Using my iPhone as a sat nav in the USA

I have a question for you seasoned travelers...

We're off to Miami in 11 days and we have a hire car straight from the airport. I don't have a sat nav and I don't want to buy one just for this holiday.

Are there any apps for the iPhone that won't incur roaming charges when I use it? Has any one used one and found it good?

I don't fancy driving to Miami beach and the keys without assistance!

Many thanks in advance y)

Darren

Get a 3 sim card ordered, they're free. Top it up with £15 and you get a five gig data allowance that you can use in the states as if you were at home. Plus unlimited texts and i think 100 mins of calls. Ok you probably need to get your phone unlocked but all in all it'll be cheaper than roaming. But you need to register your sim 30 days before you go, so thats buggered.

I've heard people talk about an app called "Nav Free". It claims: you download it before you go, have to download all the maps of your location and it uses the iPhone GPS chip without data connection or roaming charges.

I've still to check out these claims to see if they're true so I can't give any recommendation at this time, I will give it a bash this year and I'll be very careful about restricting data roaming before I start.

Edit: and I always print off maps just in case. Maps don't need data or batteries.

Google maps allows you to download a map of the area you are travelling for use offline. We used it as a sat nav in Miami last year no problems at all (although we stopped at McDonald's and used wifi to download the maps)
Uses the gps, the blue dot that marks your position is slightly behind so you just have to watch for turns
Not sure if the turn by turn directions work offline as I haven't tried it yet

[mitchja]

I use CoPilot

Whilst the app itself is free, the maps are chargeable as an in-app purchase. There are global maps as well and the US is spilt up into regions.

I use this SatNav app quite often and it's never let me down yet. It's as good, if not better than a TomTom SatNav.

CoPilot uses no cellular data (though can do to download updates etc)

[Neil]

We bought the TomTom app for our West Coast road trip, cost £10 and doesn't use any cellular data either, was fantastic for us.

Whatever you do, don't just try and use Apple/Google maps, that is when you could get hit with large data charges.

Yes, "nav free GPS USA+street view on your iPhone will work, no data connections needed to use as as an excellent navigation device. Just download App from Apple, then choose the state you need-Florida, it is about 67M. I used this App on several trips around Florida last November/December. Works well. Great for finding way out of city centres with Home as main destination.

Great, thanks for all the replies.
I'll have a look into everything, good to know it's possible!
I'm dreading driving into and around Miami!

Agree with mitchja - Co Pilot USA great, have used it in Boston, Utah, California, LAX and Pittsburgh. Reliable and no data charges.

I am very interested in these suggestions but need reassurance please ! I pay monthly to Virgin for free texts and unlimited data . Whilst in the US I knew to keep my data roaming off but I hadn't realised free texts meant in the UK only. My fault I know.
Consequently I got home to find I'd been charged for the texts I'd sent to friends who can only receive text messages. It wasn't a huge amount but I felt cross that ,actually, I hadn't "spent" any of my allowance for that month but then had to pay extra.
Can anyone please reassure me that, with data roaming off , I can use one of these Sat Nav Apps and not incur any more expense !!! It just seems too good to be true.
Thank You.
A still struggling in the world of technology hiljil ! ?|

[Neil]

Yes you can - as per the above replies, providing you download an actual sat nav app and don't just try and use the built in maps or Google Maps then you will be absolutely fine.

Thank you, Neil. This is great news for Miami !!

I've loaded FreeNav onto my 7 inch tablet.
It says you get one set of maps free so I opted for UK maps and gave it a test. Seems to work OK. I then loaded Georgia, (states are state by state) expecting to have to pay but that came free too. Even if you do have to pay it's only a couple of quid which is a fraction of one days Satnav rental.
The great advantage is that you don't need to be connected to the internet so no roaming charges if you use it on your phone.
Dick D

You can use the apple built in maps/directions app in the USA with data roaming turned off. If you calculate the route whilst connected to wifi - i.e. at the hotel/airport the maps will be saved and turn by turn directions will work for the whole route. However if you stray too far from the route the app will not be able to recalculate without reconnecting to a data source or until you rejoin the originally planned route.

You can use the apple built in maps/directions app in the USA with data roaming turned off. If you calculate the route whilst connected to wifi - i.e. at the hotel/airport the maps will be saved and turn by turn directions will work for the whole route. However if you stray too far from the route the app will not be able to recalculate without reconnecting to a data source or until you rejoin the originally planned route.

I can see that causing world war 3 if we go off track and try to navigate back! B)

I've downloaded copilot along with the southern state maps hopefully this will work!

I always have my roaming switched off as I'm back and forth Portugal and don't want any nasty surprises! A mate of mine went to Mexico and came back with a £2000 bill! :0

It's not much help as you're driving from the airport but satnavs can be picked up in California [at least] for around $40. You can always put it on Ebay after your trip and you'll probably get your money back...

W.

It's not much help as you're driving from the airport but satnavs can be picked up in California [at least] for around $40. You can always put it on Ebay after your trip and you'll probably get your money back...

W.

I did think about buying one over there but like you say, I need it straight off the plane!

Get a 3 sim card ordered, they're free. Top it up with £15 and you get a five gig data allowance that you can use in the states as if you were at home. Plus unlimited texts and i think 100 mins of calls. Ok you probably need to get your phone unlocked but all in all it'll be cheaper than roaming. But you need to register your sim 30 days before you go, so thats buggered.

I don't believe this is correct regarding the 30 days rule. I have just ordered one for my trip next month and have done my research and also spoken to a 3 agent.

The 30 days wait apply to contract customers only, they do not have international roaming until after 30 days. However for PAYG customers, there is no wait. Just get a PAYG sim, get the all in one bundle and ensure international roaming is activated.

As for satnav on iPhone, NavFree USA should be fine. Download the app but also download the Florida map within the app. Just ensure you have turned off both 'Cellular Data' and 'Data Roaming' on the phone.

Go into a TMobile store, and get a monthly pre-paid sim. I believe they sell them much like Three does in the UK. Unlimited Data. Probably cost you around $50.

Go into a TMobile store, and get a monthly pre-paid sim. I believe they sell them much like Three does in the UK. Unlimited Data. Probably cost you around $50.

Becareful of T-Mobile on an iPhone. They may be in the process of upgrading but their 3G uses 1700MHz frequency which a GSM iPhone does not support. That means you will only get 'Edge' speed and not 3G.

Besides the monthly prepaid T-Mobile plan, there is also a Pay by Day plan which is $2/day Edge speed with unlimited data or $3/day 3G speed with 200Mb data.

Get a 3 sim card ordered, they're free. Top it up with £15 and you get a five gig data allowance that you can use in the states as if you were at home. Plus unlimited texts and i think 100 mins of calls. Ok you probably need to get your phone unlocked but all in all it'll be cheaper than roaming. But you need to register your sim 30 days before you go, so thats buggered.

I don't believe this is correct regarding the 30 days rule. I have just ordered one for my trip next month and have done my research and also spoken to a 3 agent.

The 30 days wait apply to contract customers only, they do not have international roaming until after 30 days. However for PAYG customers, there is no wait. Just get a PAYG sim, get the all in one bundle and ensure international roaming is activated.

I can confirm this as I registered a 3 sim two days before flying to SFO in Feb and I was able to use it instantly when I arrived (once I remembered to turn off data roaming).

I can confirm this as I registered a 3 sim two days before flying to SFO in Feb and I was able to use it instantly when I arrived (once I remembered to turn off data roaming).

That is good to know. I received mine yesterday and will be using it from the 22nd. Hope it is as good as it says it is.

I can confirm this as I registered a 3 sim two days before flying to SFO in Feb and I was able to use it instantly when I arrived (once I remembered to turn off data roaming).

That is good to know. I received mine yesterday and will be using it from the 22nd. Hope it is as good as it says it is.

It is a great deal i think and I'm sure I got way more than 100 mins free calls to the UK too (more like 300), I was away for three weeks and called the wife most days.

I've just topped up again for my trip to Miami in two weeks.

This is great info, as I need to buy a new Three Nano Sim for my iPhone, and will be taking it to France as well. I didn't think I'd be able to do so with the 30 day pre-paid sim.