12 Free Essential Apps for Living Abroad

by Emily Wilson

These days, almost everyone owns a smartphone. These intelligent devices help us with saving money, socialising and organisation. How else do you think the smartphone earned its name?

Here at Spotahome, we have compiled a list of the 12 FREE and most essential apps for living abroad. Whether you are an Erasmus student, a member of an exchange programme, undertaking an internship or working abroad, these apps will certainly be of use.

Save Money…

We know that smartphones are expensive, but you can save or even EARN money in no time with these essential apps…

1. TransferWise

Price: Free to download

Are you tired of hefty bank transfer charges? Have you been tricked into paying hidden currency exchange fees?

If you answered yes to the above questions, you should consider TransferWise, also accessible through their website. The company charges up to 8 times less than most banks. Try now, and start saving when sending money abroad…

Top tip: If you are a first time user, click on the link above to get a free transfer of up to £3000 (or equivalent in other currencies)!

2. Groupon

Price: Free

I was shocked to hear that many people hadn’t heard of Groupon. This app (and website) features thousands of deals that change depending on your local area.

How it works: Groupon partners with companies that offer goods, provide services and host events. The price for these products is dramatically discounted – if enough people sign up for the offer within 24 hours, the deal is on!

Socialise for Free…

Whatsapp and Facebook Messenger are amongst the most popular messaging apps in the world. Why not try a new app and see if you prefer it?

3. WeChat

Price: Free

WeChat is a fierce competitor of Whatsapp, offering unique features that certainly enhance the instant messaging experience. This app functions across most smartphone models and is free of charge.

Winning features include video calling, the integration of social networks, fingerprint payment (apparently coming soon) and Drift Bottle (a message in a bottle function).

Essential Apps for Language Learning…

Chances are you’ve moved abroad to learn new lingo. Why pay for lessons when you can start learning for free with smartphone essential apps?

4. Duolingo

Price: Free

Duolingo is a popular language-learning platform that currently offers free courses in 23 different languages. Duolingo works like a game – ‘students’ earn and lose points depending on their answers. Once a certain amount of points is reached, the lesson is complete and you can move onto the next!

Explore your city…

5. Triposo

Price: Free

This essential app offers 'smart travel guides' that allow you to choose your favourite places and add them to your bucket list. You can book to go to your chosen places through the app itself. Triposo has city guides which you can even download and use offline!

6. GetYourGuide

Price: Free

This clever app is for those who are seeking new activities in their new city. GetYourGuide claims to have ‘the biggest collection of things to do’, and we don’t doubt it! All you have to do is type your city into the search bar, press enter, and choose from the extensive list of original, varied activities!

7. Citymapper

Price: Free

With Citymapper, you can wave goodbye to travel-related mishaps. Never again will you have to deliberate the fastest way to get from A to B – this slick, essential app will do all the work for you. Input your current location and your final destination, and Citymapper will conjure up alternative methods of transport, estimated timings, and it will even tell you how many calories you will burn if you walk!

Location, location location…

Believe it or not, you can download many free, essential apps that will help you with inner city navigation as well as organising long distance transport…

8. GoEuro

Price: Free

GoEuro is the smart app for the smart traveller…with a smartphone. Are you tired of switching apps and websites when searching for long distance transport? Now with GoEuro, you no longer have to – as this app displays available flights, car sharing options, trains and buses that lead to your destination – all on one webpage.

9. Blablacar

Price: Free

If you haven’t heard of blablacar, you’ve probably been living under a rock. This car sharing app has revolutionised travel – with this essential app, you can fill spaces in people’s cars for a considerably reasonable price. Discover new music or practise a language in a car full of like-minded travellers!

Tips and Tricks…

You can even find essential apps for decorating your home!

10. Brightnest

Price: Free

Sometimes it can be hard for a house to feel like a home. Brightnest is an essential app that provides home-related tips and tricks. Discover everything from eliminating pest infections, cleaning tricks and fixing slow internet connections. You name it, it’s there!

11. Pocket

Price: Free

It happens to all of us. You’re reading an article on your smartphone and before you can finish, you’ve reached your destination and you have to get off the bus. Pocket is the essential app that has put bookmarking back into business. You can ‘pocket’ interesting articles and videos and save them for later. The good news is, you don’t need access to the internet in order to read these articles at a later date. You can thank us later!

12. SitOrSquat

Price: Free

There is nothing more frustrating than having to pay for a coffee in order to use a toilet in a nearby café. With SitOrSquat, you can pinpoint the location of all public toilets in the vicinity, and even read reviews of each one!

Bonus: Expressowifi

Although not an app yet (we do wish for it!), this Italian based service offers affordable prices for a personal Wi-Fi HotSpot – explore the cities and streets of Italy and always remain connected to your essential apps with Expressowifi!

What are your essential apps for living abroad?

…If you want to know more tips and tricks for living abroad, you may like these articles…

…don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!