Modern business travel is fast paced. There are times when a frequent traveller will need help with managing the planning, the expenses and other challenges faced while on the road.

Luckily your smartphone is capable of offering a great deal of help. When loaded with the right apps, your smartphone will help you get the most out of your journey. From organising your itinerary to handy travel tips and other useful extras, you can turn your phone into the equivalent of an electronic Swiss Army knife.

But with so many apps on offer, where do you start? QBT have compiled a list of 7 must-have phone apps that will certainly make your life easier.

TripIt (free)

TripIt is one of the most well-known travel applications on the market and it’s impossible to post about the best travel apps without giving it a mention. It’s available on all of the major application platforms (iPhone/iPad, Android, Blackberry & Windows Phone 7) and also has a web interface. It allows you to easily organise all of your travel data in one place automatically.

To create a detailed itinerary all you have to do is forward your travel confirmation email to TripIt and it will automatically create and or update your travel data.  You can easily add additional information for your upcoming trip such as meeting reminders and special notes.

You can also upgrade to TripIt Pro ($71.50 AUD a year) if you travel more than a couple of times a year. Enhanced features include real time alerts, seat alerts, point tracker and flight refunds.

Download TripIt: https://www.tripit.com/uhp/mobile

GateGuru (free)

If you are a frequent traveller, this app is one great travel companion. GateGuru will summarise your flight itinerary into a simple user interface alerting you to any gate amendments the instant they happen.

This free app also contains information on shops, restaurants and other amenities in both domestic and international airports.

Another fun feature is the stats feature. You are able to check your mileage, the number of airports you’ve visited and other flight-related statistics.

Download GateGuru: http://www.gateguru.com/

Waze (free)

Every city has its own traffic patterns and problems. If you’re driving to a meeting in a city you’ve never visited before, you can easily miscalculate how long it’s going to take you. Few things are worse than walking into an important meeting late.

This is why you need Waze on your smartphone. It will calculate the best route, and as delays pop up, it will give you better options. It even lets drivers upload reports of new traffic jams and accidents, so you know well in advance if something is blocking your path.  As you drive, Waze will periodically notify you via pop-ups of incidents on the road ahead within a preset radius or along your chosen route if a destination has been set. Slow traffic, incidents and accidents, police presence and speed cameras are among the possible triggers for notifications.

Download Waze: https://www.waze.com/download/

Time Buddy (free)

World Time Buddy (WTB) is a convenient world clock, a time-zone converter, and an online meeting scheduler. It’s one of the best online productivity tools for those often finding themselves travelling, flying, in online meetings or just calling friends and family abroad.

The carefully thought out UI allows you to effortlessly compare multiple time-zones at a glance, plan conference calls, webinars, international phone calls and web meetings. It also aids with business travel & tracking of market hours.

You can work with multiple locations by arranging them on the application’s drag and drop interface. The application offers over 20,000 locations to select from. Users can click and drag along the hour line to choose a time. The time can be shared using a web app or copied to the clipboard. Event pages can also be created as well as widgets. The application lets the user know when the clocks need to be pushed forward or back during daylight savings time for each zone being tracked.

Download Time Buddy: http://www.worldtimebuddy.com/mobile-app

XE Currency (free)

With over 20 million downloads since its launch, XE is the go-to site for currency conversions on-the-go. This popular app offers live proprietary exchange rates and historical charts. It also contains business-orientated features, such as rates for precious metals and historic currency charts. One of its greatest functions is storing the last updated rates, which is useful for offline use or if you’re in a place with limited connectivity.

Download XE Currency: http://www.xe.com/apps/

Wi-Fi Finder (free)

With 320,000 locations in 140 countries worldwide, Wi-Fi Finder does jexactly what it says, helps users find nearby Wi-Fi locations. Locations can also be downloaded for use when you’re not online, making this a very smart tool. Results can be filtered by Wi-Fi providers and by location type- restaurant, cafe, hotel, etc. You can also search “Near Me” which will search around your current location.

Download Wi-Fi Finder for Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jiwire.android.finder&hl=en

LoungeBuddy (free) 

For the frequent business traveller, delays, cancellations, diversions, and misconnects can all be a part of the daily life. Luckily the LoungeBuddy app is able to help you find and access airport lounges.

Covering at least 200 airports, the app can also tell you which lounges are free (or how much the fee is) based on your airline memberships, credit card types or military status. Conveniently, a GPS will guide you to each lounge.

Other cool features include a peek into what you will get there, including food, complimentary beverages, showers and Wi-Fi.

Download LoungeBuddy: https://www.loungebuddy.com/mobile?source=home-banner