A few travel and photography apps I find useful

I have an iPad (3-gen) and an iPhone 5. During my recent trip I found the following apps to be useful for my needs. (In no particular order.)

Flipboard

As long as you have some kind of an Internet connection, Flipboard is one of the most efficient ways of browsing your social media feeds.

Onavo Protect

When connecting to an unprotected WiFi access point, and especially if you are going to do any kind of sensitive transactions, you really need a VPN. Onavo Protect is a free VPN app.

Google Maps

I’m sure many people already have this. I used it for giving me walking directions about Santa Fe. It performed well. Also useful for connecting to dining and entertainment reviews.

TripIt

I’ve been using TripIt for all my trips for about two years now. I find it very useful to make sure all the gaps (cars, lodging, other transportation, entertainment, etc.) are filled in by allowing me to see everything in one timeline. There is a subscription to the Pro version that provides real-time flight alerts and other upgraded features. It can be used via desktop computer at tripit.com.

AlaskaAir

It’s the official travel companion to Alaska Airlines. If this is your airline, you need it. Since Alaska Air offers free in-air WiFi access to its website, the app contents will update too, as you’re in the air. It integrates with Passbook to offer electronic boarding passes at places so equipped.

OpenTable

Easiest way to make restaurant reservations as long as the restaurant is connected to this service. It sends reminders so you don’t forget your dinner appointments.

Photogene

It reads RAW files, has plenty of global adjustments as well as many detail correction tools. It can save files to the original resolution. I found it to be all I needed to work on my DSLR files (imported via Apple’s camera connection kit). No laptop needed. And Photogene is a whole lot cheaper than desktop photo editing software.

Sol

Photographers crave the golden hour and we want to know where the sun will rise and set. Sol gives you all that plus the civil, nautical and astronomical twilight times. There is no excuse to be caught unawares once you have this app.

Snapseed

Photogene is great, but it isn’t quite as simple to use as Snapseed. For nearly all my iPhone captured photos, I sent them through Snapseed for quick adjustments. It doesn’t offer as much control or detail as Photogene.

Day One

Nice journaling app. It can automatically insert your current location and weather, and if you have an iPhone 5s it can capture activity and steps. It allows text to be fully formatted and a picture to be inserted with each entry. The journal can be accessed via Mac software, and can be exported as multi-page PDF for printing and archiving.

Moves

It is an activity tracker for the iPhone. As long as it is enabled it records all your movement using the iPhone sensors and location services. It does require a connection to its servers where movement data is uploaded in order to analyze the data. It does a pretty good job of figuring out whether you are walking, running, cycling, or moving via some kind of vehicle.