Can a City Tech Subsist Without Internet?

Nowadays we use the Internet for everything, Mobile app development has created an app for each of our needs, if we want to go somewhere we take our phone and open Uber or Waze, if we want to cook we go to Youtube or any app for recipes. If we want to talk to someone we check if our phone is connected to Wi-Fi and we make a WhatsApp call. As you see plain cities are now basically electronic cities, we could call them city tech, and they remind us that we need to be connected to the Internet at all times.

The Internet has greatly improved the way we live, cities have evolved to city tech where that thing called “The Internet of Things” has become a piece of our culture that enables ordinary objects to be connected to the Internet using sensors and controllers. But what if it were to vanish one day? Would it be no big deal? Let’s imagine: first of all, chances are you’d wake up late because without internet your clock unsets, then forget about those 20 minutes you spend lying in bed while checking your apps like Instagram, Facebook or those time management apps before you get up. Your day hasn’t started yet and it’s already a mess. But let’s think beyond that, the Internet is so entrenched in our lives that its disappearance would be the world’s greatest nightmare.

Aside from billions of desperate humans fruitlessly trying to Google why the Internet has gone out, quite a lot would happen if the internet went down even if it were for just a few hours.

Just imagine a city tech entirely powered by internet, whole sections of banking would no longer function and would grind to a halt. It’s fair to say that at least half the value of the stock market would be wiped out in just a couple of days. Every news organization relies heavily on the Internet for instantaneous information, so an internet crash would leave us uncommunicated, clueless as to how to spend our days and get information. Furthermore, a disruption on the Internet would stop sales, as all financial transactions need it, countless global businesses would come to a halt.

Now you are aware of how your life could become a nightmare without it, good news: mobile app developers have thought of solutions, here’s a list of apps you can use without internet.

Pocket The application allows you to save an article or web page to remote servers for later reading. The article is then sent to your Pocket list for offline reading. Pocket removes clutter from articles and allows the user to adjust text settings for easier reading. It is available for OS X, Windows, iOS, Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry, Kobo eReaders, and web browsers.

Here Pocket’s website.

Todoist The Todoist app has a to-do list and task list and enables users to achieve amazing things through its simple to-do list and task manager. The app has several capabilities and will help you to collaborate with your team, remind you of pending tasks and keep track of important projects. The time management app synchronizes the time entries in real-time. However, the offline support for the app will help you to keep track of the time even when offline; without internet, Wi-Fi or mobile network coverage.

Here Todoist website to download it.

Google Translate smartphones can now use Google Translate without Wi-Fi or data. Google Translate offers downloadable packages in 52 languages that smartphone users can access even without Internet. Google also reduced the packages from 250 MB to 25 MB each, so they download faster and take up less storage space.
Here to download it for Apple and for Android.

AccuWeather There is no such thing as a truly offline weather app. Like the other apps on our list, you need to use AccuWeather online at some point. However, AccuWeather wins our favor for this list because it provides an accurate 15-day forecast, which means that even if you are without internet for two weeks, you should still have some indication of weather.

Here to download it for IOS and for Android.

TripAdvisor Hotels Flights TripAdvisor is the king of travel apps. Supported by a thriving community, it offers reviews, photos and feedback from fellow travelers, then ranks attractions and activities based on what those people say. TripAdvisor used to have dedicated City Guides which could be downloaded externally, but now all of this functionality is baked into the one app, including offline access to reviews, maps and photos of more than 300 cities.

Download it for IOS and for Android.

Google Maps Using the old version of Google Maps offline was a little awkward, but since its most recent update, this functionality is better. It’s easy to download a by visiting the Offline areas tab in the settings menu. From there you can download full city maps, including Google’s excellent navigation system, for use without internet. Any maps downloaded in your offline areas will be automatically removed after 30 days.

Download for Android and for IOS.

A city tech can’t subsist without being connected to the internet but you have been provided with some apps you can set aside for when you find yourself unable to connect. Have you used any of these? Anyways we hope app developers came out with more or even if you have a good idea you can turn it into reality.

Originally published at blog.thesocialus.com.