The 17 Apps to Download Before You Study Abroad (The Exact List We Give Every Member)
The apps you actually need studying abroad are WhatsApp, Revolut, Google Translate, an offline map, and the booking apps for whichever country you land in. Below is the full list, the exact 17 apps we hand every Flextrip member before they fly, and every single one is free. In this post: the table of all 17, which money app does what, which ride app works in which country, and the three apps nobody downloads until it is too late. Do it while you are still on your couch with fast WiFi. Airport WiFi is where good intentions go to die.
Set up the money apps before you fly, not after
Revolut is your daily card abroad. No foreign transaction fees, great exchange rates, and you see every tap in the app the second it happens, which matters when you are splitting everything with six people. Wise is for moving real money, rent and deposits and anything with a comma in it, because its rates on bigger transfers beat everyone. Get both. Here is the part people mess up. Both apps make you verify your identity, and that is a same week thing, not a same minute thing. Do it from home while you still have your US number. One of our members spent her entire first week in Florence locked out of her own money. Do not be her.
Learn which ride app owns which country
Uber works almost everywhere in Europe, but it is rarely the cheapest option, so treat it as the backup that always loads. Bolt is the one to open first. Same idea, usually cheaper, and it covers most of the continent. In Spain and Portugal, Cabify is the local king and often beats both. FreeNow gets you an actual licensed taxi in more than ten countries, which is the move at 3am when the surge pricing on everything else looks like a phone number. Open two of them, compare, tap the cheaper one. Thirty seconds. It adds up over a semester.
Book weekend trips like someone who lives there
Omio shows you trains, buses, and flights for the same route side by side, which is exactly the comparison you want every single weekend. FlixBus is the budget answer, dirt cheap buses between basically every European city, perfect for the stretch of the month when your account is in recovery. Then the airline apps. Vueling if you are based in Spain, EasyJet for the routes the others skip, Wizz Air for eastern Europe at prices that feel like typos. I already ranked every airline you will fly abroad, the good, the bad, and Ryanair. That post is linked at the bottom of this one.
Download the three apps nobody thinks about until it is too late
Maps.me gives you full offline maps. Download your city before you leave WiFi and you will never stand in a foreign alley watching a blue dot spin. Google Translate with the camera pointed at a menu is genuinely magic, and in a pharmacy it stops being a party trick and starts being essential. And Google Photos backs up your camera roll for free. I am begging you on this one. Phones get pickpocketed, dropped off boats, and left in Ryanair seat pockets every single semester. The people who lose a phone shrug it off. The people who lose four months of photos do not.
Cover dinner and doctors with the last two
TheFork is how you book restaurants across Europe, and half the time there is a discount attached to the reservation, so a real dinner out costs less than winging it. MyAbroadMDs is the serious one. English speaking doctors in major cities abroad and your medical documents stored in one place, for the week you are sick in a country where you cannot read the pharmacy labels. Access comes with Flex+ Protected, and it is one of the biggest reasons parents sleep at night while their kid is abroad. You will hopefully never open it. Download it anyway.
That is the whole phone
Seventeen apps, all free, one sitting of downloading. Set up the money ones early, learn your city's ride app, back up your photos. Everything else you can figure out when you land. The one thing no app on this list fixes is group trip math, seven people, one villa, one boat, everyone swearing they will Venmo you. When your group books through us, we can put the card down for the group so one person is not floating a boat day on a debit card. You show up, we handle the boring part. That is literally what we do.
Do I need an international phone plan to study abroad
You can survive on WiFi alone, but I would not. WhatsApp handles all your texting and calls free over WiFi, which is why it is the first app on the list. But maps, ride apps, and boarding passes all want data at the exact moment you have none. Sort out an international plan or an eSIM before you fly and everything above works when you actually need it.
What is the best money app for studying abroad
Revolut for everyday spending and Wise for moving bigger amounts. Revolut skips foreign transaction fees and gives you great exchange rates on daily purchases. Wise wins when you need to send real money abroad, like rent or a housing deposit. Most of our members run both and never touch their home debit card again.
Does Europe have Uber
Mostly yes, but it is usually not your cheapest ride. Bolt covers most of Europe and tends to run cheaper. In Spain and Portugal, Cabify often beats both, and FreeNow books licensed taxis in more than ten countries. Keep Uber installed as the reliable backup and open Bolt first.