Weekend Review: TripRider, the Travel Companion App

Advancements in mobile technology ensure two things: First, never-ending cat pictures are only a few taps and swipes away; and second, life on the move is considerably easier. People who travel with smart phones already know this to be true, especially if they have the travel companion app from Minoa, TripRider.

Courtesy of Minoa, we’ll be giving away 5 free copies of the TripRider app! See the contest info and widget at the bottom of the post.

Application: TripRider
Developer: Minoa d.o.o.
Available for: iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch (iOS 5.0 or later)
Price (at the time this article was published): $4.99
Free Version: Yes – TripRider Lite

Features:

TripRider is an app designed to be a one-stop-shop for any trip you take. And with the features detailed below, it accomplishes that goal quite well. If you’re interested in purchasing the app, check it out on the App Store or on the TripRider iTunes preview.

Trip Plan:

This is the main daily breakdown of your trip. Here you add and keep track of the following, broken down by each day (there is also a very handy “copy previous day” option if you are staying put for multiple days):

• Accommodation info (Name, address, etc. This is especially handy when going through immigration or getting a taxi)
• Event list (Choose the event type, add a description, and decide if the even is a “must see”)

Packing List:

• Broken down by category (clothing, documents, medicine, gadgets, etc.)
• Includes a task list of things to be done before you leave (i.e. find someone to feed your cat)

Wallet:

This feature keeps track of important numbers (passport, credit cards, tickets) and can be protected by an additional password.

Travellers:

This is one of my favorite features. I have a terrible memory and this lets the app keep track of all the awesome people I’ve met until my brain catches up. You can add their name, picture, number, and notes about who they are or where you met.

Quick Notes:

This feature allows you to jot down thoughts or information that you may need to reference later or may want to add into your journal.

Diary:

Here you can elaborate on your day, what the highlights were, add pictures, and select stamps to signify what the weather was like.

Maps:

Another awesome feature, this section lets you add screenshots or pictures of maps that you can view when connectivity is lacking.

Location List:

This feature lets you manually track where you are or pinpoint your location via GPS.

• Select or take a picture to pair with the location
• Tracks latitude, longitude, and altitude
• Publish to FB, Twitter, or brag via email
• You can enable “FollowMe” to automatically add locations to your active trip at the frequency of your choice

Share Trip:

Share your trip with other TripRider travellers via email, with options to include your packing and location lists (though photos will not be shared).

Must See:

The app keeps a separate list of any event that you listed as a “Must See” when added to the Trip Plan. This feature lets you check them off individually once completed.

Briefing:

This feature gives you an overview of the day. Including such information as where you’re staying, what events are planned, which must see events are scheduled for that day, what travellers you met that day, how many locations were marked, what your expenses have been for the day, how much of your budget is remaining for the day, your total expenses for the trip, and how much of your budget remains for the rest of the trip.

Expenses:

Another fantastic feature of the app is the ability to set your budget, track your expenses, and have the app automatically convert the currencies once you’ve entered the exchange rate (as this will work offline as well).

Trip Book:

When your trip is over, this feature will help you preserve the memories forever. It can create a separate album for all your photos and save the entire trip as PDF file.

Closing Thoughts:

Overall, I think this app is a wonderful addition to any traveller’s mobile software collection. I even used the app while attending a conference to not only keep track of my budget and schedule, but the Travellers section was invaluable when it came to networking.

Cons: The only cons I really saw with the app was that I couldn’t edit all of the fields once created. Some of them worked just fine, but it seems that others become locked (sometimes for good reason). So, just ensure that you carefully enter your information and don’t skip any fields when initially setting up your trip.

Suggestions: I would love to see integration with the calendar and/or alarm for events as an added reminder and so I don’t have to constantly check the app to see what time it is in comparison to my next scheduled event. It would also be amazing if there was an “Add to Contacts” option for the iPhone in the Travellers feature that would add them directly into the phone list (or even just be able to call their phone number directly from the Travellers section).

Score: 90/100

Contest:

Enter to win one of 5 free copies of the TripRider app! Note that none of the options to enter the contest are mandatory, however, you can increase you odds of winning by participating via Facebook, Twitter, or commenting below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The contest is now over and the winners are Ryan M., Alouise D., Peggy M., Robyn J., and Henni T.! You lucky five will be receiving the codes via email, so be sure to check if you see your name!

 

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Disclosure: I was provided a complimentary copy of the app to review and compensated for my time. However, all opinions expressed in this post are my own.