Why waste time with your eyes glued to the seat-back inflight movie, or with your nose stuck in a book? For many people, the best part about long flights is the opportunity for some peace and quiet. You can use this time to get involved in family activities, entertainment or games – because you are free to roam thanks to our unlimited wifi and convenience store.
Table of Contents
Best Apps For Long Flights
FluentU
Website | iOS | Android
best-airplane-appsWhat better way to spend your flight time than by studying a foreign language? Especially if you’re flying to a country where people speak that language!
I know, sitting and reading language textbooks or listening to lectures doesn’t sound fun. But we aren’t talking about textbooks or lectures.
FluentU takes real-world videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.
Watching authentic videos is an entertaining method to immerse yourself in a language the way native speakers really use it, while actively building your vocabulary.
But FluentU is about so much more than videos: You also get access to interactive flashcards and vocab lists, annotated subtitles and personalized quizzes that evolve as you learn.
Access the full video library for free with a FluentU trial!
You’ll need to connect to Wi-Fi to watch FluentU videos. However, you can download certain files for offline use, such as transcripts.
Want to work from home? Maintain flexible hours? Make a positive impact? Be part of an empowering and collaborative community?
Click here to join our team!
Minecraft Pocket Edition
Website | iOS | Android
best-airplane-appsThere’s no shame in a little leisure time. And what better time waster exists than Minecraft?
The mobile phone version is just as easy and addictive to play as the original. Your flight will be over in no time.
Minecraft Pocket Edition can be played offline, but you’ll need an internet connection to play with other users.
Pocket
Website | iOS | Android
best-airplane-appsWouldn’t it be lovely to have a magazine curated specifically to your personal tastes?
With Pocket, this is more of a reality than some may realize.
Use Pocket to save online content to read later. This includes news articles, blog posts, videos, stories, recipes, anything!
You can add your favorite online publications to the mix to create a constantly updated feed with only the things you like. Since you’re going to be on a long flight, Pocket can help you catch up on all that content you’ve saved for a rainy day.
The best part about Pocket is that once synced, the app functions entirely offline. How cool is that?
Inflighto
Website | iOS | Android
best-airplane-appsHave you ever gazed out at the great beyond during a flight and wondered where exactly you were? Inflighto is here with the answer!
Inflighto is an app that teaches you a bit about geography. It pinpoints where you are in the air, identifies geographic highlights of the area, gives you weather updates and even indicates your ETA.
Since this app requires GPS access to function, it can only be used with an internet connection.
Bejeweled
Website | iOS | Android
best-airplane-appsLike Minecraft Pocket Edition, this game is a great time waster for long, boring flights.
Bejeweled exercises your noggin with gem-matching challenges that steadily become fast-paced and addictive. It’s also pretty flashy and colorful. Who doesn’t love that?
Because Bejeweled features in-app ads, this game can only be played with an internet connection.
Audible
Website | iOS | Android
best-airplane-appsIf you’re a book lover who’s too considerate to disturb your neighbor by flipping on the light, you’re in luck.
Audible is a massive resource for audiobooks in every genre you could possibly think of. Just pop in your earbuds, pick a book and take yourself far away from that cramped, little seat.
Once you download a book into the Device section of the app, you don’t need an internet connection to read it.
Drop7
Android
best-airplane-appsGet into mobile game hypnosis with this challenging, brain-bending puzzle game.
Your objective is to drop numbered discs into a 7×7 grid and try to match them up. Think bingo, but more independent and a lot more addictive.
You can play Drop7 without an internet connection, but you won’t be able to check up on other people’s scores without one.
Stack
Website | iOS | Android
best-airplane-appsStack is perfect for people who don’t necessarily love traditional mobile games but want something that can ease their nerves. This app will shift your focus to something other than, well, being tens of thousands of feet in the air.
Stack is a colorful, tricky game that just requires you to stack little slabs. You’ll need an internet connection to play this game.
Netflix
Website | iOS | Android
best-airplane-appsYou might as well fit a Netflix binge into your long flight! Doesn’t that sound much better than trying to find an in-flight movie you like?
Netflix has a ton of entertaining television shows, web series and films available for streaming. Some content is even available to download ahead of time and watch in-flight without having to pay for data.
Browse whatever content interests you and look for the Download icon.
Wikipedia Offline
iOS | Android
best-airplane-appsDo you love going down rabbit holes of information?
It’s easy to lose yourself by clicking the Random link on Wikipedia and swimming through all the interesting facts you can learn with this open-source encyclopedia.
The best part? The offline app version of the site makes all this possible without paying for pricey in-flight internet. You’ll exit the plane knowing so much more useless (and useful!) information than you did when you boarded.
Spotify
Website | iOS | Android
best-airplane-appsWho doesn’t love Spotify?
This music streaming website is sleek, easy to use and free with ads.
If you have a Spotify Premium membership, you can download music and playlists to listen to offline. You’ll be able to serenade yourself to sleep without paying a pretty penny for just a few hours of internet access.
Pacifica
Website | iOS | Android
best-airplane-appsDo you get nervous on airplanes? There’s no shame in that! Let’s be honest, you’re pretty high up there.
Pacifica is a fantastic app that helps people deal with stress, anxiety and depression.
With Pacifica, you can track your daily habits to figure out what gives you life and what stresses you out. Use the app to meditate, learn coping mechanisms and connect with others for peer support.
You can use Pacifica offline, but not all of the activities are optimized for offline use. Without a connection, the Thoughts feature will work, but your entries won’t be stored. The Your Progress, Community, Hope Board and Guided Paths features won’t work without an internet connection.
White Noise Lite
Website | iOS | Android
best-airplane-appsSometimes airplanes have a weird energy about them. Either they’re incredibly noisy thanks to crying children and chatty adults or they’re hauntingly, uncomfortably quiet.
If you need some ambient noise to ease your nerves or sooth you to sleep, White Noise Lite is a great app to download. It’s even good for soothing fussy babies and easing headaches. It works offline, too.
Air Traffic
Android
best-airplane-appsAir Traffic is a flight tracker that shows you the routes of others planes cruising in the air, as well as your own.
Air Traffic is great for the flight enthusiast who wants to see a relatively realistic 3D picture of what air traffic actually looks like. It’s a fun time waster, and it gives you a better sense of what you’re a part of as a frequent flyer.
Since this app requires GPS access and tracks other planes in the air, you’ll need an internet connection to use it.
We bet that upcoming flight isn’t nearly as daunting now that you have these awesome apps on hand.
Who said that flying has to be boring or scary? These airplane apps will entertain you for hours on end!
Em Casalena is a published author, freelance writer and music columnist. They write about a lot of stuff, from music to films to language.
Play
If you liked this post, something tells me that you’ll love FluentU, the best way to learn languages with real-world videos.
Sign up for free!
« Studying Abroad? Download These 9 Apps for International Students
Konnichiwa! Say Hello to Tokyo with These 17 Travel Apps »
Search
Search…
Categories
Africa
Asia
Essential Travel Items
Europe
North and Central America
Oceania
South America
Travel Resources
Travel Tips
Learn a language with authentic videos and interactive subtitles
Start Your 14 Day
FREE Trial Now
About FluentU
FluentU brings a language to life with real-world videos.
Learning a language becomes fun and easy when you learn with movie trailers, music videos, news and inspiring talks.
Try FluentU for Free
FTC Disclosure
FluentU is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc, or its affiliates. We also participate in other affiliate advertising programs for products and services we believe in.
About Us
We’re hiring!
Contact Us
Follow Us
Twitter Facebook RSS
© 2022 Enux Education Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Take your language learning to the next level with our popular e-book.
The Complete Guide to Foreign Language Immersion
Best apps for passing time on a plane
- Triposo (iOS)
It’s free, and it works great offline – perfect for travellers. Triposo offers travel guides and offline maps for over 45,000 destinations. It’s the perfect app to do some last-minute travel research before you land in a new destination – whether it is to find out what attractions to visit, where to eat. or to map a self-guided walking tour route. Before getting on the plane, download the information pegged to destinations, and you’re good to go! Price: Free - National Geographic World Atlas App (iOS and Windows 8)
Where of old we may have poured over an atlas for hours and hours before we even began to plan our holidays, today many of us will simply book our holidays on a whim or seek out great deals. We might know little about the destination we are jetting off to. Find out cool facts and information about the places you are visiting with this nifty National Geographic app. The benefit of this as opposed to an old-fashioned atlas is that you can easily carry it with you on the flight. Price: $1.99 - WeatherPro (iOS and Android)
When you are jetting off to somewhere for your exciting holiday, it can be helpful to be able to check out how the weather will be. While this is not exactly for on board entertainment, it is a useful app to have whilst travelling and in an idle moment on a long flight, as you get off somewhere where the weather is going to be lovely, you can look at what the weather is doing back home and feel even more fortunate than you already did. While no forecast is going to be right 100 percent of the time, this app gives it a good go, and is considered to be pretty accurate, so if rain is forecast, get that umbrella ready. Price: $2.99 - Onavo Extend (iOS and Android)
Again, this is not for onboard entertainment, but having this app will certainly avoid any nasty surprises with roaming charges when you get home. This app can reduce the amount of your mobile data allowance you will use to check emails or update Facebook and will tell you how much mobile data you have saved. This will improve your out-bound flight by allowing you to relax about your device usage and do what you want to do without worrying that you will be faced with a big bill when you get home. Price: Free - Kindle/NOOK/Kobo Apps
The oldies really are often the goodies. There is nothing better for whiling away the time on a long haul flight than settling down with a good book. One of the e-book apps will allow you to download some great books to read on your flight – so you are not weighed down by the paper variety. You could download some travel books on the destinations you are flying to, so you can spend some of your flight getting acquainted with some of the great things to see and do when you get there.
Apps For the Way Home
- Touchnote (iOS and Android)
Oops, you haven’t sent any postcards to your friends and family. Never mind, this app allows you to choose your own photographs and they will be sent as postcards for you. You can spend some of your long haul flight sorting through your photographs and selecting the perfect images to send to friends and loved ones. Price: Free - Photosynth/ Panorama 360 (iOS/ Android)
Another photo related app, this one will allow you to relive some of your holiday before you have to return to reality with a bump. Prolong the holiday feeling by using one of these two similar apps to turn your photographic shots into amazing panoramas which you can then post on social media. This is a great way to do justice to the beautiful vistas you encountered on your vacation. Price: Free - Spotify Premium Service (iOS and Android)
Music can really make a mood. Why not attempt to prolong your holiday vibe with some music that reminds you of the trip. The premium service may be pricey, but it allows you some offline capability as well as getting rid of those annoying adverts. Price: Usually $9.99 a month - SpellTower (iOS and Android)
Escape from reality for a time by playing one of the many, many games that are available. Which one you choose is up to you but be warned, they can be addictive! SpellTower is just one of the fun games that are pretty popular at the moment, but choosing between the hundreds of little games is really a matter of personal preference. Price: $1.99 - Sega Genesis Emulator (iOS)
Escape from the fact of the impending end of your wonderful holiday by enjoying a little nostalgic gaming using an emulator on your phone. Funny to think that what once seemed state of the art is now something pretty much any old phone can do. Play Sonic or something and re-live your childhood with some classic console games on your phone. Time will fly by.
Conclusion
Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
Check out other publications to gain access to more digital resources if you are just starting out with Flux Resource.
Also contact us today to optimize your business(s)/Brand(s) for Search Engines