chaosmagnet’s First Draft List of Apps to Equip Your Smartphone to Survive:
- Web browser — particularly important for gathering information
- A good weather app — not essential when one has a working web browser but works a lot better for me
- Navigation app — I use one (Waze) for when I’m driving (and when I’m double-checking the route chosen by a cab driver or ride share driver) and another one (MotionX GPS) with offline maps if a data connection is unavailable
- Communications apps — low bandwidth data may be available when voice is not, being able to communicate with your friends and family via multiple means can be very useful
- First aid reference apps
- Survival/CERT reference apps
- Reading/games/other distractions apps — to stave off boredom when battery life isn’t an issue
- Travel apps — Sometimes in an urban environment rapidly finding and booking a hotel room, getting a ride share pickup, and so on, can make things a lot easier
I'd add
- ride apps (Uber, Lyft) and an account
- messaging apps (text, Skype, etc)
- Phone numbers in a separate (text) file
- govt info app or accounts (my highway departments twitter, for instance.)
- Link to the "L" schedule or other transportation info ( bus, rail, etc)
And I'm often surprised at how few people carry a charger or small battery.