Car apps can help you find your next car, rent a car, find cheap gas prices or find the most efficient route, make it safer to use your phone in the car and even find your car for you when you forget where you parked.
Because phones have limited space and you are likely to don’t want to waste your apps for downloads mobile data, when you are on the road, it is important to install the best ones in advance.
With that in mind, we’ve put together a list of the top 10 automotive apps in a wide variety of categories. These apps are available for free, although some of them have premium versions. This means that you can download and check them all without having to pay in advance.
Most of the apps on our list are available for Android and iOS as well as links to Google Play and App Store . In cases where the application is not available for both platforms, we have provided a worthy replacement.
Here is our list of the top 10 automotive apps:
Best App for Online Traffic: Waze

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Warns you about things like potholes and speed traps that other apps don’t know about.
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You can start using it without creating an account.
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Includes an optional bus feature if you don’t mind riding with strangers.
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If you live in an area where no one uses the app, you won’t get as much out of it.
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The navigation function does not include lane guidance.
Waze is one of those essential apps that every driver should have because it gets more and more useful depending on how many people in your area use it.
In addition to live traffic Waze also allows other app users to provide useful alerts for road closures, speed traps, construction delays, and more. This makes it great for a spare time shave, but it has also been a huge help to evacuees during natural disasters.
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Best gas price app: GasBuddy

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Save money and time by going straight to the cheapest gasoline.
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Earn entries for daily prize draws by submitting fuel price reports
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The accuracy and availability of the price depends on user reports, so you may experience inaccuracies if few people use this service in your area.
GasBuddy is another app based on crowdsourced data, but it aims to help you find the cheapest gas wherever you are . Users can report gas prices through the GasBuddy website or app, and you can use the app to access this data when you’re on the go.
The app is free, but there are two premium annual memberships that add perks like discounted gas and roadside service. You can also sign up to use their basic Pay with GasBuddy service for free, which gives you a smaller gas discount at participating locations.
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Best Parking App: Parkopedia Parking

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Features parking spaces in many cities that are simply not covered by other apps.
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Includes vital information about availability, hours and pricing.
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There is no in-app payment feature.
There are many apps that can help you find a parking space, and some of them even let you pay directly through the app. The problem is that if there is any breakdown between the app and the parking lot or garage, you are usually liable for any fines.
Parkopedia does not include the feature in-app payment but it has a huge index of over 60 million parking spaces in over 8,000 cities around the world. It’s better coverage than most of the competition, which is more than enough to make it worth downloading.
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Best car finder app: ParKing

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Allows you to record a parking space manually on your phone or smart watch.
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Includes the ability to record your parking space automatically.
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Has a built-in feature to take a picture of your space if you’re parked in a large garage.
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Banner ads can be intrusive.
ParKing is another app that focuses on parking, but it’s designed to help you. find the way to the car when will come time. It’s extremely easy to use, and you can even set it up to automatically register your parking space if you have a Bluetooth device in your car.
The reason why ParKing is better than the competition is because it includes easy integration so you can register your parking space and find your way back from the comfort of your phone if you have smart watch .
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Best App for Mechanics and DIY: Torque

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One of the cheapest ways to find out why the check engine light is on.
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If you want to try and repair yourself, the app can clear the trouble codes when you’re done.
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Functionality without the ELM327 is extremely limited.
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Ads in the free version can be intrusive.
Torque is one of the original applications designed to interact with ELM 327 OBD2 code readers via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. There are many competing applications that do the same basic thing, but Torque still gets the job done.
If you are willing to buy 327 Bluetooth or Wi-Fi ELM code reader you can connect it to this application , to read trouble codes if your check engine light is on, and pull all kinds of other useful information from your car’s onboard computer. You can even use it while you’re driving to show your speed and lots of other cool data sets.
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(Torque is only available on Android.)
Most OBD2 scanner apps for iOS require special hardware and do not work with regular ELM327 devices. If you have an iOS device and an ELM327 device, try ELM OBD2 Automotive Scanner on the App Store .