Due to technological advancements and the information age nowadays, smartphones are equipped with mobile applications that can perform practically everything. It has made life easier for many, especially mobile truck drivers. With one click and a few taps, truckers have access to the weather, real-time traffic updates, diesel pricing, and their company’s information in the palm of their hands.
Quicklook: Best App for Truck Drivers
- Best For Navigation: Google Maps
- Best For Finding Truck Stops & Weigh Stations: Big Truck Stop
- Best For Tracking Deliveries: P44 Drive View
- Best For Weather Updates: The Weather Channel
- Best For Music and Podcasts: Spotify
- Best For Finding Loads: UberFreight
- Best For Locating Truck Repair Service: Find Truck Service
- Best For Real-Time Fuel Pricing: Trucker Tools
- Best For Cheapest Gas Station Locator : GasBuddy
- Best For Health Monitoring: MyFitnessPal
10 Best Apps for Truck Drivers
The truck driving industry has become more accessible and better with the use of mobiles apps for hauling, navigation, and other options. Here are some of the best apps for truck drivers and why we recommend them.
Google Maps
Google Maps is a web-mapping platform offering aerial photography, 360-degree view of streets, route planning, etc. These features make the tool excellent for trip planning, helping truckers identify the best routes to ply. Other brilliant features offered by Google Maps include real-time traffic conditions, street maps, satellite imagery.
Best For: Navigation
Special Features:
- Helps you locate weight stations
- Rest stop locations
- Finding parking spaces
Benefits:
- Trusted by millions of truck drivers
- Helps clients find your location
Disadvantages:
- Accessibility depends on internet connection
- Missing information or blurred areas
Pricing: Free
Big Truck Stop
The Big Truck Stops app helps truck drivers find the nearest truck stops with or without internet connection. It also includes an advanced filter function that allows you to find desired locations by state, city, and type.
Best For: Finding Truck Stops & Weigh Stations
Special Features:
- Works both online and offline
Benefits:
- Provides additional information on eateries, rest stops and more.
- Displays all truck stops on a map grid
Disadvantages:
- Users have complained of wrong information
- The app doesn’t provide fuel information
Pricing: Free
P44 Drive View
This is a mobile solution addressing the need for transportation visibility, aiding truckload tracking with or without a telematics device connection. P44 DriveView allows drivers to capture deliveries proof for loads delivered and tracked with the P44 DriveView app. The app is compatible with both Android and iOS.
Best For: Tracking Deliveries
Special Features:
- Can be used on small screens
Benefits:
- Cost reduction
- Improves shipping and transportation performance
- Excellent customer support service
Disadvantages:
- Inconsistent shipment updates
Pricing: Free
The Weather Channel
The Weather Channel keeps truckers up-to-date about the weather. Its uniqueness lies in its ability to forecast the weather in advance for two weeks, helping truckers plan ahead. The app also isn’t area-restrictive: it provides weather notifications and alerts regardless of the area you are currently in.
Best For: Weather Updates.
Special Features:
- Features interactive weather maps showing both current and future rainfall events.
- Offers various meteorological data, including humidity, temperature, wind speed, sunset, etc.
Benefits:
- Free
- Provides daily updates on the weather
Disadvantages:
- Pop-up ads might be distracting at times
- Ads
Pricing:
Spotify
Spotify is an excellent option for truckers who enjoy listening to music while driving. With over 700,000 podcasts and 50 million songs, you can create personalized playlists or listen to default playlists filtered based on genres, moods, or artists.
Best For: Music and Podcasts
Special Features:
- Huge library with 5million+ songs and over 700,000 podcasts.
- Easy-to-use interface.
- Allows users to create their personalized playlists.
Benefits:
- Create your playlist from a wide variety of options
- Play your songs in the background while driving
Disadvantages:
- Excessive ads for the free version
- Doesn’t allow access to previously downloaded content once premium membership expires
Pricing: Free
- Premium: $9.99/month
UberFreight
Uber Freight takes logistics in a newer direction, helping truckers find loads as quickly as possible. The app includes several features designed to help you search for loads; you can search based on location, trailer type, length of haul, pickup date, weight, etc. The uniqueness of the app lies in the excellent transparency it offers drivers.
Best For: Finding Loads.
Special Features:
- Offers pick-up and drop-off locations
- Excellent filter feature that allows truck drivers to sort loads based on their preferences.
Benefits :
- Free
- Transparent payment methods
- Offers accurate location to your clients
Disadvantages:
- Inconsistent delivery time frames
- It does not account for the HOS of the truck driver
Pricing: Free
Find Truck Service
Touted as the most popular tracking app in the industry, the Find Truck Service app is used to locate the nearest truck breakdown services. This also includes truck wash locations, truck stops with showers, parking, scales, and service, etc.
As a comprehensive database, Find Truck Service facilitates better and faster management of truck breakdowns, over-the-road maintenance and repairs, and a credit service to finance such repairs. The app is compatible with both iOS and Android devices.
Best For: Locating Truck Repair Service
Special Features:
- A credit card service to finance your truck maintenance and repairs.
- An easy-to-use app interface.
Benefits:
- Facilitates advanced search for the nearest truck breakdown services
- Includes an optional credit card service financing option.
- Offers national coverage, offering numerous options for truckers to choose from.
Disadvantages of Find Truck Service for Truck Drivers
- Doesn’t include fuel information.
- Inconsistent GPS function.
Pricing: Free
Trucker Tools
Trucker Tool is arguably the most accurate truck stop guide available to many truckers. The application provides live traffic, up-to-date gas prices, turn-by-turn directions, etc. Overall, the Trucker Tools app makes life easier for truck drivers while on the road.
Best For: Real-time fuel pricing
Special Features:
- Friendly user interface
- Offers up-to-date fuel information
Benefits:
- Predictive load-matching and cost-saving solution
- Increases productivity
- Makes driving easier for truckers
Disadvantages:
- Personal data might be tampered with
- Some locations are not visible
Pricing: Free
GasBuddy
GasBuddy is also very similar to Truckers Tool; although, unlike the former, GasBuddy doesn’t only show fuel prices but also helps Truckers find the cheapest Gas Stations. Apart from this, the app also offers a trip cost calculator, gas price charts, and a price map, all together to help truckers save as much as possible throughout their journey.
Best For: Cheapest Gas Station Locator
Special Features:
- Provides fuel price information.
- Includes a trip cost calculator.
- Includes Pay With GasBuddy, a debit card connected to your GasBuddy account, allowing you make pay-at-the-pump transactions.
Benefits:
- Help truckers find the cheapest gas locations
- Helps truckers save on cost as much as possible.
- Available all across North America
Disadvantages:
- Not all stations accepts Pay With GasBuddy
Pricing: $9.99/month for premium membership.
MyFitnessPal
MyFitnessPal helps truckers is arguably the most commonly-used health and wellness app amongst truckers, helping them improve their healthy habits. The app encourages truckers to track their daily progress, diet, calories update, log activities, etc.
Best For: Health Monitoring
Special Features:
- Over 11 million foods in its database.
- Easy-to-use food tracker
- Personalized diet profile
Benefits:
- Helps ensure mindfulness of diet
- Features a huge food database worldwide.
- Offers realistic health goals and targets
Disadvantages:
- It might be time-consuming
- May encourage obsession
Pricing: Free
- Premium plan costs $9.99/month
What Are Trucking Apps?
Trucking apps are software applications that make the process of navigation, hauling, transportation, repairs, and other operations easier for truck drivers.
What Do Truckers Need Apps for?
Professional truck drivers now use mobile apps to assist them to handle various aspects of their jobs and lives while on the road.
Navigation
Moving a truck takes more than just knowing how to steer the wheels. Truck drivers have extra requirements beyond the fundamentals, such as knowing which routes, low-hanging bridges, and underpasses to avoid. Navigation apps help truckers to make the right decisions on roads to take when driving.
Finding Truck Stops & Weight Stations
Truck stops are essential because they provide rest and refueling to truckers. Weight stations are checkpoints to ensure that the truck is not carrying more cargo than it can handle. Sometimes, a trucker might be on the road for miles without the knowledge of both locations. These apps can easily find nearby places to rest, refuel, and carry out necessary check regulations.
Track Deliveries
Truck drivers and customers use trucking apps to monitor the location of their cargo in real-time. It provides visibility, take-off, and arrival times and helps to manage exceptions or unforeseen problems.
Checking the Weather
Weather conditions can affect the length of time it takes to complete a delivery and the trucker’s ability to drive. To stay ahead of unfavorable weather situations and develop an effective backup plan, a trucker needs to have a trucking app that provides daily weather updates.
Listening to Music, Podcasts or Books
Being on the road for an extended period can become boring, especially if you are used to the sights. Listening to music or podcasts can help you pass the time. Additionally, you can also catch up on your favorite podcasts. Some apps allow you the option of listening to audiobooks or creating your playlist to accompany you on the road.
Search for Clients
As a trucker, there are periods where finding clients can be stressful. You have to depend on word of mouth to get the message around. Trucking load board apps, on the other hand, connect you to your clients. The process requires no haggle and is entirely stress-free.
Find Truck Repair Service
The last thing that you want to happen to you as a trucker is to find yourself stranded in an area without any means of locating the nearest truck repair shop. It can be very uncomfortable from minor servicing to towing and recovery if you do not have the resources to carry out repairs. Trucking apps can quickly locate and direct you to nearby vendors no matter where you are.
Get Latest 411
It is important to stay updated with news concerning trucking- movements, regulations, and more. Without a general channel where information is regularly dispensed, it would be difficult for you to keep up with the latest developments, and you might find yourself in uncomfortable situations of which you had no prior knowledge. With apps for truck drivers, you can get the latest 411 and stay up to date.
Finding Fuel Information
Trucking apps help to compare gas prices in different locations within the country. Knowing how close you are to these gas stations and their prices, you can compare and pick the best deal out of the lot. It is an excellent way to not only save money but time spent looking for fuel.
Health Monitoring
Staying healthy on the road is tricky because there is not enough time to move around, and the food consumed is not the healthiest choice either. Choosing to stay healthy and fit by using wellness apps for truck drivers allows you to monitor the type of food you consume and provide you with healthier options.
There is also the option of quick workouts that can be done in the morning before you begin your journey or when you decide to rest for the day.
The Future of Trucking Apps
As each day passes, new improvements are added to trucking apps, making them more reliable and efficient.
FAQ
There are a lot of apps that are best suited for truck driving, but the most popular are Trucker Path and Trucker Tools.
Big Truck Stop shows you the location of truck stops, whether you are online or offline.
Google Map is an app that allows truckers to efficiently navigate areas and locate different places.
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