - Health News

Planning to watch the eclipse here's what you need to protect your eyes.

Some airplane passengers will have the chance to experience the eclipse in the sky April 8, Delta Air Lines announced . The special flight — number 1218 — is scheduled to travel from Austin, Texas, to Detroit from 12:15 p.m. CT until 4:20 p.m. ET "for umbraphiles to be able to spend as much time as possible directly within the path of totality."

"This eclipse will last more than twice as long as the one that occurred in 2017, and the path is nearly twice as wide," said Warren Weston, Delta Air Lines lead meteorologist.

NASA shares more on its website about how the 2024 total solar eclipse is different than the 2017 eclipse.

The Delta flight will utilize an aircraft with large windows — an A220-300 — and will also be timed to give passengers the best chance of safely viewing the eclipse at its peak, the airline said.

David Baron: Why Should You Experience A Total Solar Eclipse?

TED Radio Hour

David baron: why should you experience a total solar eclipse.

Although flight 1218 sold out within 24 hours, Delta passengers on several other April 8 flights will also have prime eclipse-viewing opportunities and are encouraged to bring protective viewing glasses.

  • DL 5699: Detroit (DTW) to White Plains, N.Y. (HPN), departing at 2:59 p.m. ET
  • DL 924: Los Angeles (LAX) to Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW), departing at 8:40 a.m. PT
  • DL 2869: Los Angeles (LAX) to San Antonio (SAT) departing at 9 a.m. PT
  • DL 1001: Salt Lake City (SLC) to San Antonio (SAT) departing at 10:08 a.m. MT
  • DL 1683: Salt Lake City (SLC) to Austin, Texas (AUS), departing at 9:55 a.m. MT

Southwest also previously announced several scheduled flights that have the greatest likelihood of providing a good view of the eclipse:

  • SWA 1252: Dallas (DAL) to Pittsburgh (PIT), departing at 12:45 p.m. CDT
  • SWA 1721: Austin, Texas (AUS), to Indianapolis (IND), departing at 12:50 p.m. CDT
  • SWA 1910: St. Louis (STL) to Houston (HOU), departing at 1:20 p.m. CDT

During the last total solar eclipse in 2017, Alaska Airlines also offered a similar special flight with a view above the clouds.

According to NASA, it's safest to watch a total or partial solar eclipse through solar viewing glasses or a handheld solar viewer, except during the brief total phase of a total solar eclipse.

Passengers aboard the Delta solar eclipse flight will be given special safety glasses.

The path of totality next month will run from Mexico through the U.S. and into Canada. Viewers outside of the path of totality will see a partial eclipse.

In the U.S., the eclipse will be visible for several minutes between 12:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. local time, depending on location and time zone.

But don't worry if a flight isn't in your plans. Fred Espenak, a retired astrophysicist from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, says the best way to watch a total eclipse is from the ground with a cloud-free sky.

"Viewing an eclipse from an aircraft is a good choice if there is a good probability that clouds with block the view from the ground," he told NPR.

"From the ground you can look in every direction and get the full experience of totality," he said. "From a plane you are limited to looking though a small plane window, plus the noise made by the plane."

Correction Feb. 23, 2024

An earlier version of this story stated the eclipse happens next month. The eclipse is April 8.

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Hurricane tracker, severe weather, radar & maps, news & features, winter center, news / weather news, mexican volcano spews massive columns of ash and smoke, forcing flight cancelations.

By Abel Alvarado and Jessie Yeung, CNN

Published Feb 28, 2024 4:36 AM PST | Updated Feb 28, 2024 12:45 PM PST

At least 22 flights were canceled on Feb. 27 at the Mexico City International Airport due to ash spewed by the eruption of the nearby Popocatépetl volcano.

(CNN) —  Mexico’s most dangerous active volcano spewed ash and smoke on Tuesday, with photos showing massive columns of gray emissions – large enough to ground nearby flights.

The Popocatépetl volcano sits in central Mexico between the states of Morelos, Puebla and the State of Mexico.

Ash fall was reported in Mexico City and its surrounding region, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) southeast of the volcano, according to the National Civil Protection Coordination.

Mexico’s National Center for Disaster Prevention said it recorded 77 discharges from the volcano and issued a level two volcanic threat level, which requires taking preventative measures and staying a distance away.

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The Popocatépetl volcano spews a column of ash and smoke in Mexico on February 22. (Henry Romero/Reuters via CNN Newsource)

Some airlines had to cancel operations out of Mexico City’s Benito Juárez International Airport (AICM), according to the airport.

Some 25 million people live in a 60-mile (96-kilometer) radius of the volcano, but the civil protection body said there is currently no “risk for the population.”

The volcano had been dormant for decades until its eruption in 1994 – and recent activity had put residents on high alert. Since then, its rumblings have become a part of daily life for those living close by.

In 2019, the Popocatépetl erupted 14 times in one night. Then last May, it spewed enough ash that the Mexico City airport canceled hundreds of flights. Authorities in several states suspended in-person classes and warned residents to prepare for evacuation – though volcanic activity eventually slowed.

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  1. 9 Best Apps for Travel Photography (in 2023)

    The best apps for travel photography editing. Sharing photos on social media is all part of today's travel culture. Naturally, these photos must look stellar, so editing must be done on the fly. Any rundown of the best apps for travel photography should include a selection of post-processing apps. Here are our picks: 1. VSCO (for iOS and Android)

  2. 7 Best Travel Apps for Photographers in 2024 (Updated)

    7 Best Travel Apps for Photographers. We list travel apps for both iOS and Android. And there is a mix of free and paid apps. 7. Snapseed. App Type: Photo editor. Price: Free. Platform: iOS and Android. This is one of the best photography apps out there because of its features.

  3. 7 useful apps to organize and store travel photos

    Get 5GB of photo storage for free or 100GB for $1.99 per month. For those wanting Office, too, pricing starts at $69.99 for 1TB of space plus Office apps such as Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint, as well as Skype. Download for free on Apple Store or Google Play.

  4. 7 of the best travel photography apps for your smartphone

    Visit Instagram. 2. VSCO. Once I've edited my photo in Snapseed, I most likely go to VSCO for a "preset", which is what they call filters. The free app has solid editing options-more than Instagram, but less than Snapseed-and comes with ten presets. F2 is my favorite, but I sometimes experiment with others.

  5. 4 Best Travel Apps: Make Vacation & Travel Photos Stand Out

    Snapseed. TouchRetouch. Best Travel App 1. YouCam Perfect. Best for: Beautifying your photos, replacing backgrounds, and incorporating filters into your shots. Rating: 4.8 on iOS and 4.4 on Android. YouCam Perfect is the best selfie photo editor and beauty camera app for your travel snaps.

  6. 5 Photo Apps You Need for Your Next Trip

    March 1, 2016, at 10:50 a.m. 5 Photo Apps You Need for Your Next Trip. Getty Images. These must-have photo apps help you snap, edit and organize your vacation photos on the fly. It takes more than ...

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    Playing around with the app is the best way to learn how to use it, so practice on some photos pre-trip until you figure out the perfect balance. Download for free on Apple or Google Play. Snapseed. (Screenshot courtesy of iTunes) 2. Facetune and Facetune2.

  8. The 6 Best Apps for Travel Photographers

    The Best Editing Apps - Adobe Lightroom CC, PS Express + Snapseed. Okay so adding all three technically means this article should be called 9 apps for Travel Photographers however, you certainly don't need all three. Pick your favourite and stick with it so you have a consistent editing style.

  9. The Best Apps for Travel Photography

    Sun Seeker - Photography Planning App. One of my most used apps for travel photography, this free sunrise sunset app is essential in my travel photography planning.It's also incredibly simple to use. Enter your travel destination and the date you'll be there to view key information like sunrise, sunset, moon phases, blue hour, golden hour, and twilight times.

  10. The Best Travel Photography Apps • The Blonde Abroad

    Photo Pills ($12.00) If you want to take your travel photography to the next level, you need to start planning out your shoots. Photo Pills removes all the guessing out of getting the perfect shot. The app shows you the phases of the moon and has an AR mode for night sky so you can see which direction the Milkyway is going to rise from.

  11. 8 Best Photography Apps for Travel

    ProCamera. If you're serious with your smartphone photography the first step is downloading a camera app and ProCamera is one of the best camera apps for sure. Your native camera app doesn't give you manual control over shutter speed and ISO but ProCamera does! You can still shoot in Auto Mode but you'll have the option to shoot in manual ...

  12. 5 Best Travel Photography Apps

    5 Best Travel Photography Apps. VSCO. Snapseed. Instagram. Adobe Lightroom Mobile. Darkroom. Adelina Kiskyte. | August 6, 2019. Adelina is a curious writer, journalist, a keen traveler and a big fan of bonny Scotland, her second home after Lithuania.

  13. 12 Incredible Photo Editing Apps For Busy Travel Photographers

    Price: Free Trial // $4.99 monthly for Premium (to unlock all the tools) Instasize all-in-one photo and video editing app for creative photographers. Basic stories are out - take your creativity to the next level and make one-of-a-kind stories and static images to showcase your unique style! With over 130 filters for photo and video, it's ...

  14. The 7 Best Travel Photo Book Websites of 2024

    Book prices start at $10 for a paper-cover book to $60 for a premium layflat photo album. Conveniently, if you're in a hurry, some book styles offer same-day pickup. Sizes Available: 5 x 7 inches, 8 x 8 inches, 11 x 14 inches, and more | Cover Options: Custom, linen, leather, paper | Number of Pages: 20 to 150 | Shipping: Free shipping on ...

  15. The Best Apps for Travel Journaling

    The newly revamped version of the Day One app (called 'Day One 2') makes journaling as easy as posting to Twitter. Jot down some highlights, attach a photo, and the app will stamp your ...

  16. The 20 Best Travel Apps 2024

    The best travel apps can answer these questions and more, ... Simply forward your trip-related reservations in the form of emails, photos, PDFs, QR codes and other media formats to ...

  17. 6 Best Travel Journal Apps for Your Next Trip (Updated 2024)

    Day One Journal is an impressive digital travel journal app for iPhones, Android smartphones, Apple Watch, and Mac computers. Its biggest strength is the collection of data for all photos and videos, such as weather, location, and music. It also includes a timeline view and a map view. This is a great travel journal app for those that like to ...

  18. 13 Best Camera Apps for Amazing Travel Photos (Updated 2024)

    Autoedit your photos with Microsoft Pix Camera. 6. Get photos in low light with Nightcap Pro. 7. Take light painting photos with ProShot. 8. Take motion shots with Slow Shutter Cam. 9. The best camera app is the one already built into your phone!

  19. The Best Travel Apps for 2024

    See It. TripCase is a free app that helps you organize your trip by making an itinerary for you. The itinerary can include flights, accommodations, rental cars, restaurant reservations, and more ...

  20. The best travel apps every traveler should download

    ITUNES. Hopper has changed in recent years from just offering a price prediction tool for flights to being a true online travel agency. The app helps travelers find the cheapest flights, hotels and rental cars. Of course, Hopper also still offers its signature price prediction technology to help you plan out when to book, as well as travel protection options and a price freeze to help you lock ...

  21. 19 insanely useful apps for editing photos & videos while traveling

    Best Apps for Photo Editing for professional results. Whether you're a complete beginner (here are some travel photography tips for beginners), or you've been around the block (ha- excuse the rubbish pun), there are still plenty of things to learn and improve when it comes to editing travel photos.. To start, let's look at some of the best and most popular photo editing apps for travelers.

  22. 10 Best Travel Journal Apps to Organize Your Travel Memories

    Membership costs €9.99 for one month, €43.99 for 6 months, and €53.99 for one year. Perfect for: Those who want a photo journaling app. 6. Penzu. Penzu isn't particularly designed to be a travel journal app. In fact, it is more of a reflective journal meant for note-keeping and milestone tracking.

  23. 8 Best Digital Travel Journaling Apps

    Best app features: A broad range of fonts and styles allow you to design your travel diary according to your own taste, and your travel log can include itineraries, travel photos, and a traveling map. The layout as an actual travel journal is a fun and personal touch that makes it feel like your digital diary is just as capable of creativity as ...

  24. The 23 Best Travel Apps for Android & iOS

    B elow is a great list of the Best Travel Apps that are the most useful for planning a trip, getting around, finding friends, and saving money along the way. Most apps are free and available for ...

  25. Tourists play in temporary lake in Death Valley National Park: Photos

    Tourists in Death Valley National Park have been enjoying a rare event: the opportunity to play in a lake in one of the driest places in the world. A temporary lake in Badwater Basin was ...

  26. Delta's special total solar eclipse flight sold out in 24 hours

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  27. Mexican volcano spews massive columns of ash and smoke ...

    Mexico's most dangerous active volcano spewed ash and smoke on Tuesday, with photos showing massive columns of gray emissions - large enough to ground nearby flights.