The Best Apps to Have When Attending a Festival

Nothing compares with the thrill of going to a festival. The mix of different artists performing live, the electric atmosphere, and the non-stop partying are second to none.

The experience has changed a lot in recent years though. As mobile phones have taken over our lives, they’ve also changed what we do at festivals. While some may like it and others may not, we can now share our festival experience with others in real-time and record our memories to relive later. 

Just like you must prepare your tent, outfits, and select the acts you want to watch, it’s important to plan which apps you will use while you’re there. So when you’re preparing for your next festival, be sure to download these apps to your phone.

Waze

If you’re driving, Waze is a great navigation app that adds more features than the native app on your phone. It provides more detailed live traffic information than Google and Apple Maps, with most major roads getting real-time speed information for each section of the highway.

Waze also pools reports of road conditions from its users. They report things like traffic jams, broken down vehicles, roadworks, police checkpoints, mobile speed cameras, and road closures so you can be prepared and take a different route if it’s faster. 

Using Waze may help you get there a little quicker and with a little less stress.

Games

If you’re not driving, or sit in the passenger seat, why not download a game to keep yourself entertained on your journey to the festival? This will likely be especially important if you have several hours to travel.

The games you choose will be up to your personal preference, whether it’s Mario Kart Tour, Scrabble GO, or Call of Duty: Mobile. You could also download an app from a bookmaker to follow along with sports games and use their free bet promotions. 

The Festival’s App

Most festivals now have their own app. They’re usually really handy to have as you can stay up to date with changes to schedules and lineups, that happen regularly at festivals. Some also give you handy maps to help you navigate around, removing the need for desperate searches for the nearest toilets or huge food scavenging expeditions.

An App to Find Your Friend and Tent

There are a few different options to use depending on whether you have an iPhone or an Android device, but both have good options for apps to help you find your friends (or for them to find you).

It’s really easy to lose your friends at a festival. It’s loud, it’s crowded, and it’s a large open space. While you could call them, there’s no guarantee they’ll hear you or even answer at all.

Most apps like Find My Friends let you invite each other to share your locations. Once you have set this up you will be able to just follow the map in the app to quickly and easily get reunited. 

There are also options for finding your tent too, which can be just as difficult at bigger festivals. 

Camera and Streaming Apps

Your phone’s native camera app is fine for recording photos and videos, but you’ll need some additional apps if you want to share your experience online. Instagram is a good option for live streaming either the event itself or the fun you’re having.

Snapchat is a good option for sharing short clips with your friends, while TikTok can be better if you want to reach a larger audience. 

Posting to Instagram is a great way to relive the event afterward, either scrolling through your story archives, past posts, or by using services like Timehop which show you your “day in history”, so you can look back on your festival fun years in the future.

Other Apps

This is a good selection of apps, but you might find some others are useful. A first-aid app can help if you or your friends get an injury from sliding around in the mud, there are good options from The Red Cross and St John Ambulance which are also free. You may also social networks that are designed to help you meet people in the immediate vicinity can help you meet new people. Alternatively, Shazam could help you find out what song is playing so you can list again later.