21 Powerful Apps for Truck Drivers That Can Transform Your Business

Driving a truck is a lot of work. There are the long hours, the late nights, and the early mornings—even the occasional overworked driver can get behind on their sleep schedule. Dispatch managers can only do so much when drivers are already on the road.

Weather changes, traffic updates, and a whole lot of other circumstances could come up and ruin planned paths easily. For these reasons, it’s best to have certain smartphone apps that can help truckers manage their paths more efficiently. Check out this list of the best trucker apps that can help transform the way your trucking business runs.

1. Motive

Formerly known as KeepTruckin, Motive is a free app for drivers and business owners that provides GPS and telematic tracking, fuel reporting, and other features. The app also lets owner-operators streamline their operations faster with an intuitive interface that hosts all of its features.

With Motive, you get live GPS tracking and telematic recordings that let you track where your trucks are and if they’re being used. This is especially helpful if you’re driving long distances or have multiple trucks in one fleet. HD footage also helps protect your business in case of road accidents or unsafe driving behaviors detected and corrected by the app’s native AI.

Fuel reporting lets drivers know how much fuel they use each day so they don't run out of supplies during their shift—and also gives them an idea of how many gallons/liters they'll need when filling up again. This helps prevent potential overages due to faulty calculations made while filling up at gas stations along highways with stations known for having high prices.

Fleet management is also further streamlined with risk profiling and behavior assessments for drivers in your fleet, as well as dispatch coordination and planning, and ELD mandate compliance. With Motive, you have a fleet tracking app that helps monitor how your business is doing both in real time and with time-bound data analytics.

2. BigRoad

BigRoad is one of the best trucker apps that help track miles, keep an updated FMCSA-compliant log book (ELD), and get a better understanding of driving patterns. The app also offers fleet visibility for admins and operators, fuel economy and IFTA reports, and even integrated solutions for FSMA compliance of cold chain drivers.

BigRoad's Advanced Driver Assistance System also has safety features like speed limit and harsh braking alerts, and lane-keeping assistance so that drivers are not distracted by the road ahead.

3. Weigh My Truck

Weigh My Truck is a free app that helps you weigh your truck and track its weight. It also allows you to get alerts when the vehicle is overweight or under-weight, so you can make sure the load on the truck is balanced properly. This can help prevent damage to other vehicles and save money on fuel costs.

4. Trucker's Slide Calc

Trucker's Slide Calc helps you calculate the amount of weight you can safely put on your truck before it causes any damage, including overweight fines and unsafe driving conditions.

Trucker's Slide Calc calculates how much weight each axle can handle without damaging it or causing other problems in your vehicle. This app will also show you how many miles per gallon (mpg) your vehicle gets based on the cargo, which is important for fuel economy.

5. Pilot Flying J App

Pilot Flying J App is a free app that allows users to search for truck stops, and see nearby amenities like restaurants, hotels, laundry facilities, and more. If you're looking for something specific on the road—like a particular type of food or drink—the pilot Flying J App can help.

6. GasBuddy

GasBuddy is a location-based app that lets you find the cheapest gas prices in your area, the closest gas station, and the best deals on diesel. You can also find out about truck stop facilities and deals, keep a purchase log, and more.

7. 511 App

State-based 511 apps are free apps that provide by-the-minute traffic information and road conditions. These apps display real-time traffic alerts, traffic cameras, weather forecasts, and more.

The 511 app also gives you access to real-time reroutes if you're affected by an accident or other hazards on your route.

8. Trucker Path App

Trucker Path is a truck path app that helps drivers find freight, truck stops, parking, truck wash, weigh stations, fuel prices, and much more. It's also a social network for truckers where they can ask questions and get answers.

9. BNSF Railway Mobile Apps

BNSF's Railway Mobile apps provide real-time train information for intermodal truckers that help them locate shipments, and find pick-up and drop-off schedules, including the location of trains and their progress. You can also monitor a train's status, and get an overview of all of BNSF's trains in the system.

10. Dock 411

Dock 411 is a free app that helps you find truck parking, dock wait times, available bathrooms, local directions, and weight limits at truck stops and rest areas. It also has a feature that lets you find truck washes, fuel prices, and other amenities at truck stops. You can use it to find out about truck stop regulations.

11. Trucker Tools

Trucker Tools is a free app that helps track hours, fuel, and expenses. It also has a section where you can keep track of your truck maintenance, truck stop coupons and location, cheap gas, and turn-by-turn navigation.

12. Transflo

Transflo is a trucking app that can help you find the best routes. It helps you stay up to date on traffic and weather conditions, so you can avoid accidents and make sure your drivers are safe. 

Apart from being a great truck tracking app, Transflo also lets you find the best places to stop for fuel, food, or rest breaks. It’s very useful if there are multiple stops along a route (or several routes).

13. Truck Weather App

Truck Weather App is a free app that gives truck drivers a customizable radar with the most accurate and up-to-date weather conditions for their area of travel. It provides real-time weather information for over 15,000 locations throughout the United States.

The app uses crowdsourced data from Wunderground to provide alerts about impending storms or other hazardous conditions on the road and sends mobile notifications whenever there’s a change in weather conditions at the destination or along a driver's route.

14. Google Maps

Google Maps is a free app that you can use to get directions, find places and get transit information. It also includes the ability to plan your trip, get real-time traffic updates, find nearby gas prices, and more. The 360 panoramic view also makes it easier for drivers to find their destinations, especially if they're at an unfamiliar location.

15. Waze

Waze is a community-based traffic and navigation app providing real-time road conditions, incident updates, gas prices, restaurants, and more.

The app offers turn-by-turn navigation that can be viewed on its own or integrated into Google Maps or Apple Maps; it also has an optional in-car camera feature that allows drivers to snap photos while driving.

16. Drivewyze

Drivewyze is an app that offers a free service to truck drivers. It can be used to find out what to expect at the next weigh station, providing information on the hours and services of each individual weigh station. This app can help drivers plan routes accordingly and even reroute their trips in case of worsening traffic or weather conditions.

17. TNTruck Mobile App

TNTruck is a mobile app for truck drivers and owner-operators, allowing users to find the best routes, track miles and earnings, and even order food from their phones.

The app can also be used to get insurance quotes, access and organize certificates, and even manage multiple drivers and units all at once.

18. uShip Mobile

uShip Mobile is a mobile application for the uShip marketplace. It allows users to post, track and manage shipments from any location. Users can also access the transportation jobs marketplace through the app, and even find reroute suggestions.

19. Rolling Strong

Rolling Strong is a health and wellness app specifically designed for truck drivers that helps them stay in shape on the road, track progress and set goals. The app has a workout calendar, food diary, sleep log, and an on-demand coaching for guided routines. 

Rolling Strong is a full-featured mobile app, and one of the best apps for truck drivers who want to maintain their physical fitness while driving. 

20. MyFitnessPal

MyFitnessPal is a free health and wellness app popular among truck drivers. The app helps them track their diet, workouts, and create custom goals for weight loss or weight gain. 

The app's community also helps drivers find other truck drivers who can help them with their fitness journey and recommend workout routines and diet plans.

21. Spotify

Spotify is a music streaming service that allows you to listen to music on your phone or tablet. Playlist suggestions and curation algorithms make Spotify a great companion for truck drivers. 

With Spotify, truck drivers can easily build and listen to playlists and podcasts on the road to keep them company, while also keeping them awake, and safe.

Bottom Line

There are many ways to stay on top of all the important information that comes with being a truck driver. These apps make it easier for drivers and owner-operators to plan trips, stay up to date, save time and money, and make driving safer.

As your business grows, however, you may want to consider the helping hand of a logistics virtual assistant in planning trips, finding and posting jobs, dispatch management, prospecting, and marketing your services. This last suggestion is not an app, but with the cost savings of outsourcing to virtual assistants, you may find that it can also transform your business.

Hiring a virtual assistant from Virtudesk will get you access to one more special app: Timedly. While they manage tasks for your business, you can use Timedly to keep track of the hours they’ve worked, and the tasks they’ve covered, all for no additional cost.

If you'd like to get the help of a virtual assistant in your trucking business, fill out this form and one of our consultants will get in touch with you.

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