Trucking has not been spared from the internet revolution (in a good way mind you). Tablets and smartphones have become a part of our daily lives, no matter whether at home or on the road.
Many of you know you can leverage these devices in many ways, from entertainment to getting trucking specific apps that can help you on the road in many ways.
Now, there isn’t a single app that does everything one could possibly need, but there are plenty of them out there that can literally save you time and money. And no, we are not talking about GPS trackers.
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The Use You Can Have from Mobile Apps
Well, apps have been a part of our lives for a while now. When was the last time you used CB radio? Long ago, radios were a necessity, as they provided communication from inside your rig, offering a plethora of info on police locations, road jams, or just a simple soul to talk to.
A study from back in 2015 pointed out that 95% of truck drivers have smartphones. Today, this number is North of 99%.
What Do Truckers Use Mobile Apps For?
A recent study shows that truckers use mobile apps for a multitude of things, including:
- Remaining connected with their close ones;
- To check traffic conditions;
- Looking up the weather conditions;
- Checking fuel prices;
- Acquiring and scheduling loads;
- Keeping track of daily business, including logs, payments, and more.
As you can see, mobile technology has revolutionized the way truckers operate. And it should, really, as with the help of specific trucking industry apps, they give easy access to crucial information. Before smartphones, to obtain this information, one had to go out of their way to obtain it.
Nowadays, it’s literally on the tip of your fingers.
Without further ado, here are the best 16 apps to help you on the road, segmented to categories specific for their purpose:
Trucking Apps
This list contains trucking specific mobile apps that every truck driver should have:
Trucker Path
The owners of Trucker Path claim that 950,000 truckers rely on their app to find vital information while on the road. This is probably true, as the app itself is beyond useful. It provides info on truck stops, fuel prices, weigh stations, and community-generated information in real-time (like accident reports, traffic jams, or weather changes.
uShip
uShip is an app that connects companies and owner-operators with people who have loads that need haulin’. In a nutshell, it is a marketplace where drivers and companies bid on loads, and customers choose their preferred carrier to do their haul.
Weigh My Truck App
This neat app allows you to pay at a weigh station directly from the seat. It works like this: you enter the CAT scales, weigh your truck, and pay for your weight using your smartphone at the scale. You don’t need to get out of the truck. To pay, the app simply accesses your location, you enter your truck and trailer info and pay via the app. You get a ticket copy straight in your email’s inbox, but you can get a hard copy as well.
Big Road
This is a digital logbook that leaves no space for human error. Or at least that’s the claim. What we can state for sure is that the app lowers the possibility for human error, saves a lot of time, and the interactive map feature allows for planning to avoid traffic jams. Perhaps its best feature is that it calculates your drive time automatically based on your HOS rules.
Cost Per Mile
The perfect app for owner-operators. This app does exactly what its name suggests – keeping track of your trucking expenses, allowing you to always know how much you spend per mile. This way, you are left free to think about making a profit!
Drivewyze
This app detects weigh stations close to you and alerts you when you are two miles away from one. When it does detect a weigh station in your route, it starts sending bypass requests in participating stats, allowing you to spend less time waiting. After you pass the station, the app resets so it can repeat the same procedure again.
iExit Trucks
A must for every truck driver, iExit shows truck-friendly businesses and places that have cheapest fuel prices at most interstate exits in the US.
Truckstop
Similar to uShip, Truckstop provides a platform to find loads. You can either post your truck as available for taking on loads or browse the thousands of loads that are posted daily on the platform. The app enables payments in-app, load tracking, and booking loads with a single click.
AllStays Truck & Travel
The owners of this app claim to have over 35,000 data points. Judging from that, there is a lot of extremely useful information packed in this single app. It lists truck stops, rest areas, weigh stations, rams, dealers, cleaning services, and much, much more.
More Apps that Can Benefit Truckers!
Here’s another list of apps that are not necessarily trucker-only, but are still extremely useful nonetheless:
Audiobooks
This is a great app for anyone on the road, truckers included. It is a vast catalog of over 150,000 titles – and 8,000 are completely free of charge! You can download the book on your device and you can listen to it even if there isn’t any wi-fi or mobile signal.
Weather Channel App
The app is, as its name suggests, a weather app. It’s easy to use and very reliable. It offers weather forecasts for up to two weeks in advance. Also, it offers real-time data based on the user’s location as well. Lastly, a feature worth mentioning is the seasonal allergies report with its pollen forecasts. All in all, a great app to have on the road.
NOAA Weather Radar
This app tracks the weather in real-time, showing the weather conditions right on your phone. With this hefty app, you can plan ahead for severe weather conditions and have a safer and quicker trip. This app notifies you in real-time when a weather alert is issued, and it also offers report customizations so you can get the exact information you need.
My Fitness Pal
We’ve talked about the health risks that are coming with the job, and this app helps you lead a healthy life while on the road. With it, you can track your daily food intake, including how much calories, carbs, fats, and sugars you ingest. It also has an exercise tracking feature that tells you how many calories you burn from your physical activity. It can track exercises you do in your truck, like situps and crunches, as well.
Lose It! Calorie Counter
Similar to My Fitness Pal, this app allows you to set a goal and get matched with a personalized calorie budget to help you maintain a healthy weight. It also offers tracking of food intake and calories burnt from exercise. One of its neat functions is the ability to use the built-in barcode scanner to upload the nutritional information straight from the food label into the app.
Evernote
Evernote is a simple notepad app that helps you keep track of to-do lists, events, and anything you want to be reminded about, really. With its cross-device capabilities, you can access your notes on every device you own. It’s your own reliable digital pen and paper companion!
Skype
Although there are many alternatives to Skype, like WhatsApp, FaceTime, and even Facebook Messenger, still the simple-to-use Skype beats them all when it comes to connecting with family and friends on the road. You can use it for both video calls and instant messaging.
