Best Apps For UK Van Life 2023

Van life is the lifestyle where people choose to live, work, and travel in a van or other types of mobile homes like caravans, overlanders and motorhomes. It is becoming an increasingly popular trend in the UK and worldwide. Living in a van allows people to have more freedom and flexibility in terms of their location and daily routines. It also provides an opportunity to explore and experience different parts of the country and travel easily while being more sustainable and keeping costs down.

However, van life in the UK can also come with challenges such as finding suitable places to park (more on free parking here), dealing with regulations and restrictions, adapting to a smaller living space and keeping on top of your services. If you are new to van life check out this handy guide and all these handy apps below. They genuinely make van life a lot easier, so get downloading.

The open road awaits you

Enjoying van life

Top apps for UK van life in 2023

This blog post aims to provide a comprehensive list of the best apps for UK van life in 2023. The apps listed will cover a range of van life resources from where to park, travel planning, van-lifestyle essentials, budgeting and even apps for van life pet owners. This is also a great resource if you are thinking of going on a holiday in a motorhome or you do a lot of camping.

Campsite

Overnight parking & parking apps

The most used overnight parking apps and most popular apps to find free and paid-for overnight parking spots are

Park4night
Free app or €9.99 per year which gives you unfiltered searches and no ads. Definitely worth it. Extremely comprehensive, with lots of good spots listed as well as water, laundry and other resources.

Stayfree
Free or €9.99 per year for access to the entire app. Many spots are listed with a fun interactive forum to keep in touch with others on the road. Stayfree are passionate about community and vanlife.

iOverlander
A free resource that has tonnes of really great information about places, park ups, border crossings etc and lots of information listed Globally

Campernight
Another free app, with a similar interface to the above apps and places listed all over Europe.

Parking Apps
Find yourself in the city or away for the weekend and need to find a parking spot or pay for parking these parking apps are handy:

Ringo
Cashless payments for parking are quick and convenient with this app.

JustPark
Reserve a spot at over 45,000 locations with this app.

Parkme
Shows you all the best locations in your area for parking.

Parkopedia
An index of available parking spots, prices and how to pay at your fingertips.

Van life takes you to hidden spots

Campsites and camping apps

There are several campsite locator apps to help you find the best campsite for you or if you are looking for some services on the Road:

Campercontact
One of the most popular apps out there with 38,000+ motorhome sites, 58 countries, and 600.000+ reviews Free or under €10 for the Pro membership.

Britstop
Britstop is a similar concept to France Passion: it lists a whole bunch of unique stays from farms to estates that offer free overnight park-ups to campers and motorhomes. You pay for the annual guide which runs from March to March, it costs £32, and there’s a downloadable app and over 1100 places to explore.

ACSI Camping App
ACSI camping cards are a formidable force in the world of motorhomes, campervans and caravans; they have a whole bunch of different resources on offer all at different prices. They do pretty good deals on off-season travel and campsites around Europe.

Search4sites
Another easy to use app with comprehensive listings with over 43,952 sites to choose from all over Europe only £5.99 yearly.

WikiCamp
One-time payment and lifetime use of this app with over 6,500 sites listed.

Campercontact, Searchforsites, iOverlander app

Water tap apps

Refill
Refill is the leading app in the UK for finding water taps and water refills, with a huge reach and a campaign to get rid of single-use plastic bottles.

Water-Map App
Lists over 280,000 drinkable water points worldwide is another great resource for van life.

Free taps.earth
Is another great global tap finder that’s available 

TapMap- refill Northern Ireland
A tap map for free water points around Northern Ireland

Top Up Tap Map
Handy water tap map listing free water taps around Scotland.

Park4night
Park4night has a tap icon which you can filter to show taps in your area, handy if you are using park4night to find a place to stay

water tap with hose

Toilet and shower apps

ShowerPlus
is an incredible resource with showers, toilets and certain services listed all over Ireland, and the UK. Perfect if you are just looking for a shower and don’t want to pay for a campsite.

These are some handy toilet app locators, they all do what they say on the tin

Flush

Pee.Place

Toiletmap

Changingplaces

Freepee

Toiletfinder

BathroomScout

Toilet

Grey|black waste & services app

Grey and black water should be dumped appropriately. If you can’t find a dumpsite you can use campground services or a toilet to dispose of black and grey waste. Campa is the best resource to find dump sites around the UK.

Recycling and household waste:
Municipal waste centres can be found on UKGov– find the council and location you are in. RecycleNow you can your local recycling bank.

Black water disposal

Navigation Apps

The most popular and some of the best navigational tools on  the road are:

Google maps
Free, extensive and simple and easy to use.

Waze
This one is the go-to app for taxi drivers, free and it allows you to listen to music and podcasts on the app without having to switch between navigation and entertainment.

TomTomGo
Everyone has heard of the force of Tom Tom, a global leader in navigational technology. Their app is around £20 a year and has a highly rated user experience.

Applemaps
Inbuilt into your device if you are using an iPhone, you can’t go wrong with this free, clever and convenient map system.

Navigation apps

Safety Apps

Safety is a big thing on the road these are some of the most useful apps to keep you safe at your disposal:

The AA
If you break down you have all the resources you need at your fingertips.

MyRAC
Free to download, The myRAC app has everything from planners to reporting breakdowns quickly and conveniently.

What3word
A locator that pinpoints accurate and exact locations used by emergency services. A free app that we think is a crucial piece of kit to give you an exact location of where you are.

British Red Cross Emergency App
A fantastic resource gives you the lowdown on what to do and who to contact in an emergency with detailed information on the type of emergency and the help you need.

British Red Cross First Aid
Essential app in case you need to administer first aid to yourself or your travel companion on the road.

Life360
A family locator, perfect for keeping in touch with your family, they can track where you go and your route and can be notified instantly in case of emergencies.

TripWhistle Global
Brilliant safety app if you are travelling as it lists emergency services and phones all over the globe.

Stargazing van life-style

Lifestyle & Wellbeing Apps

Audible
Listen to books and podcasts on the go as you are driving, a great way up to date on your reading and literature.

The Met Office Weather App
The Met office weather app: an absolutely essential app if you are travelling in winter as you will be given warnings and alerts about any amber and red weather warnings. Also good if you have a trip planned and want to check the weather.

Calm
Mindfulness and meditation app that’s easy to use if you need some breathing space after long days.

All trails
If you love to hike or like the outdoors this app is your perfect companion: from beginner to advanced trekker it’ll show you trails and walks near you.

Night sky
Who doesn’t love stargazing? Doing van life allows you to stargaze every night easily if you want to! We love this app it’s free and easy to use, you point it at the sky and it maps the stars. You can get notifications about meteor showers and when the ISS flies over you.

Hussle
This is a great app to keep yourself fit on the road by paying for gyms where and when you need to. There are gyms, spas, pools and fitness centres all over the UK to pick from for a one-off visit. Also, a great way to make use of nice showers and facilities!

Petrol & LPG

Petrol & LPG Apps

AutogasApp
Find LPG stations near you, an interactive map for the best-priced LPG.

MyLPG.eu
A database of over 46,000 LPG stations all around Europe

Fuelgenie
Finds the nearest petrol station in this easy-to-use, simple and free app

PetrolPrices App
Find extra savings here and there with this free app that finds the cheapest fuel where you are.

ViaMichelin
A comprehensive guide with everything from route planners, maps, traffic reports and petrol locations

Budgeting App

Finances & Budgeting Apps

Mint
Free and easy to use for daily budget tracking and budget planning.

Daily Budget
Another popular budgeter from apple, functional and simple to use

Currency XE
If you plan to travel around Europe this handy and up today currency converter is a great resource 

Tripcoin
A popular app amongst travellers and backpackers, a free and easy way to keep track of your spending and works offline too!

Travel apps

Travel Apps

Polarsteps
Share where you have been with your friends or keep a momentum of your journey for yourself in a smart and beautiful way.

Wanderlog
Free trip itinerary planner and organiser with maps and loads of information on places you plan on visiting a great wee resource.

Atlas Obscura Travel Guides
Lists Great attractions,  what to see and do and really unique and interesting places that aren’t often mainstream. I use it for all my travel planning for unmissable places.

Duolingo 
If you plan on visiting Europe in your camper brush up on your language basics with this easy-to-use, simple and fun app. Pick from over 40 languages.

Google translate 
Absolutely invaluable when travelling, you will be able to converse with the locals, get yourself out of trouble and ask for help.

Culture Trip
An essential travel companion bursting with travel inspiration and stories, places to see and what to do. 

Find places like Ephesus with travel apps

Van life with pets apps

Many people take their pets along for Vanlife. If you are one of them, these are some handy app for you:

Great Pet Care
This app keeps handy all your pets’ details & medical/vaccination records in one place and can send you reminders

DuePet
A pet diary, where you can keep all pet information, with where you can set reminders.

VetFinder or Anyvetz by VetFinder24
Lists and finds vets in local areas, countries and regions.

Pet Tracker Apps:
Tractive, Safer Pet, and Weenect are some of the most popular pet-tracking apps out there. Track your pets wherever you go with these pet trackers.

BringFido
If you want to find Pet suitable hotels and places, this app has an extensive list and network around the world.

Rover
Fantastic app if you are in need of a dog walker, dog sitter or boarder, their network lists over 200,000 sitters and walkers across Europe, UK, the USA and Canada.

cat on leash

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