Pocket iPhone app helpful to RVers with erratic internet connections

By Bob Difley

I came across an app that, though not marketed to RVers, looked like a very usable tool for us road warriors. Since we often have trouble connecting to the internet or pass through and camp in places with spotty or no connectivity, we are often forced to read what we find of interest or useful online when we have the connection or go through elaborate ways of saving the information to read later.

The app is called Pocket and it is free for iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch, Android and Kindle Fire and was just named Apple’s “App of the Week.” The beauty of this app is that it allows us to save web content, emails, URLs, videos–whatever we find when connected–to view later when we want to or have the time, even when we don’t have an Internet connection. Once saved to Pocket, the list of content is visible on any of our devices–phone, tablet, or computer.

Travel content–what we RVers use–is a big part of how Pocket’s five million users enjoy the app. You can save online travel guides, maps, restaurant recommendations, images from places that you want to visit, campground information, hiking trail maps, and more–all to view when you don’t have an internet connection, like when you’re out in that great isolated boondocking campsite or off on a wilderness trail hike.

You can also save Twitter posts with one tap and it has a “Dark Theme” that lets people view content in dim light without disturbing anyone else around them with an overly bright display.

Pocket is available in the App Store, at Google Play (formerly the Android Marketplace), and for Kindle Fire.

Learn more at the Pocket website where there also is a video showing how it works.

For more RVing info take a look at my Healthy RV Lifestyle website and you can check out my ebooks by clicking the following links: BOONDOCKING: Finding the Perfect Campsite on America’s Public Lands (PDF or Kindle), 111 Ways to Get the Biggest Bang for your RV Lifestyle Buck (PDF or Kindle), and Snowbird Guide to Boondocking in the Southwestern Deserts (PDF or Kindle).