The Best Apps for Solo Female Travelers in 2023

What’s on your packing list when you prepare for a trip?

After checking your passport, wallet, and suitcase, you should always check your travel apps! The best apps for solo female travelers change a bit from country to country, and they can sometimes make or break your trip.

After over 5 years of full-time solo travel, these are the apps I can’t live without.

1. Offline Google Maps

If you download nothing else to prepare before your trip, at least do this.

Download an offline Google Maps map for the area that you’re planning to travel to. This way you’ll always know where you’re going and how to get there, even if you don’t have wifi or an international plan, or if you need some time to get your local SIM card.

How? Search for a place, say “Medellin, Colombia.” At the bottom of the area’s map, tap the bar that says “Medellin, Colombia” and click the “Download” button.

You can zoom in or out to set the exact parameters of the map you need. Make sure it covers the airport/train station you’re arriving into, as well as at least your first night’s accomodation. (More instructions and troubleshooting here.)

Alternately, you could use the recently trending app Maps.me.

2. Trip Whistle

Emergency phone numbers vary from country to country. You need to know them before the terrible moment when you really need to know them. Trip Whistle keeps all of those phone numbers in one place, so you have one less thing to worry about.

Note: Currently only available via Apple Store.

3. Geosure

Geosure is a cheat sheet to neighborhood safety in new places, and an absolute must-have for solo female travelers.

According to Geosure, they use a “combination of big data, AI, on the ground reporting, and geospatial intelligence, all validated using statistical algorithms to provide you the most granular safety scores in the world.”

What I love most about Geosure is that in addition to their composite score (general safety), they offer specialized safety scores for women and LGBTQIA+ travelers. These options are available the drop-down menu on the safety map and in the detailed safety breakdown of each neighborhood.

The map is also super legible and easy to navigate. Plus, the “Experiences” feature is a nice extra, where real visitors can share comments about whether they felt safe or had any incidents in that area.

All in all, Geosure is hands-down one of the best apps for solo female travelers looking to add a little peace of mind to their trip.

4. Bsafe or Other Personal Safety App

Choose the personal safety app that is right for you. But you should definitely have at least one!

BSafe is the bells-and-whistles option and a better fit for me personally. But, it does charge for most plans after a 30-day free trial.

Its biggest selling point is that in borderline unsafe situations that aren’t quite emergencies yet, but your gut says they’re not exactly safe, you have a whole toolbox before the SOS button. BSafe lets you use the Fake Call, Follow Along, Timer, I’m Here, and Record functions for those in-between moments.

If the situation does escalate, you can turn on the app and activate its SOS button hands-free using voice activation set to a phrase of your choice, which will also automatically activate livestreaming and recording. I like that my set voice activation phrase is kind of undercover, so whoever is threatening me likely won’t know that I’ve activated it and called for help.

BSafe has given me a lot of peace of mind in new environments as a solo female traveler.

Wandersafe, Noonlight, Zich are also popular options at different price points among other travelers I’ve met. Mayday is a simple, free, user-friendly option that alot of women on the road swear by as well.

5. Offline Google Translate

You don’t need to speak the language of every country you travel to, but you can’t waltz into someone else’s country and demand they speak English either. (Trust me, no one likes a linguistic imperialist).

Google Translate can bridge the language barrier well enough to get you through most situations. You can even download the languages you need for offline use! My favorite functions are image scanning – esp. for food menus and street signs – and audio translating for real-time conversations.

6. Your Personal Banking Apps

Whatever banks you use, make sure to have their apps installed and set up properly before you start your travels.

Set up your correct login info, fingerprint access, phone numbers you will have access to, and back-up phone numbers of a trusted family member or friend in your home country .

While these aren’t travel apps per say, they’re totally essential to any type of travel. You want to be able to lock and unlock cards, report theft, verify transactions, disable fraud alerts, and check balances on the go. Adding your card info to your mobile wallets like Google Pay or Apple Pay before you go is great, too.

P.S. Remember to bank with an institution that doesn’t charge international transaction fees, and preferably one that reimburses ATM fees. This way, you can reject the bogus conversion rates at international ATMs. For this, I like Charles Schwab, Chase, Wise, and Revolut.

7. Tourlina

Tourlina is an app for solo female travelers to find other women to plan a trip with, or to meet up with during intersecting trips. Passion Passport calls it “your newest favorite travel companion” for meeting like-minded women while travel solo.

They have a strong focus on safety, screening new members, and creating community. Though, I would love if it were a little more LGBTQIA+ friendly and had more users to increase the chance of matches.

8. Flush

My friends and travel buddies constantly joke about my tiny bladder. So, when you’re out exploring a new city and need to pee, what’s a girl to do?

Flush finds public bathrooms anywhere you are in the world, organized by proximity to you and listed with details about handicap access and entry cost.

(Note: In rural destinations, you’ll have to ask around the old fashioned way.)

9. Booking / Accomodation

I’ve had a few situations where a hotel or hostel (*cough* SELINA) has cancelled my reservation after I arrived to a destination, or informed me of their overbooking less than 24 hours before check-in.

Having the Booking app on my phone meant I could go from homeless for the night to booked into a 4 star hotel with a massive “Genius discount”+ “mobile-only discount” in under 10 minutes, and file a complaint with Booking — all during the walk to my new property.

• For shorter stays (a few days) : Booking
• For mid-range stays (1-3 weeks) : Airbnb
• For longer stays (1-6 months) : Anyplace or Coliving
• For hostels outside of Asia: Hostelworld
• For hostels and hotels in Asia: Agoda

10. Skyscanner

A travel app that saves you hundreds or thousands in airfare for free? Yes, please.

Skyscanner is my #1 go-to for cheap flights. And don’t just take my word for it; the top travel bloggers and experts agree with me.

While I think Skyscanner works a lot better on desktop, the app has saved my life more than once. Most recently, I pulled it out at the immigration desk when I wasn’t allowed to enter Guatemala without proof of onward air travel. Sorted in 3 minutes.

(Now I use the Onward Ticket website for that, which unfortunately doesn’t have an app yet but works great on mobile! It lets you reserve a 48 hour validity onward travel flight for $12.)

I use SkyScanner for 3 specific functions: Go Anywhere, Cheapest Month and/or Entire Month.

Once Skyscanner has told me which destinations have super cheap flights at certain times, I take that specific information over to Google Flights and Momondo for more detailed info about the flights available, then set alerts for the cheapest time to buy and take advantage of price drops.

My recent Skyscanner app finds: $97 Texas to Guatemala. $114 Colombia to Spain. $110 New York to Italy.

11. Whatsapp

The infamous universal calling and texting service used by over 2 billion people around the world. Outside of the US, literally everyone has Whatsapp – individuals and businesses.

12. Rebtel

Rebtel is a great affordable alternative or add-on to a local SIM card. They offer tons of customized plans for international calling without depending on wifi.

What I like best is that it functions just like a normal phone call. The person you’re calling won’t know you are using Rebtel, and they don’t need to have the app to receive your call.

It’s been a great tool for me to call family, friends, and businesses that don’t have Whatsapp.

13. Rideshare apps

For most cities: Uber, Bolt

USA: Lyft

Central and South America: Cabify, Didi

Asia: Didi, Grab, Gojek, Yandex

Middle East: Careem

Europe: TaxiEU, Cabify, Motar

For long distances: BlaBlaCar, Hitch

*I strongly discourage the use of popular Israeli rideshare app Gett, which operates in Israel and Europe. The service has been sued for allowing customers to discriminate against Arab drivers and choose only Jewish drivers, nearly doubled its commissions since start of pandemic, and violates BDS principles.

**more detailed info from Too Many Adapters

14. SmartTraveler

SmartTraveler is the official U.S. State Department app for travelers. It’s the best source for double-checking information related to visas, entry requirements, covid-19 status and restrictions, travel warnings, and embassy locations and contact info.

I’m personally enrolled in STEP (Smart Traveler Enrollment Program) because it’s the best way to allow my government and family to locate me in an emergency (e.g. natural disaster, political unrest, or war). Also, it’s the easiest way to replace your passport if it gets lost or stolen.

You can sign up on the app or online. While Smart Traveler definitely isn’t the trendiest or flashiest app for solo female travelers, it’s a back-to-basics necessity.

15. Mobile Passport

Mobile Passport is the fastest, easiest way to clear customs. The official U.S. Customs and Border Protection recognized app will let you breeze through a seperate line for immigration at many airports, but not all.

A combination of Mobile Passport, TSA Global Entry, and exclusively carry-on luggage keeps me breezing through any airport. So, I highly recommend all three!

P.S. Looking for more apps for solo female travelers? Bag Lady Meredith‘s solo female travel blog has a freebie featuring 100 mobile travel apps for anyone who signs up for her newsletter.

What apps do you use when you travel? Tell me about your must-haves in the comments!