Travel

The best flight tracker apps for iPhone

To many of us, the airplane has become as normal a means of transportation as the train or bus. By extension, when a family member or close friend is up in the air these days, tracking their journey on our smartphones has turned into a popular way to vicariously keep an eye on them. Ultimately, regardless of who is boarding the plane, the perks of having information about a flight in the palm of your hand have been recognized by countless travelers, which has given rise to an almost indefinite number of flight trackers.

Giving all of these a fair shot is difficult, however a lot can be achieved just by compartmentalizing the vast array in what’s current versus what’s stuck in the past, or which apps offer additional value beyond the very rudimentary basics. In applying these filters, a large number of flight trackers already fall flat and surprisingly few worthy candidates remain standing.

We have weeded through that list to single out the best flight tracking apps available as of today. The four winners picked operate on notably different value propositions, proving that not all flight trackers are completely interchangeable. Find out below which one is the best pick for you.

How to use Travel Time in Calendar on iPhone and Mac

Travel Time is a nifty addition to Apple’s Calendar app, capable of precisely estimating the duration of your upcoming trip based on parameters such as milage and traffic. Used properly, it can notably ease some of your daily scheduling woes, but paradoxically, a large contingent of regular Calendar users still routinely overlook the feature.

Formerly introduced as frequent locations and traffic conditions widgets, the service has only slowly gained traction amongst users. Travel Time today however has come of age and is now neatly integrated into one of the most popular productivity applications both on iOS and macOS. So if you didn’t get the memo on the virtues of Travel Time in Calendar, here’s what you need to know.

10 great gift ideas for travelers

Welcome to the latest edition of iDB’s ongoing Gift Ideas series, where we provide curated roundups of some of our favorite products. Throughout the year we cover and test a number of devices and accessories, so we decided to use that experience to help those searching for the perfect present. Today’s roundup is focused on gift ideas for folks who like to travel.

The Trail is a beautiful jaunt in the palm of your hand

In gaming circles, the mentioning of Peter Molyneux’s name alone will cue plenty of associations. The Brit gained industry fame at the helm of projects such as Black & White or Fable, inextricably linking his name to figments of fantastical worlds, deep characters and far-reaching decisions on virtue and morality. In 2012, Molyneux founded 22Cans and branched out to mobile gaming. So far, remarkably little has come off it on iPhone.

In view of the latest product out of 22Cans' think tank, the rules might however just have changed. Their latest adventure goes by the name The Trail and revolves around the ostensibly quiet premise of wandering nature. Contrary to some notions inherent to hiking though, it is remarkably entertaining, oddly social and distinctly Molyneux. Oh, and it is a visual treat for your eyes.

Find out if the game with the curious premise is cut out for you in our review.

The Sena Watch Roll is a great travel companion for Apple Watch users

One of the greatest first world problems of our century is figuring out how you're going to carry all these extra bands when traveling with an Apple Watch. There are of course many solutions available to you, such as throwing everything in a box or in a pocket of your backpack/luggage, but that is a somewhat inelegant way of going at it.

I recently came across the Sena Watch Roll, a neat-looking leather roll that stores your Apple Watch bands and small accessories in a tight package, offering a worthy storage solution for the classy traveler you are. We'll have a quick look at it in this short review.

Quick review: traveling smart with Radar, Yahoo’s new iPhone app for planning trips

Yahoo today released a brand new mobile application for planning trips, Radar for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. The app is available at no charge in the App Store and includes a smart chat bot that you can interact with. Using data from a number of popular third-party services, like Yelp and TripAdvisor, Radar delivers personalized recommendations of sights to see, activities and restaurants in an attractively designed mobile user interface.

After using it briefly, I can safely say that Radar is one of the best mobile apps Yahoo has published in a while.

United Airlines app gains handy new passport scanning feature

United Airlines updated its iOS app this morning, bringing the client to version 2.0.16. The update includes support for a new feature the company is testing out that enables users to scan their passports to check-in for international flights using their device's camera.

United is calling the trial feature "Expanded International Check-In," and its purpose is to allow international passengers to complete their check-in process and print their boarding pass before arriving at the airport. All it takes is a quick photo scan of their passport...

Kayak Pro goes free as Apple’s App of the Week

Apple has named the popular hotel and flight-booking app Kayak Pro its App of the Week this week. This means that through next Thursday, you’ll be able to pick up the application for both your iPhone and iPad, for free—a modest savings of $1.

For those unfamiliar with Kayak, it's considered by many to be the top mobile travel app. It essentially works as a search engine for hundreds of travel sites, allowing you to compare prices for things like flights, cars and hotels, as well as book them...

Expedia now giving away free travel-related iOS apps, starting with Over

If you're the type who enjoys seeing new places and meeting new and interesting people, chances are you're using Expedia to plan your trips.

Originally started by the Windows giant Microsoft, the online travel service was later spun off as a separate entity because it was "no longer about software intensive technology" and they were "concerned that they would not do their best at this."

Since then, Expedia's been doing great: it's grown into a multi-billion dollar business and is now the world's largest full-service online travel company. Expedia.com is ranked the 138th website in the United States by the web traffic reporting service Alexa.

They have a decent iOS application and now Expedia is offering free iPhone and iPad apps related to traveling as part of its new 'Media Lounge' service.

Expedia Hotels & Flights for iOS has been bumped to version 3.6 and can now be downloaded free from the App Store. Hit the break for more info...

United Airlines to launch free inflight movie service for iOS devices next month

United Airlines is looking to introduce a new inflight movie service for iOS users next month, according to a new report. The service will allow iPhone and iPad owners to watch over 150 movies and 200 TV shows on their devices for free.

Users will have full control of the content, meaning they can stop, pause, rewind and switch between videos. And it sounds like all you'll need to access the service is the United Airlines app—no purchase of an in-flight Wi-Fi plan required...

ETA lets you easily check driving time to your favorite locations

I often go to the Bay Area, which is about 100 miles from where I live. If you know anything about California traffic, you’ll know that a simple 100-mile trip could take anywhere between an hour and a half and four hours. So, knowing drive times in advance is very important when I’m trying to make it to a show on time.

ETA is a very simple app that lets you check the estimated time of arrival for any location you save in your iPhone. Plus, you can get driving directions through the app as well…

Hotel chain testing iPhones as room keys in pilot program

When a hotel clerk first hands you your room key card, one of the first things they usually say is "don't put it in the same pocket as your phone." They say this can cause your key card's magnetic strip to malfunction, although some people question the logic behind it.

But this may not be an issue much longer. Starwood Hotels & Resorts has begun a new pilot program in two of its major hotel locations in Manhattan and Silicon Valley that does away with key cards altogether by allowing guests to enter their rooms using smartphones...