4 Smartphone Apps for Your Next Road Trip

Whether you’re heading up the coast, hitting the beaches or driving through the mountains, a road trip is a wonderful way to see Canada. Make sure your next long-drive is safe and fun with these automotive smartphone apps.

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Winter road condition near mountain range
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Best Road Trip Apps: Waze

Waze may just be the best traffic app ever. It not only maps the best route to your destination, but also guides you around accidents, road construction and other unpredictable things that could seriously slow down your trip. If you have a tough commute, the Waze app is probably on your phone already. If not, you’ll want to download it before you leave for your next road trip.

Here are 7 Tricks to Make Yourself Stop Texting and Driving.

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Car at gas station
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Best Road Trip Apps: Gas Buddy

You’ll be using a whole lot of gas on your road trip, so why wouldn’t you want to know where to get it for the best price? Enter Gas Buddy. This simple app maintains a continuously updated database of gas stations, prices and locations, and seamlessly guides you to the cheapest gas. If you don’t already have the Gas Buddy app on your phone, do yourself a favour and download it before you go. You could save hundreds of dollars over the course of the journey!

You’ll be able to reach these five wallet-friendly day trips from Toronto on just one tank of gas.

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Cars on highway road at sunset
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Best Road Trip Apps: iOnRoad

Even though you’ll need an iPhone to use this app, iOnRoad is a useful addition to any road trip safety kit. iOnRoad turns the camera on your iPhone into a collision-warning system—just open the app, place the iPhone in the windshield map and drive. The iOnRoad app uses your iPhone camera to measure the distance between your car and the one in front. If you get too close, the app also issues a series of visual and auditory warnings.

Check out Amber Mac’s 5 Tech Essentials for Your Family Road Trip.

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Underground parking garage
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Best Road Trip Apps: ParkMe

If your road trip includes stops in big cities, you’ll need the ParkMe. This handy app seamlessly guides you to the least expensive and most convenient parking, including commercial parking garages, surface lots and parking metres. The ParkMe app is a must for business travellers, but it’s perfect for road trips as well. After all, you’ll probably be spending lots of time in new places, and you need to find a safe, secure and affordable place to park when you get there.

Here’s expert advice on how to avoid becoming a victim of road rage.

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