Top 10 must-have iPhone apps for road trips

Developer: Inrix

Price: $Free | Premium available

Inrix is a popular, well-regarded app which hosts a plethora of useful features. The application includes traffic, route and local event alerts, an accident reporting service, route submission and sharing with friends, police activity notifiers and gas price checkers in the premium version.

Via: App Store

Developer: This Exit

Price: $2.99 | In-app purchases

Roadside America is an app designed to put the fun back into driving and being on the road. Rather than taking you on the most direct route to your destination, the application reveals unusual sights, odd buildings, interesting events and walks to make your road trip interesting. 

Via: App Store

Developer: GasBuddy Organization

Price: $Free 

It is highly irritating when on the road you stop for gas, only to find cheaper sources of fuel several miles down the road. This is where GasBuddy comes in --  an app which brings together community submissions to help everyone find the cheapest gas stations locally. 

Via: App Store

Developer: Yahoo

Price: $Free

While the animations can sometimes be somewhat annoying, Yahoo's Weather app does provide a detailed look at what you can expect the day to bring -- as well as forecasts for future weather. When you're on the road, keeping an eye on conditions can mean you have ample warning if you need to change your plans or driving route. 

Via: App Store

Developer: HotelTonight

Price: $Free 

Hotel Tonight is a last-minute search app to find hotels with empty beds in your local area. You can book a room for up to five nights until 2am in the morning -- useful for those on the road with cancelled or changed plans. 

Via: App Store

Developer: Waze

Price: $Free

Waze is a navigation system which uses crowdsourced traffic updates to give you the most up-to-date, local information concerning jams and diversions on the road. In addition to live maps, alerts, traffic notifications and turn-by-turn directions, the app also helps you find the cheapest fuel on your route. 

Via: App Store

Developer: Glympse

Price: $Free

Glympse is a free application for easily sharing your routes and estimated time of arrival at destinations with others in your network. After sending a 'Glympse' through Facebook, Twitter, email or an SMS message, your details will be available to view for a specified time period. Not only can this app be useful for families and friends, but you can check-in with business contacts if traffic conditions are causing delays. 

Via: App Store

Developer: Darren Stone

Price: $4.90

Road Trip is an excellent, detailed app for tracking your vehicle's fuel economy, mileage and fuel prices. This app is likely to be valuable for business users who need to submit expenses at the end of a trip, as you can import a summary of your vehicle's fuel use and import the data into a .CSV format. 

Via: App Store