Get a new iPhone or Android phone for Christmas? Every Floridian should have these 10 apps
Did you get a new phone this Christmas? Are you just looking for new stuff for your current one? Every Floridian or visitor might want to take a look at these apps to help make your life easier.
A good weather app
Florida is famous for its weather. We're the Sunshine State, with blazing-hot days and wide blue skies. We're also the state of rainy weeks, localized flooding and, you know, hurricanes. Keeping track of the weather is vital, and potentially lifesaving.
Your phone comes with a weather app and it's a good one that will give you basic features such as precipitation probabilities, air quality and severe weather alerts. All-around weather apps such as AccuWeather, the Weather Channel or Carrot help you with all aspects of your daily travels. But there are some specialty weather apps you might consider:
National Hurricane Center Data: Just what it says. This non-official app pulls maps, satellite imagery, tracking data, spaghetti models, forecast cones and more taken straight from the National Hurricane Center. Price: Free, with upcharges for high-res images and other offerings. (iOS) Note that if you don't want to add an app, the NHC has a stripped-down mobile-friendly version you can bookmark in your phone's browser or add as an icon on your phone's desktop. So does weather.gov.
Florida Storms: Immediate information on all storms, radar, plus real-time audio and text alerts from the Florida Public Radio Emergency Network. Price: Free with ads. iOS | Android
My Hurricane Tracker: Does just what it says. Simple add for tracking cyclones, tornadoes, tropical storms and weather warnings. Price: Free with ads, $2.99 removes them. iOS | Android
Emergency by American Red Cross: Get highly customizable alerts, info on how to prepare for disaster and help creating personalized emergency plans. Price: Free. iOS | Android
FEMA: The FEMA mobile app provides alerts, tips on preparation and a map of emergency shelters, but it also helps with resources after the storm passes and helps you get answers. Price: Free. iOS | Android
Storm info on your phone: Stay prepared for the 2024 hurricane season with one of these five hurricane tracker apps
Heading to Disney? Take along guides to local attractions
There are zillions of third-party Disney park apps to help you navigate the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios and the Disney water parks, but first check out the official one. My Disney Experience lets you plan and share trip details, check real-time ride wait times, showtimes, Character Greetings and more, find your way around the parks, manage your hotel reservations, tickets, and MagicBands, order food ahead of time, and use Disney Genie Service to plan your itinerary. Price: Free.
Many of the theme parks in the state have dedicated apps to help with tickets, maps and wait times. Here are the other major ones, all free.
Let VisitFlorida help you plan your travel
The Florida Tourism Industry's official app VisitFlorida, for iOS and Android, is a great state guide to find beaches, attractions, events, dining and more, filtered by your interests, and it's easy to create an itinerary and share it with family and friends.
Price: Free.
For some more specific guides, try AllTrails for trail maps and tracking (iOS | Android), Go Paddling to find launch locations for kayaks, canoes, paddleboards (iOS | Android), or Surfline for wave, tide and wind reports (iOS | Android).
Florida 511 helps you get around
If you've driven any of Florida's busy, sometimes dangerous, occasionally cursed highways, you know a traffic app is invaluable. Waze, Google Maps and Apple Maps all offer driving assistance, but Florida 511 pulls data directly from the Florida Department of Transportation's own official Advanced Traveler Information System (ATIS) to give you specific information about the road ahead including descriptions of crashes, access to traffic cameras, message sign status, road closures and detours, truck parking locations and availability and more. You can even choose to get slightly less detailed info for better power consumption.
Price: Best of all, it's completely free. Head to fl511.com/app for more info. Available for iOS and Android.
GasBuddy helps you afford it
If you plan to travel around the state — and you should, we have some stunning sights — you'll need to keep your tank full. The GasBuddy app for iOS and Android can help identify the cheapest gas prices in your area or anywhere else you search for, listed by distance. You also can choose to let GasBuddy alert you as you drive for great gas deals.
Price: Free.
Learn more about your community with Florida Stories
Would you like to learn more about different places in Florida (including possibly your own hometown)? The nonprofit preservation organization Florida Humanities, with help from the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Arts and Culture, and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture, has created Florida Stories, an app providing 36 walking tours from all over the state with lots of photos and rich audio.
It's a bit hit or miss. There isn't one for Daytona Beach, for example, but there is one for nearby Ormond Beach and another for DeLand. Five of them are about different parts of St. Augustine. You won't find Fort Myers but you will find one for Phillippi Estate Park. But the tours are pleasant and informative, there are maps along with current and historical photos, and you'll learn about local buildings, arts and culture, notable people and places, and the historical events both good and bad that helped form the community.
Price: Free. The app is available for iOS and Android, or you can choose to watch the tours in your browser from the comfort of your home.
Make your outdoor activities easier with Fish | Hunt FL
The Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission wants to make it as easy as possible to fish and hunt legally and safely, so they're putting a lot of power in your phone. The official Fish | Hunt Fl app lets you look up regulations, buy recreational licenses from your boat or on the hunt, report harvested game, and keep copies of your current licenses handy in case the polite people in the hats drop by to check out your catch.
The app also includes sunset and sunrise information, geo-locating tools, NOAA seas and weather information, and more.
Price: Free. Available for iOS and Android.
There'a also the FWC Wildlife Alert app to report fishing, wildlife or boating violations anonymously to the Wildlife Alert Reward Program, with a possible reward up to $1,000 if it results in an arrest or violation. (iOS | Android)
Spotted an invasive species? Fire up IveGot1
Burmese pythons, massive spiders, Nile crocodiles, even rabbits. As robust as it seems, Florida has a fragile ecosystem that can be damaged by invasive species that can decimate local wildlife, destroy agricultural crops and residential buildings and threaten public health. Invasions of exotic species cost Floridians over $500 million a year, according to the National Park Service.
You can help by reporting invasive species or exotic animals with the IveGot1 app for iOS and Android, developed by the Everglades National Park and the University of Georgia.
Price: Free.
Is that fish legal? Fish Rules helps you tell
Even for seasoned fishers, it can be tough to keep track of which fish are legal to catch this week, how big they have to be and how many you can keep.
The Fish Rules for iOS and Android, partnered with the FWC, puts saltwater fishing regulations for federal and state waters for the U.S. and freshwater regulations for Florida, Alabama and Texas in your pocket. It uses your location and the date to show you just what you need to know now and it's got clear pics of any fish you're like to find, to help you identify your catch.
Price: Free, with ads. There's a ProStaff subscription you can get to lose the ads and add thousands of reef locations, access to a professional fish identification forum, and bookmarked fishing locations.
If you want more than that, a few years ago Fish Rules was bought by Fishbrain, which has all the regs from the Fish Rules plus fishing spots, local fishing reports, depth maps, weather forecasts and alerts, logbooks, and more. The iOS and Android app also is free, with a Pro subscription service for even more details and services ($12.99 a month, or $6.99 a month f you pay annually).
Keep an eye on the skies with Next Spaceflight
Florida has a spaceport, and exciting things are happening there all the time. Next Spaceflight for iOS and Android shows you schedules for SpaceX, NASA, Roscosmos, ULA, Blue Origin, ISRO, Rocket Lab, and more, with live launch tracking, previous archives, live streams, mission details and more. And unlike many other launch tracking apps, it's free with no ads.
Also good: Space Launch Now (iOS | Android) but you have to pay a subscription to lose the ads.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: 10 apps for Florida travel, Disney, trails, space launches and more
