Best free travel planner app for iPhone and iPad

Search the App Store for "trip planner" and you get dozens of apps that look alike in the screenshots. The differences show up later: whether the app also runs on your iPad, whether the plan opens in the metro without signal, and which features stop working once the free trial ends. This guide compares six trip planner apps for iPhone and iPad – including our own, YesTrip – using only what each provider states on its App Store page and its own website. It also says plainly what YesTrip cannot do on iOS yet.

Prices are left out on purpose: they change often and differ by country. Check the App Store page before you subscribe to anything.

The short answer

If you want one free app for iPhone and iPad that plans the trip and helps on the road, YesTrip is built for that: an AI day-by-day plan, a map with around 6,500 sights, a Today view with the next stop, offline maps and shared expenses – with no subscription and no paid tier. If your trips mostly consist of bookings you have already made, TripIt is stronger, because it builds the itinerary from forwarded confirmation emails. If you want the largest feature set and do not mind Pro, Wanderlog is the all-rounder.

A broader look at the same apps across all platforms is in our comparison of seven AI trip planner apps.

The six apps on iPhone and iPad

Every line comes from the provider's App Store listing; where the listing says nothing, the table says "not stated".

Two details matter for many readers. First, an iPhone-only app still opens on an iPad, but usually as a scaled-up phone screen. Second, Mindtrip's listing requires iOS 26, so older iPhones that cannot update are left out.

What each app is best at on iOS

YesTrip

Best for: a free AI plan that also works during the trip.

You say where, when and for how long, and the AI suggests a plan for every day with times, real places and the walk between them on the map. You move, remove and add stops until it fits. During the trip, the Today view shows the next stop, the way there and the tickets for the day, and the app reminds you when it is time to go. Places from an Instagram reel, a TikTok or a YouTube video can be pasted in as a link and land on the map. Travel companions join by link, vote on restaurants and day trips and add shared expenses; the app shows who owes whom.

Pricing: free, with no subscription. The AI features use credits: 40 free credits every calendar month. A day-by-day plan for up to five days in one city costs 5 credits, a longer plan or one with several cities 8, a chat answer with results 1. The explore map, expenses and the regular place search of the social import cost nothing. YesTrip earns a small commission when you book through a partner link; your price stays the same.

Weakness: there is no automatic import from your inbox – you paste a booking confirmation and the app reads flights and hotel stays on the device. There are no community travel guides.

Wanderlog

Best for: planners who want every feature in one app and like other travellers' guides.

According to its App Store listing, Wanderlog lets you invite tripmates by email or link, plan together in real time and set each person to edit or view only. Forwarded confirmation emails are imported into the plan; linking a Gmail account is a Pro feature. Wanderlog's help centre lists offline access to trip plans as Pro. The listing says the app is designed for iPad.

TripIt

Best for: frequent travellers who want their bookings organised without typing.

You forward booking confirmations to TripIt and it builds the itinerary; reservation details stay available offline, and plans can be synced to your calendar or shared. TripIt runs on iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch. TripIt Pro adds real-time flight alerts, check-in reminders, refund alerts when a fare drops and interactive airport maps. On devices with Apple Intelligence, Pro can turn screenshots, receipts or PDFs into plans. An AI itinerary generator is not stated.

Mindtrip

Best for: iPhone users who like to plan in a conversation and book from the same place.

Mindtrip's listing describes AI chat with voice, interactive maps with distances and routes, group chats and shared itineraries, and bookings of restaurants, flights and hotels. Itinerary, photos and trip details can be viewed without a connection. The app is free according to the listing, which also says "Only for iPhone" and requires iOS 26 or later.

Layla

Best for: travellers who want an AI travel agent to suggest and book trips.

Layla is built around an AI chat that plans and books trips, and you can send it PDFs and images to enrich a trip. It runs on iPhone, iPad and Mac. Layla is free to download, with a Premium subscription for unlimited access. Offline use and expense splitting are not described on its App Store page.

Stippl

Best for: round trips and road trips where route and budget matter.

Stippl plans routes across several cities and countries with the transport between stops, builds an hour-by-hour itinerary and splits bills within the travel group. According to the listing, routes, itinerary, bookings and maps work offline. The AI travel planner is labelled Pro. The listing says "Only for iPhone".

YesTrip on the iPad

On an iPad, YesTrip is not a stretched phone app. In landscape it uses the same layout as the web app on a computer: a sidebar instead of the tab bar, and the map next to the day plan, so you can move stops and see the route at the same time. In portrait you get the phone layout with a wider column. The app turns in all four directions and works in Split View and Slide Over, for example next to Safari while you read about a museum.

Your trips are saved in your free account, so the plan you build on the iPad in the evening is on your iPhone the next morning. You sign in with a code sent by email, with Google or with Apple – no password.

Offline on iPhone and iPad

Trips, tickets, photos and chat are stored on the device, and without a connection the app keeps working with that data. For the map, the offline package downloads the street map, place photos and routes of one trip to the device; the app shows the size before you download – for the demo trips between about 14 MB (Rome) and 32 MB (Lisbon). The AI and the search for flights, hotels and tours need internet.

If your phone plan does not cover the destination, a travel eSIM is often the cheaper fix; for Portugal there is an eSIM for Portugal^* from Airalo, for example. More tips on what to save before you leave are in our guide to offline maps for travel.

What the iOS app cannot do yet

We would rather say it here than have you find out on the trip. A few features exist only in the Android app today:

• Scanning receipts. On Android, the app reads amount, date, shop and category from a photo on the device. On iPhone and iPad you enter the expense by hand; a photo of the receipt can still be kept.
• Push notifications. Messages about shared trips (new costs, polls, comments) and flight price alerts arrive as push only on Android. On iOS, price alerts can be sent by email.
• Sharing straight into the app. On Android you can share a booking email or an Instagram link to YesTrip from another app. On iPhone and iPad you copy the text or link and paste it in YesTrip.
• Home screen widget. The widget with your next stop is Android-only.

Reminders that it is time to go, for check-in or for the airport do work in the iOS app, even when the app is closed.

How to install YesTrip on iPhone or iPad

1. Open the App Store and search for "YesTrip", or use the App Store link on our home page.
2. Install the app. It needs iOS or iPadOS 16.4 or later.
3. Open it and try the demo first – four example trips, nothing is saved – or sign in with an email code, Google or Apple to plan your own trip.
4. Before you leave, open the trip and download the offline package on Wi-Fi.

If you prefer not to install anything, YesTrip also runs in Safari at app.yestrip.app; our guide to trip planners in the browser explains what that can and cannot do. Android users find the same comparison for their phones in our guide to the best free travel planner app for Android.

What YesTrip is not

YesTrip is a planner, not a travel agency: it shows you the way to the provider but never books for you. Payment, contract and customer service stay with the airline, the hotel or the tour operator. The AI makes suggestions, not guarantees – check opening hours and connections that matter. And YesTrip does not replace your maps app for turn-by-turn navigation; the route button opens Apple Maps.

Lisbon trip planDay by day, with map and tips

* Ad – Partner link: if you book there, we earn a commission. Your price stays the same.