6 Great Mobile Apps for Families Motoring Cross Country

Mobile app options for your smart phone are increasing with each hour of every day. Before you head out with the kids on that cross-country move or next long journey, add these apps to your mobile device to help you prepare – and to help your backseat posse pass the endless hours.

1. UPacking List – The worst part of moving long road trips is the packing. Invariably you reach your destination only to discover you forgot your cell phone charger, glasses, camera, toothbrush or whatever.  The Upacking app from Nix Solutions lists 300 items you’re most likely to leave behind. You can also make your own list as you identify important items to pack. Cost: free.

2. I Spy Game Spooky Mansion – The very popular search and discover game allows you to play the hidden object adventure based on Jean Marzollo and Walter Wick’s best-selling I SPY Spooky Night book. The cost: 99 cents.

3. Click on Radio Lite – Don’t go without the music or talk you like most on the radio. This app lets you search 2,600 local stations by location. The app also provides live streaming and will even tell you what songs are playing. Cost: free.

4. Snap Tell – This app from Snap Tell, Inc. (strangely enough) is available for iPhones and Android devices. It offers image recognition for any pictures you take. The app works all kinds of images – newspaper or magazine advertisements, roadside billboards, logos, product containers, bottles, cans and labels. Cost: free.

5. Bartleby’s Book of Buttons – This is a picture book for 3- and 4-year-olds that teaches them to push buttons, press knobs, pull levers and operate equipment controls to move to the next page. Volume 1 is called “The Faraway Islands“. Volume 2 is “The Button at the Bottom of the Sea“.  Cost: Volume is 99 cents and Volume 2 is $2.99.

6. Road Trip Bingo by Bright Bunny – Start the app, shake to create a bingo playing card and then begin watching for 40 different items – including signs, vehicle makes and models, deer, turtles, you name it. When you get five in a row, you win the game! Cost: 99 cents.

Now that you have your pint-size passengers entertained, Happy Motoring!

[About the author: This post was written by Kevin Hagan of Transit Systems, a nationwide shipping and moving company. Next time you need long distance movers, check out their website! Image: jenny downing]