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It’s no secret that vanlife apps make life on the road much easier. But with so many to choose from, how do you know what’s actually the best vanlife app?! Honestly, we haven’t really found an all-encompassing single best vanlife app that does everything you think you need, however, there are quite a few good ones!
The best vanlife apps aren’t just for looking for places to park or stay the night. The apps below range from ways to connect with other people on the road, show you where to find the closest (and cheapest) gas, and even show where bathrooms, wifi, and water can be found!
Most of the best vanlife apps are user input.. making them truly the greatest to use! So, once you download and start using the vanlife apps, be sure to add in your reviews and even add new places to the app database!
Remember, even when using these campervan apps, you can sometimes get in a pickle! Stay flexible while on the road. Give yourself some grace! Don’t always rely on campsites that other people have found. In fact, check out these other ways to camp for free here. And for sake of your sanity.. there will be times you roll into a campsite after dark — it’s bound to happen, but try to locate and secure a spot before it gets too late at night! Trust us… you’ll enjoy living in a van much more if you do!
Campsites + The Best Vanlife Apps for Parking
Sēkr | the best of all vanlife apps
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE Sēkr VAN LIFE APP:
- community forum and chat
- monthly meetups with members
- not just campsites, find…
- propane
- dumpsites
- free wifi
- gyms
- toilets
- water
Sēkr is a van life app made by two vanlifers wanting to share the values and perspectives of van life with others. There are over 50,000 campsites and overnight parking locations that can be navigated through on a map. With filters and extras like propane, water, and even gym locations — Sēkr has a little bit of it all.
There’s a great social side to Sēkr as well, with monthly meet-ups and community events, along with ways to connect to individual users on the platform as well. It’s a great van life app for those looking for the community!
Sēkr is the van life app that we use most often on the road. It’s easy to use and has so many fantastic locations within it. We’ve also found that it has more options that aren’t as overpopulated as iOverlander locations. I love the ease of the app, the options for seeing cell service coverage, and, the ability to find dump stations is a huge bonus with this app!
iOverlander | the best vanlife apps
HIGHLIGHTS OF iOVERLANDER VAN LIFE APP:
- free to use
- has nearly 30 different filters
- clean easy to read map, when filters are applied
Honestly, when looking for the best vanlife apps, I downloaded iOverlander, and then immediately deleted it from my phone because it was so crazy and chaotic. However, being on the road, we time and time again ran into people that use and love iOverlander as their go-to van app. So, I decided to download it again and give it a second try.
After filtering to show only free campsites, I quickly understood why people love iOverlander. When you’re looking for something specific, the filtering options on this app are par to none.
With that said, my biggest beef with iOverlander is how popular it is! I would say among the people we spoke with on the road, iOverlander was the most popular vanlife app. With that popularity comes with super popular camping locations. Each place we found on iOverlander had 5-10 other campers there too, some of which were clearly people living in those locations for weeks or longer. It was always crowded, and oftentimes sites were littered with trash everywhere.
In a pinch, iOverlander is nice to use when you can’t find anywhere to stay! Lots of places on public lands or BLM land with iOverlander, so be sure to read the reviews and make sure your vehicle can access the campsites!
FreeRoam | a little bit of everything
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE FREEROAM VAN LIFE APP:
- free to use
- can filter by the following ways…
- rig length
- price
- cell service
- weather
- facilities
The motherload of van life apps. FreeRoam has campsites all over the United States, and even up into Canada. With filters for weather, facilities, Rig length, price, and even cell service — this app is great for those looking to know exactly what to expect upon arrival. After creating an account, you can join in the FreeRoam forums, save places you’ve found on the map (hello, perfect for a planned out road trip) — and even create trips.
The FreeRoam App has videos explaining how to use the features throughout the app, and even has an offline mode for when you don’t have cell service!
Campendium
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE CAMPENDIUM VAN LIFE APP:
- covers US, Mexico, and Canada
- filter by National Park, State Park, RV Park, or National Forest Land
- includes dumpsites
Campendium is a free van life app, offering campsites across the United States, Mexico, and Canada. Use filters like National Parks, State Parks, or search by location to find not only campsites but dumpsites as well.
Straight away, I personally didn’t like the navigation of Campendium as much as FreeRoam, however, that’s totally user preference, and it’s a great app to look into.
The Campendium Van Life App offers a paid for feature (currently $20 USD per year) granting access to no ads on the site, and extra filter options like cell service and more.
HipCamp
HIGHLIGHTS OF HIPCAMP APP:
- unique stays
- can filter by budget
- can host and earn money
- located in Australia, Canada, and US
HipCamp is an app that’s full of well, hip places to camp! Find stays in treehouses, cottages, or just campsites that are unique! You won’t find free campsites on Hipcamp, however, you will find places to stay down around $12 USD up to well over $800. There’s a little something for everyone and a great way to find places to host meet-ups and the like!
The Dyrt
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DYRT VAN LIFE APP:
- Pro version has map layers, where users can choose between BLM, USFS, and NPS free campsites
- Pro version has offline mode
The Dyrt is a pretty good free van life app, and the pro version has great upgrades ($36.00 per year). The free version of The Dyrt offers filtering by price, amenities, and access, while the paid for version allows those filters along with more like cell coverage and the like.
In my opinion, while there is a lot of talk of the Dyrt, and loads of downloads of the app, I don’t see what all the hype is about. Maybe I need to play around with it more. For now, I think there are better free van life apps out there.
Stay with a Host RV Apps
Boondockers Welcome
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE BOONDOCKERS WELCOME VAN LIFE APP:
- stay with local host
- cheap way to stay with hook-ups
- meet local people
Boondockers Welcome is a paid for RV service that offers guests free stays with nearly 3,000 hosts. Instead of staying at large campgrounds with others around, Boondockers Welcome offers stays on people’s private property.
The annual subscription cost is $50, or $25 for those signing up as hosts as well. Their website states that 3/4 hosts actually have full hook-ups, so that’s a huge bonus and money saver if you need those amenities! One thing to note, you do need to have a self-contained RV to stay with Boondockers Welcome.
To use Boondockers Welcome, basically create an account, search for a place to stay where you’re headed, contact the host to see if you can stay with them, then leave a review for future guests! Pretty simple!
Harvest Hosts
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE HARVEST HOSTS VAN LIFE APP:
- meet locals
- have unique stays
I’m not so sure I would classify this as a “van life app”, but instead a “Luxury RV App”… but hey, I thought I’d include it for those of you wanting a bit of a different stay!
Harvest Hosts is a platform where over 2,000 hosts are registered to have RVers stay on their property. The properties on Harvest Host offer some kind of attraction…think, breweries, wineries, and farms. If touring the states visiting wineries is your jam… Harvest Host is built for you!
A close family friend that’s a retired couple just did a multi-month trip across the United States and back, staying at Harvest Hosts along the way and absolutely loved the experiences they had! They often got invited in for dinner and the like! Sounds like a great way to meet likeminded people on the road!
A couple things to note about Harvest Hosts…
- there is a hefty $99 annual fee to become a Harvest Host member
- they “kindly ask their members” to purchase local products from each of their stays
- no tents are allowed
- you must have a self-contained RV with a toilet, water tank, and indoor cooking
Great Free Parking + Free Camping Websites
Park4Night | fantastic for Europe and the UK
HIGHLIGHTS OF PARK4NIGHT:
- fantastic for finding free day parking too
- great for in cities
In our humble opinion, Park4Night serves the European vanlifers better than those in the United States. If traveling in Europe or the United Kingdom, Park4Night is a great way to find free places to park overnight – especially in cities! We used Park4Night extensively when visiting larger cities throughout Europe, not just for finding places to park overnight, but also for finding places to park for free during the day!
Park4Night is just as it sounds…. really a place to find free parking. The reviews and photos will give you a good idea of what sort of place you’re heading to, but be warned these are usually simply parking places.. not places to set up camp and stay for multiple nights!
Again, just an absolute fantastic, dare we say the best, vanlife app for Europe and the United Kingdom — website version for those in the states is better than the app.
FreeCampsites | the OG of finding free places to camp
HIGHLIGHTS OF FREECAMPSITES:
- great campsite reviews
- lots of photos
- can filter for free and cheap stays
We have a soft spot in our hearts for freecampsites.net. When we did our first roadtrip back in 2014, freecampsites.net was really the only website of its kind. Super helpful to find real campsites that are free scattered all over the United States.
To find a free campsite on their website, you simply enter the general location you’re looking to head to. From there, zoom in or out, filter the pins, and if looking exclusively for free sites, be sure to only look through the green tents. The reviews and pictures left by other traveler’s we find to be super good on FreeCampsites.net!
In our experience, freecampsites.net has been hands down the best way to find detailed reviews with loads of pictures for different places to camp for free. It’s by and far our favorite way to find free campsites — aside from just stumbling upon them!
Water + Toilets + Wifi Vanlife Apps
Wifi Finder + Map
Pretty self explanatory here, however, who knew there was such a thing!! Literally the perfect app for those working from the van and in need of some great internet every now and then. Check the app to see where you can find the best WiFi near you, and even check WiFi speeds from the app itself!
WiFi Finder and Map is a free app, although they do have a paid for version for using the app offline. You can pay for a year of offline access ($7.99 USD) or just three months of offline access ($4.49 USD).
WiFi Finder + Map has WiFi information across the globe, and even offers filtering based on things like hotel wifi, cafe, restaurant, or bar wifi!
Download WiFi Finder + Map for iPhone here, and Google here.
Open Signal
Open Signal is a great idea, however, for us, it doesn’t work as they don’t provide information for our cell phone carrier. Anyways, Open Signal is an app that shows what kind of cell coverage different areas offer along with internet speed information. Again, a great van life app for those working from the road!
Download OpenSignal for Apple users here, and Android here.
Flush
Love the name, and love the idea! Flush is an app that has over 200,000 public toilets worldwide! Open the app and search for toilets near you on the map, or even look ahead to where you’re going and see if there are toilets there!
Download Flush for Apple users here, and Android users here.
Refill
The Refill App started as an app to locate potable water to reduce the amount of plastic waste in the world. However, it’s since grown. It’s now an app sharing stores and restaurants with zero-waste along with free places to fill up water.
Learn more about the Refill App and even become a Refill Partner here.
Offline Pinnable Map + Gas Apps
Gas Buddy | the best vanlife app for saving money
Gas Buddy is an app that can and will literally save you hundreds of dollars. All the information on Gas Buddy is user input, so sometimes there aren’t prices for every gas station around, however, it’s always helped us find cheap gas. Gas Buddy is a free app and is super easy to use!
When you need gas, you simply pop open the app (not while driving, please) and then search for gas near you. We like to use the map version of the app, as sometimes the closest gas to you is in the opposite direction and you can’t tell in the list version.
Gas Buddy is great for not only finding the closest gas to you in a pinch, but also finding the cheapest gas — as the gas stations are not only pinned, but price marked as well!
Save yourself some money and download the free Gas Buddy app!
Maps.Me | best app for storing location recommendations
Maps.Me has got to be one of the most useful apps for travelers. Not only is the offline map access great (download maps by region), but the pinning of locations is the icing on top! For vanlife, this is super helpful.. especially when people recommend certain campsites, or you find campsites that you’d love to stay at on the van life apps above that you want to remember for an upcoming trip!
To use maps.me, you download the app, then download the region you’re heading. From there, you can pin locations, and even categorize your pins and make notes on each one! You can also just use it as a normal offline map app to get you to and from places when you don’t have cell service! Just be sure the region you’re heading is downloaded to your phone!
Truly can’t recommend this app enough for anyone who’s traveling!
