You can benefit from mobile phone apps while driving just as much as you can with any other activity. The seven apps discussed below are quite a varied lot–some of them help you find your location, others help you keep track of expenses related to the vehicle, and others… Well you will see what they do. They are all for the iPhone and iPad. Most are available in French, German, Spanish, Chinese and Japanese, as well as in English.
For finding your way around
(1) MotionX GPS Drive
With this app you can get directions “turn by turn.” You can even hear the street names spoken on the voice synthesizer, perform local searches or “multi-stop routing,” or even keep the program active while listening to your iPod or making a call. The information contained in the database is continually being updated.
(2) Roadside America
Roadside America is perfect for finding out about the wonders of any city in the United States. The hours and phone numbers as well as the driving directions of places like museums are given—and you can even take a look at photographs of them before you make your visit. You can browse attractions by city or state or make a search for a particular type of site, such as art, nature or science.
Apps for taking care of your car
The apps in this section will help make the more prosaic tasks of keeping track of gasoline, taxes and other expenses a breeze.
(3) AccuFuel
AccuFuel is good for monitoring the fuel efficiency of your car so that you can adjust your driving habits accordingly. The app provides a fill-up history and can even be used on more than car! You can tell if there is a gas leakage or if such-and-such a vehicle is saving money.
(4) Car Care
Car Care is also useful for monitoring fuel economy—and with this app you can do so in even greater detail than with AccuFuel (above). A table is provided that tells you how each type of fuel performs in the car. Car Care also gives you reminders of when you need to have maintenance done on the vehicle. “One of my essential apps,” said one reviewing customer of the product.
(5) Car Minder Plus
This program can help you to track all aspects of vehicle maintenance—fuel economy, repairs, what needs to be serviced, oil and tire changes, and the like. Repair and gas logs are provided, as are service intervals for each mileage and date and service history. With iTunes you can also sync the app to your PC!
Apps for selling your car
Are you having thoughts about selling your car and possibly getting a newer and better one? If so, then either of the following two software programs will come in handy.
(6) KBB.com
KBB stands for “Kelley Blue Book”—the largest automotive vehicle valuation company in the nation, with pricing and information for used vehicles. All that information is contained within this app, including that which applies to your own car. Other things that you can find on KBB include reviews by both customers and experts at KBB and directions to used car dealerships in your area—from whom you can also obtain quotes—complete with maps. Photos and videos of each item for sale are available for view and you can plays multiple ads side by side for the purpose of comparison. You can even use your iPhone to get access to KBB’s Twitter feeds!
(7) CarZen
The last app that we will look at will show you over two million cars for sale, both used and new, from upwards of 18,000 dealers! You may use it to look at video test drives of the
vehicle you want to buy and read reviews by owners, dealers and journalists. CarZen is available in English only. One buyer complained that the program crashed when he tried to start it up but is confident that Apple—which he thinks corrupted the current version—will fix the problem soon.
Correly Blanton is a technology blogger and car enthusiast who writes for
NetQin, a leading global provider of mobile Internet services focusing on security, privacy and productivity. NetQin’s solutions safeguard your smart devices from various types of security threats.