Useful iPhone Apps for Drivers

We are a car driving nation. We are also a cellphone driven nation. When you put the two together, they’re a wreck in the making. 

Seriously, this doesn’t need to be said again, but don’t engage in distracted driving. Some of these apps are designed to help you with distracted driving, and some of these apps are just designed to help you, but may distract you.  Don’t let that happen.

Without further delay: 

iOS 10 (Plus Bluetooth/CarPlay connection)

The newest Apple operating system has a handy little feature which helps you remember where you parked your car. Although it currently requires a connection to your car’s Bluetooth or CarPlay connection, the time is coming when even that won’t be necessary. 

RightTrack (and Highway Hero)

Liberty Mutual has come out with this driving app, which monitors your driving behavior and gives you tips on how to drive more safely, along with a discount on your car insurance if you stick with it. It watches how often you hard brake, how often you ‘hard accelerate’, how often you drive between 12-4 a.m., and the number of miles you drive.  While the company vouches for its accuracy, some drivers have claimed its overly sensitive. There may be a cheaper insurance rate to be had simply by doing some insurance shopping, as opposed to being tracked by an insurance company. 

Gas Buddy

Plug in your location, and this wonderful little app will find you some cheap gas. The price of gasoline has come down, albeit temporarily, but we don’t expect that to last as long as the good habits you will develop in the meantime.  This is especially handy if you want to find a gas station while travelling. Gas buddy has said it will be offering more from the app in the future.

DriveSafe.ly

DriveSafe.ly will read your incoming text messages, Facebook, Twitter and emails while you’re out and about without a conspicuous consumption of your phone battery. It can announce the name of incoming callers, as well.  You can set it to auto-respond to texts or emails, or reply to them.  This one has mixed reviews, so if you want to try it, use the free version until you’ve decided if it works for you. 

Yelp

For a person on the go, this is the user-ratings-driven app which helps us find places to eat, shop, dance, and has recently added local events. While this doesn’t have anything at all to do with driving, or your car (other than the fact that you use it when you get in the car), this is one that we use a lot. 

Waze

This is another user-driven app which offers maps and navigation advice based on efforts by fellow users.  If there is an accident or a road closure, or traffic jam, Waze will tell you, or, if you see one, you can relay that information pretty easily. You can set a course, or just let it watch the area around you, but since it give you information on road conditions ahead, there is a certain intrinsic value in that.  It’s free, as well, so you have nothing to lose by trying it out.

Hopefully, reading about these apps have given you some useful information. We only chose apps that were free, and not android apps. Those will be available in another blog.