Need we even say that guidebooks for smartphones are the future? Looking at the many crowds of organized tourists or even independent travelers armed with thick guidebooks and huge maps, we realize that they are. Most of them still travel the old-fashioned way: a guide tells a rather boring story in a monotonous voice, you have to stop constantly to read a paragraph from a book, and finding yourself on the map of an unfamiliar city is often not so easy.

We are surprised when we learn that many travelers have never even heard of guidebooks for iPhone and iPad! How can that be, when this is the main assistant on a trip to another city or country! Besides, most often it costs practically nothing compared with organized excursions or traditional paper guidebooks. By the way, the EverTravel trip planner can be downloaded absolutely free for both iPhone and Android.

So, what exactly is the EverTravel guidebook for iPhone? An incredibly convenient app for preparing for independent travel! With it, you can be sure that when you arrive in a city you have never visited before, you will feel right at home. Dozens of sights, ready-made walking routes, audio guides, an offline map, and GPS navigation… In short, everything that should be at hand and not take up a single extra gram in your luggage. Let's go through it all in order!

To start, let's download our app. If you have an iPhone, head to the App Store; Android owners should take a look at Play Market and read a separate article, since everything works a little differently in the app for Apple users. By the way, even though this app is not adapted for tablets, in theory it can also be used as a guidebook for iPad.

To make the installation process go faster, we recommend connecting to wi-fi. Downloaded it? Open the app and sign in using your Facebook, ВКонтакте, or email account. This is necessary so that your trip plans are saved in your account.

When you open the app for the first time, you will periodically see tips on how to use the trip planner. In addition, your profile will contain a sample trip around Барселоне. It will show you what the plan you create can look like in the guidebook for iPhone.

When you tap the question mark on the trip cover, instructions appear that will guide you through the main stages of planning it. And if you tap the gear, you will open the trip editing menu: you can download it for offline use, rename it, delete it, or share it with friends.

Let's try creating our own trip plan, for example, around Риму. Tap the plus sign in the upper right corner, come up with a name for the trip, specify its duration, and choose Рим from the list of cities. Tap “Create trip.”

A list of days with nothing in them yet opens before you. Let's fill it up! Tap the gray image, and a selection of what can be added to the trip opens. Let's start with the simplest thing - a place.

There are more than a hundred different sights in Риме. All of them are arranged alphabetically, but you can also view them by popularity or in the “must see” list - places you absolutely have to see. It is incredibly convenient to walk around the city with such a guidebook on iPhone or iPad!

Tap any sight and you will see its name, photo, short description, contacts, opening hours, ticket prices, and a marker on the map. In short, everything you need to know for a visit. Like the place and want to visit it? Tap the plus sign, and it will be added to your trip plan.

Pick several interesting places this way, and then return to your trip plan. Now you have ideas for the first day of walks around Риму with a guidebook for iPhone.

Let's plan the second day. Tap the gray image again and this time choose a route. For example, Музеи Ватикана. Open it, and you will see a short description of the route, the places included in it, and a map with the walking plan.

Tap the plus sign, and this route ends up in our favorites. Such options are very convenient, because you do not need to add places one by one; it is enough to choose a ready-made option for a self-guided tour that already includes the most significant and interesting places in the city. When you arrive in Рим, just open this guidebook on your iPhone or iPad and head out for a walk!

In the list of routes you will also see audio walks around various sights of Рима: Колизею, Собору Святого Петра, Римскому Форуму… Such an offer is even more attractive compared with ready-made walking routes, because with these audio guides you can arrange a full-fledged self-guided tour! Just download them, put on your headphones, and go for a walk. A narration prepared by professional guides and voice actors will not only keep you from getting bored, but will also tell you dozens of curious stories about the Eternal City!

Please note: you can download the audio guide called «О Риме» for free, but for all the other audio walks you need to pay 100 or 200 coins. In more familiar currency, that is 1-2 dollars. Pennies compared with traditional guidebooks and organized excursions. A шикарный multimedia guide for less than the price of a cup of coffee. You should get it! Moreover, the more audio walks you buy, the cheaper they become for you! The guidebook for iPhone really is very cost-effective compared with traditional paper guides.

So, we have figured out the second day too. Let's move on to the third. Now let's try adding places from the map. This is especially convenient when you decide to stroll in a certain area, for example near площади Навона. Look at the map to see what is located nearby, and add to your trip plan whatever you would like to see. Voila, everything is ready!

Return to the trip plan. See the gear next to the day headings? Tap it; there are three extremely useful functions there. “Day map” will show you only the places you added on that day. By tapping “Hide day,” you will collapse it so it does not take up extra space once you have already visited everything you planned. “Delete day” is useful if you created it as a test or do not want to keep the history of your walks.

By the way, if after Рима you plan to go, for example, to Флоренцию or Милан, you do not even need to create a separate trip for that. Just add a new day and change the city from Рима to any other. You can also add a city to one of the days you already have.

After the trip has been thought through, return to the “My trips” section. Tap the gear on our guidebook on the iPhone and download the trip. That way it will be available even in offline mode, which is incredibly important when roaming. At the same time, the GPS signal will always show your location, so getting lost will be impossible even if you really try :)

Another useful function is “Tell friends.” You have thought everything through, so now is the perfect time to ask friends and acquaintances for advice. Have you taken everything into account? Maybe there is something else important and interesting worth seeing? Share your trip plan on social media, and you will surely get plenty of relevant tips from those who have already been to this city.

We should note that EverTravel has not only mobile apps for iPhone and Android, but also the website you are, in fact, on right now :) So, you can plan a trip with the help of the web service as well. In more detail about how it works, we explain in a separate article. We want to remind you that although the guidebook for iPad is still in development, in theory you can download and use this app even on a tablet.

It is even more convenient to think through a trip on the large screen of a computer or laptop. But you are not going to walk around the city with one of those, are you? ;) Therefore, after the trip has been planned, save it, download the EverTravel mobile app, sign in to it with the same account you use on the website, and at that moment a miracle will happen :) Your trip will sync between the web version and the app on iPhone. This way you will get a personal city guide in the format of a pocket guide. Incredibly convenient, be sure to try it!

We have told you in detail how to use the guidebook for iPhone. If you own a smartphone running Android, read the separate article; everything works a little differently there. And of course, study the instructions for planning a trip on the EverTravel.me website. Organizing trips with us is truly easy, fast, and convenient. That is exactly why our slogan is: Travel. Always!

P.S. If you like what we created, we will be very happy if you leave a review in the App Store. It is no less important if you want to share your ideas, comments, and suggestions about how the website and the EverTravel mobile app work. Send them by email travel@everlabs.com. We will read everything and reply to everything!