10 Top iPhone Apps for the Business Traveler and Frequent Flyer

1.     American Express Travel App

Includes Tripit, the travel organizer. Just forward confirmation e-mails to your phone and Tripit will create your itinerary. You’ll also be able to view restaurants and shops near your airport gate, access a directory of travel providers, and more. Platinum card members will also receive alerts to flight delays or cancellations and gate changes, information about alternate flight availability, and the location of airport lounges available to them.

2.    Currency

Provides instant, up-to-date exchange rates for more than 100 currencies and countries, and you can see several of your personal choice on the same screen simultaneously.

3.     Zinio

Get all your favorite magazines delivered directly to your phone so that you don’t have to carry them with you or buy hard copies at exorbitant prices abroad (if you can find them). Resize the type, bookmark and share, or download articles to read offline later.

4.     Flashlight.

There are a few Flashlight versions out there, this one is from John Haney Software. If you have an iPhone 4, Flashlight. will turn your flash into a flashlight so that you can read your watch, find your seat in the theater or the pen at the bottom of your purse, or simply cast light on a dark street at night. Special effects you can customize include changing the screen color or degree of illumination, strobe and SOS modes, as well as Halloween, Holiday Lights, and many more.

5.     DocScanner

This cool app allows you to remain productive wherever you are. Photograph documents with you phone’s camera and DocScanner immediately turns them into jpeg or pdf files that look as good as if you’d created them with a flatbed scanner. The files are also searchable and can be sent to your computer or copied and e-mailed in whole or in part.

6.     Skype

The Skype iPhone app frees you from sitting in front of the webcam on your computer so that you can utilize Skype’s video phone features wherever you are. Call and view any other Skype customer with your iPhone free of charge and take advantage of low Skype rates even when the person you’re calling is not a user. Even better, if you’re connected to wifi, the call doesn’t cost you any phone minutes.

7.     iTalk

I love this one. Use your phone as a tape recorder in meetings, seminars, lectures, or whenever you want or need a record of the conversation. Stop and restart the recording at will, get the highest quality replay, and transfer the recording wirelessly to your computer if necessary.

8.     World Customs and Cultures

It’s important to familiarize yourself with the customs, culture, and laws of the places you visit, so that you don’t inadvertently offend anyone or, even worse, find yourself violating a law you didn’t even know existed. This app introduces you to the customs, culture, and laws of more than 165 countries, including common greetings and gestures, issues involving gender and personal space, cultural taboos, and local laws.

9.    iMedjet

This app from the folks at MedjetAssist not only allows you to upload all your medical information, including preexisting conditions and medications you are taking, to your phone, it also provides extensive first aid information, with illustrations, for treating burns, bites, allergies, airway obstructions and much more, and it alerts you to the inoculations you’ll need before traveling to a particular area or country. Medjet members can also have one-touch access to Medjet emergency numbers and the Medjet website while nonmembers can get information about Medjet Membership Services and even enroll in the membership program directly from their phone.

10.  Bluelight

Whether you’re traveling alone in another country or on your way home from a weekend at the beach, Bluelight will alert a contact person of your choice if you don’t arrive at your destination by the time you had determined in advance. All you need to do is decide on your arrival time and set the Bluelight alert. When you get there, cancel the alert. If the alert isn’t canceled by the predetermined time Bluelight will send a text message or e-mail to your contact, who can then call or text you to be sure you’re alright. Basically, it’s a simple way to stay in touch when you’re away so that neither you nor your loved ones need to worry unnecessarily.