How to Prep Your Phone Before Traveling Internationally
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Whether for business or pleasure, itinerant experiences can be some of the best experiences. But you are generally going to get the most out of your trip if you first devoted the required preparation time – and that includes ensuring that your phone is also ready to leave as you.
As a technological journalist, I had the chance to go to several countries to attend several press launches and industry shows, often with several trailer phones. Although I wouldn’t say that I am perfect in my preparations, I am now well practiced to prepare my gadgets for the road – and that’s what is on my control list.
Data
WiFi is more omnipresent than ever, and you will find it in cafes, bars, restaurants and hotels – but you will always want to make sure that you can connect without it, which means to discover what your carrier offers in terms of access to cellular data abroad.
For example, Verizon and AT&T will allow you to use your phone abroad as you do at home – for $ 12 per day. It is up to you and your requirements to know if it is worth the investment, but make sure you have looked for your options in advance.
esims
Check the ESIM offers for the places you are heading.
Credit: Saily
For many people, obtaining a local ESIM is the most affordable option for data abroad: on many modern handsets, you can use it alongside your current physical SIM or ESIM. There are many quality suppliers, including also choose, including Alosim, Airalo, Saily and Holafly. Go around for a cover for your destinations (s). Check prices, the duration of the contract, the amount of data included, the use rates and what you can do with your data, and the ease with which the service seems to be installed.
Security
On the road, your phone is not as sure as it is at home, and certain additional security steps are often worth it – and this includes keep it in a pocket or zipped bag, remove it less often and ensure that biometric protection is in place on the lock screen.
Turn on two-factor authentication on each account where it is available (and use an authenticator application rather than on SMS), and make sure everything is saved and synchronized with the web as often as you can, in case something should happen to your phone.
Follow up
Follow -up devices in the Google Find hub.
Credit: Lifehacker
At the rear of the device safety, there is also the follow-up of the devices: if you should somehow become separated from your phone, you will want to be able to find it and potentially reset it or lock it, so make sure you are registered with Apple Find My or The Google Find Hub.
Ideally, you want to have a second device at hand – a tablet, a laptop, even a friend’s phone – that you can use to connect to your account and know where your device is (but only try to recover it if it is lost, rather than engaging with criminals).
Downloads
You are not necessarily guaranteed to obtain a strong wifi and cellular coverage during your trips, whether you are sitting on a plane or you are in the desert, so make sure you have a lot of audio and video on your phone.
Most streaming applications do it now, although it is generally a paid feature (as is the case with Spotify). If you pay for YouTube Premium, you don’t even need to choose what to download – there is a smart download function that automatically stores recommended content.
Translations
Make sure you have downloaded the right languages.
Credit: Lifehacker
Speaking of downloads, if you are traveling to countries where you are not running out of the language, it is worth checking with your choice of choice of choice to make sure that all the necessary languages are stored locally, in case you could not connect in a consistent manner.
What do you think so far?
In Google Translate on Android, press your profile photo (top right) then Downloaded languages. In Apple translated on iOS, press the three points (top right), then Download languages. Remember to include both the entry and exit languages you need.
Accessories
It is often a good idea to follow your smartphone with an accessory of choice or two for your trips. The travel bags that you can keep near your person are a good example, or cases that offer your handset a little more protection against bumps and scratches during the trip.
For me, the most usual telephone accessory for travel was a food bank, and there are a multitude of affordable options. Something like the $ 18 $ 18 Miady pack is a good choice, offering you 10,000 mAh of juice that can be delivered to any phone using USB-C.
VPN
A VPN can be very useful during the trip.
Credit: Lifehacker
There are a few reasons why you may want to obtain a VPN (virtual private network) application configured on your phone. The first is to deceive streaming services like Netflix and Prime Video thinking that you are still at home and to offer you the content you are used to.
The second is even more important: VPN will keep you well protected when you are connected to public WiFi networks to which many other people are also connected. Our guides to the best paid VPNs and the best free VPNs deserve to be checked for this.
Applications
Some applications are only useful when traveling, but they are indeed very useful. Tripadvisor (Android, iOS) will tell you what is good to see wherever you are, for example, like Gotyourguide (Android, iOS), which covers more than 100,000 things to do.
The other applications are a little more specific to certain use cases: Flighty (iOS), which we have previously recommended, is excellent to stay up to date with flight times and delays, and it is really worth looking for the best taxi applications for the places you visit.
