Photo courtesy Axus Travel App Facebook page.

Mobile apps continue to increase in popularity throughout the travel industry. And it makes sense, given travelers are always moving. It’s more important than ever for travel agents to keep up with technology, whether you are planning your clients’ trips via an itinerary organizer or communicating with them for free while they travel abroad. Agent@Home asked several agents who are either home-based now or who once worked from home what the best apps are for home-based agents today, including Justin Dean of Destiny Sands Travel Group, Julia Douglas of Jet Set World Travel and Katelyn O’Shaughnessy, CEO and founder of TripScope. Here is a look at some of the apps that came up.

AFAR
iPhone, Android, free
It’s only fitting that an app made by an experiential travel guide company would include recommendations from its traveling readers, as well as locals.

AFAR is a customizable, digital travel guide and planner complete with more than 45,000 options for experiential travel spanning the globe. Given the rise of experiential travel these days, that’s a mighty useful tool for today’s traveler.

Douglas says the app feels “very honest,” given AFAR magazine’s experiential reader base and the spot-on recommendations of local coffee shops, mojito hotspots and more. You are also able to access locations when you are offline.

AXUS
iPhone
Want a great app for home-based agents? Well, AXUS was developed by an agent who used to be home based.

AXUS identifies clear needs within the travel planning process. For one, an easy communication system using emails and notifications makes it easy for agents and clients to communicate before, during and after the trip. Second, the itinerary updates in real time, sending itinerary changes straight to the agent and client when they happen. Third, the itinerary, messages, photos, names of destinations and more are archived within the app during a client’s trip, meaning the agent and client can access them easily if they need to go back and look at something (What was the name of that bar in the Caribbean again?).

On top of all of this, every user login is white-labeled, meaning the corresponding advisor and agency’s names will display at the top of the app complete with the company’s colors.

AXUS will be available at a discounted rate of $30 per month or $300 per year prepaid until Dec. 31 before jumping in price.

Dark Sky
iPhone, $3.99
Some apps give daily forecasts. Others give hourly forecasts. Dark Sky gives up-to-the-minute forecasts — of your precise location. No matter where you are, you can rest easy that one of the most advanced weather apps on the planet has you covered … and will keep you covered.

Complete with seamless radar animation, push notifications and widgets, Dark Sky has become a popular app for home-based agents, as well as agents in general. The Oct. 20 update (4.2) includes more detailed maps, improved map loading, better graphics of conditions and iPhone 6 optimization.

GateGuru
iPhone, Android, Windows, free
GateGuru provides all the flight and airport information you need, customized to your client’s specific itinerary. That includes real-time flight status info such as delays and gate changes, gate arrival and departure info, airport weather, estimated TSA security checkpoint wait times, airport food and amenity details, airport maps, last-minute car rental availabilities and more.

Whenever something changes, notifications will pop up on your mobile device, ensuring that you can take care of your client from beginning to end without the hassle of constantly communicating back and forth.

Seat Alerts by ExpertFlyer.com
iPhone, Android, free
Seat Alerts by ExpertFlyer.com has become a go-to app for agents with clients who are picky about their plane seat. Seat Alerts constantly searches for changes in seat maps. Whether your client wants a window seat or an aisle seat, an alert will pop up based on his or her preference if something becomes available.

The free app will even scan for seats up until the flight departs, so if there’s a last-minute change your client will be covered. And if your client is tired of getting the middle seat, Seat Alerts claims it will find a window seat or aisle seat more than 75 percent of the time.

Ship Mate
iPhone, Android, free
Dean calls Ship Mate “a great app for anyone who sells cruises.”

With Ship Mate, agents and their clients alike can peruse reviews and photos of a particular cruise adventure. On top of that, the app gives access to the deck maps of more than 300 cruise ships from some of the world’s grandest cruise lines, port information (history, maps and location), excursion options to tack onto the itinerary, a “Cruise Chat” feature that allows travelers to communicate with their shipmates before the ship departs, deck cams, ship trackers, cruising tips and even a cruise countdown clock that ramps up the anticipation.

Skyscanner
iPhone, Android, Windows, free
Boasting 30 million downloads, Skyscanner allows users and agents to compare millions of flights and hundreds of airlines across the globe quickly and seamlessly. Skyscanner searches for the cheapest flights so users don’t have to, saving time, money and, well, your sanity.

Agents can use the “Everywhere” search, which scans for the cheapest prices for destinations around the world. Agents can also filter results by price, cabin class, airline and departure times.

Available in over 30 languages, Skyscanner also has a “Chart” view to see prices across an entire week or month and a “Tab” view to easily compare your searches.

TripIt
iPhone, Android, Windows, Blackberry, free
TripIt is not only one of the most popular travel organizers out there, but it’s also available on four different mobile devices. To use TripIt, simply send your client’s travel confirmation emails to plans@tripit.com. TripIt will then automatically create a detailed, easy-to-follow itinerary for the trip. This includes hotel, airline, car rental and restaurant reservations. You will also receive directions, maps and weather for each destination.

The itinerary can also be updated manually and synced to Apple Calendar, Outlook, Google Calendar and more. Clients also have the option of easily sharing details on social media. Upgrade to TripIt Pro for $49 per year and receive real-time flight alerts, a seat tracker, a flight finder, refund notifications, a reward points tracker and more.

TripScope
iPhone, Android, free
O’Shaughnessy has already received widespread praise for her app, as well as being named one of the most innovative travel companies and being invited to PhoCusWright’s “Travel Innovation Summit” this November.

The benefits of TripScope are numerous: the ability to create customizable itineraries (including FIT itineraries) no matter the booking platform, a specialized cloud platform for each agency, pre-embedded Preferred Hotels, airport terminal maps and aircraft seat maps, a communication platform between agent and client (with push notifications), screen-sharing and video chat between agent and client, offline capability and the ability to organize a client’s itineraries into three categories: “Currently Traveling”, “Future Travel” and “Completed Trips.”

And whenever clients share travel experiences on social media through the app, a direct link to the appropriate agent or agency is included. Travelers can even request a specific agent through TripScope’s homepage while sending over their trip details.

There are also the interactive city guides.

One Apple Store reviewer has commented, “Interactive city guide maps are awesome. This app makes me want to use my travel agent for everything.”

Viator
iPhone, Android, free
Viator’s message is simple: While you are planning all the standard details for your client (flight, hotel booking, etc.), make sure to leave some room for some fun activities once your client arrives at a destination. Viator allows users to find local attractions and browse over 20,000 top-rated tours and activities in over 1,500 locations worldwide, while also adding the ability to pinpoint the traveler’s location via an interactive map. And, with the help of local insiders, the app also locates special deals and unique experiences you won’t find on a normal itinerary.

Boasting more than 1 million downloads so far, Viator continues to be a precious tool for agents and clients across the planet.

Viber
iPhone, Android, Windows, Blackberry, Bada, Nokia, free
How popular is Viber? Here’s a hint: It has a customer base of 400 million users.

Viber allows users to text, call or video chat each other for free as long as they have Wi-Fi access or a 3G connection. That’s mighty useful for agent-client communications abroad.

The app also allows users to share photos, videos, voice messages, locations, fun stickers and emoticons throughout their travels. On top of that, Viber is available in more than 30 languages and includes no advertising.

Given the exorbitant costs associated with roaming charges, it’s no wonder an app like Viber has received worldwide acclaim.

WhatsApp
iPhone, Android, Windows, Blackberry, Nokia, Symbian, free
Similar to Viber, WhatsApp is a common recommendation among travel agents.

WhatsApp allows users to send and receive text messages, pictures, audio notes and video messages for free via a Wi-Fi or 3G connection. It’s yet another handy app that allows agents to communicate with clients when they are abroad.

WhatsApp also integrates with your phone contacts while allowing you to use your personal cell-phone number for seamless communication. Users can also share location and places, customize notification sounds and more to multiple contacts at once and easily swipe through communication history.