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Almost as soon as the automobile was invented, old-timey drivers were heading out on the first road trips. Even before the first cars rolled onto primitive horse and buggy tracks, much of humanity had been called to the open road.

Over the years, road trip essentials have undergone significant evolution. In decades past, road trippers watched the landscape roll by while penciling their way through word searches or playing Game Boy. Those pastimes gave way to books on CD and portable DVD players strapped to the headrests, but even those have become dated. These days, the modern driver can take advantage of smartphone and tablet apps to keep passengers entertained and otherwise improve their road-tripping experience.

That’s good news, too. Recent surveys suggest the road trip is experiencing a surge in popularity, with more people opting to visit national parks, camp, and tour the country. Whether you’re hitting the road in the family sedan or pulling your RV out of winter storage, here are five iPad apps that will help keep your road trip rolling smoothly.

AccuWeather/SlashGear

Poor weather is famous for ruining plans, and road trips are no exception. When you’re traveling far from home on unfamiliar roads, it’s more important than ever to be prepared for local weather conditions, especially if you’re driving an RV or pulling a trailer. Poor weather can mean closed roads, out-of-the-way detours, increased traffic, and hours of time lost on the road. Knowing what to expect in advance can save you time and headaches.

Weather prediction is a science, but an imprecise one. Weather systems are complex, and some prediction models are more accurate than others. Many of the best weather apps use a combination of models to arrive at the prediction they publish, and even then, many popularly used apps often disagree with one another.

The best practice if you want the best idea of what you’re driving into is to use multiple sources and compare their results, just like professional meteorologists do. AccuWeather is a good place to start; it gathers data from over 190 forecast models to create real-time, location-based weather forecasts. It will provide you with up-to-date weather reporting wherever you are, or wherever you’re going.

GasBuddy/SlashGear

Fuel costs are a considerable expense on any road trip, especially now, with gas prices continuing to dominate news cycles and economic reports. Most of the time, we spend our days driving back and forth along the same roads, and we buy gas wherever it is closest when the tank gets low. On a road trip, you have a little more flexibility with regard to where and when you fill up, which you can take advantage of to get the best deal.

Gas prices vary from town to town, and if you’re driving a long distance, the savings can add up. GasBuddy not only tells you where nearby gas stations are, but also how much they charge per gallon. The main benefit is in finding the cheapest price along your route, but the app also offers special discounts, coupons, and rebates.

Users can save up to 33 cents per gallon when using the GasBuddy card, a charge card that must be paid off in full at regular intervals but requires no credit check. Reaching the discount requires redeeming rebates earned through non-gas purchases at the convenience store, paying your balance through autopay, and taking advantage of other deals, all of which stack. Depending on the frequency of your trips and the amount of driving you’ll be doing, it might be worth signing up for a Pro-level account, but most of the value comes from finding the cheapest available gas near you.

The Dyrt/SlashGear

If you’re traveling more than a few hundred miles, you’re probably going to need to pull over to sleep once in a while. And if you prefer to rough it at campsites (as opposed to roughing it at cheap motels), the Dyrt can be a useful resource.

The most-downloaded camping app of 2023, The Dyrt shows you all of the private and public campgrounds near you, or wherever you’re headed. You can browse tens of thousands of campsites across the United States for free. Information is community-sourced with reviews and photos from visitors with firsthand experience. You’ll find everything from national parks and Bureau of Land Management properties to private campgrounds and even free sites.

You can also specify precisely the type of campsite you’re looking for, whether you need somewhere to crawl out of your car and set up a tent for the night, or pull up an RV with full hookups. Filter by features like showers and pet friendliness, and sort by rating, price, and more. When you find a site you like, you can book directly through The Dyrt. In the Pro version, you can even plot your entire road trip route and book campsites along the way in advance.

SpotHero/SlashGear

Finding a free parking spot can be tough, even in your own neighborhood, but it’s even more difficult in unfamiliar areas. Parking in the big city after countless hours on the road is enough to stretch anyone’s nerves, especially if you’re driving an RV or pulling a trailer. SpotHero helps you find reliable parking near you and reserve a spot so it’s ready and waiting when you get where you’re going.

SpotHero features parking spaces at over 11,000 facilities across more than 400 cities. Of course, it can’t help you with street parking, but it can give you time-saving information about available parking at lots and garages. You can search by location or even by event, so if your road trip itinerary features a concert, sporting event, or other crowded activity, you can find and book parking in advance.

After booking your space, SpotHero will send you a confirmation email with all of the information you need to park. Not only does it simplify the parking process, but it can also save you money. In-app prices are often lower than the gate prices.

Flush/SlashGear

Bathroom breaks can be the bane of any road trip, pulling you off the freeway just when you’re about to put some real miles behind you, but they are necessary. If you’re hoping to avoid some of the less conventional and wholly unmentionable road trip bathroom solutions, the Flush app can help you find a toilet when you need it.

Nothing is worse than needing a restroom, pulling into a parking lot, and dancing your way awkwardly inside, only to find that no public restroom is available. Flush tells you where to find public toilets in advance, so you can save valuable seconds during the restroom rush. Flust lists more than 200,000 public toilets around the world, providing additional details such as specific directions, whether a restroom requires a key, whether it incurs a purchase fee, and more. Information is crowdsourced, so if you find an uncharted toilet during your travels that isn’t on the app, you can add it and help expand the network of available restrooms for the next weary traveler.

ozkan ulucam/Shutterstock

Sometime around the 6th century BC, the Greek philosopher Heraclitus opined that no one ever steps in the same river twice, because each time they meet the river, it has changed and so has the person. The same goes for road trips; No two are the same. What works for one driver, navigator, or traveler may not work for the next.

You may want to swap out one or more of these suggestions for one of your own. Perhaps you prefer a different weather app or don’t plan on camping. Each of these apps has saved me at least one headache while on the road. You can and should make adjustments based on your own needs, but these can help you get your wheels turning.