On some days in the wilderness, your survival may depend on some of the best survival apps available today. Long gone are days our phones were simple communication devices. New, high-tech specs, such as high-speed internet, thermal cameras, GPS, and more, have proven that your phone can be one of the most important gear to have in the wild.
Still, despite these features, your smartphone will be largely useless without the necessary apps. In this blog, therefore, I’ll be discussing the best survival apps available today, which are a must-have on your device.
Best Survival Apps Available Today: Navigation & GPS
Navigating the wild can be tricky and very difficult in case of damage to your map or compass. Should this happen, here is an excellent app that can save the day.
OSmAnd — iOS & Android
OSmAnd is widely rated as one of the finest apps for mapping and navigation. The app collects data from a host of resources, including the highly reliable OpenStreetMap —a global mapping program— alongside data sourced from Wikipedia, primarily to provide accurate, up-to-date information on every place in the world.
Typically, you view data in options and layers, both of which you have the choice to toggle on and off whenever necessary. The information available includes varying types of road surfaces, topographic features (hill shading & altitude), nautical data for inland waterways or seas, and public routes for foot, bicycle, and all vehicles.
Going further, although a map can be beneficial alone, the capability to navigate is necessary. So, if you’re unsure of your routes, OSmAnd can help plot everything, as well as offer information on roads or places to avoid and, if used with a data connection, fetch you live traffic updates on your routes.
Note that only a few features can be accessed on the free version of OSmAnd. You will have to upgrade to premium to enjoy every specification.
Notable Mentions: Compass Eye, Starwalk 2, and Pocket Grib, all compatible with Android and iPhone.
Best Survival Apps Available Today: First-aid
Having a first-aid toolkit is useless without the knowledge of usage, even if a little. Let’s look at applications that can literally be a lifesaver.
Red Panic Button — iOS & Android
Before discussing the function of this app, I must mention how easy and quick it is to use. The interface is simple, probably the simplest you’ll ever see in survival apps, which is an excellent thing. As per functionality, the Red Panic Button works by sending emergency messages to specific saved contacts whenever you click on a constantly floating red button on the screensaver. The sent message can be customized beforehand and can be sent as a tweet or an email.
While the feature of exact reading time is particular to only iPhones, all devices will send your location and address alongside the message.
First-aid By The Red Cross — iOS & Android
This is basically an app for red crossers. As I mentioned earlier, not knowing how to use a first-aid box makes it useless, no matter what you have in it. With this app, you do not have to worry about that anymore. You don’t have to enroll for a special course on delivering first-aid treatment or anything. How so?
Well, First-aid By The Red Cross provides you with in-depth information on basic medicine, injury treatment as well as a step-by-step guide of what to do in an emergency. And like the Red Panic Button, there’s a red button to hit as well when SHTF, albeit directly to 911.
Notable Mentions: CitizenAid & Timer
Best Survival Apps Available Today: Communication & Technology
Communication through normal mediums is hardly achievable in dense rainforest or unending desert. I mean, I doubt reception would be great in certain regions after SHTF. So, what’s your go-to app?
Morse Code Trainer, Koch Method
Many consider Morse code to be old, outdated, and thus, useless. However, it remains the basic template of communication and has, over and over again, come through when the so-called “advanced methods of communication” fail. So, it’s as they say: the older the wine… or is there a law stopping you from using something functional because it’s old?
I select the Koch Method as it has been the easiest way to learn Morse Code. Numerous styles and methods have been formulated and taught, but none is easier than the Koch, which is why I believe it’s ideal.
Rather than teaching and combining dots & dashes, like other methods, Koch identifies each letter as an independent or dependent unit. While learning through the app, I suggest that you learn more about related websites and take a test to assess your abilities.
Notable Mentions: Morse Code Translator — iOS & Android, Electronic Toolbox — iOS only.
Best Survival Apps Available Today: Survival Skills
Survival apps now teach you survival skills, which may explain why first-time preppers do remarkably well on their first adventure. Although they would, later on, improve due to experience, they still do pretty well for their first time. Here are apps to prepare you ahead.
SAS Survival Guide — iOS & Android
There’s hardly a prepper who hasn’t heard of the unbelievably famous SAS Survival Guide by John Lofty. There are, however, thousands who haven’t laid their hands on the book. Fortunately, you no longer have to pay a fortune to go through this guide. All it takes is a download from your Google Play Store or Apple App Store, according to your device.
Several relevant specs are available on the app. Asides that you have access to the complete text, there’s a search engine to find related books globally; a quiz to test your knowledge; a signaling system of Morse code; a solar compass; an album of edible plants to forage in the wild and video demonstration of learned skills.
That’s so much to gain from a single app.
Notable Mentions: iNaturalist, Animated Knots & CyberTracker.
Take Away Thoughts On The Best Survival Apps Available Today
A smartphone without any of the best survival apps available today will hardly be useful when SHTF. I mean, what’s the essence of a smartphone if you don’t optimize its unique specifications? Thankfully, I have whittled down the list of apps to go through; all you have to do is visit your play store and download the apps discussed above.