The apps that make life easier while living in Portugal.
OK! At the time of writing this post, I’ve lived in Portugal for just over one year. We have had a plethora of experiences with mobile apps and here are the ones that we have found the most helpful.
Communication Apps
This is the default messaging application. Heck, I make most of my voice and video calls with WhatsApp too. It’s really easy to share your contact details when you make a new friend. Bonus, many businesses have WhatsApp and you can book your services via WhatsApp while using your preferred translation app (if needed).
DeepL Translate
DeepL is my go-to translator. It’s got super handy features like audio translation, and photo translation, and it offers alternative words or ways of saying the same thing. But the one reason I use DeepL over Google Translate is that DeepL offers European Portuguese. Google Translate only offers Brazilian Portuguese.
Google Translate
It will get the job done. However, it doesn’t offer European Portuguese. For that reason, I only use Google Translate when/if DeepL isn’t working (which rarely happens).
Public Transit and Ride Sharing
Uber
Coming from the United States, I was familiar with Uber and it holds up in Portugal. My only complaint is that the rides are often more expensive than Bolt. If you don’t use Uber for a while you’ll get a discount, so I’ll often compare prices between Uber and Bolt when I need a ride.
Bolt
Bolt is my preferred ride-share app. The fees are lower and I receive more frequent discounts. Note, after your ride be sure to rate and tip your driver within 15 minutes or you can’t tip.
Gira. Bicicletas de Lisboa
We love Gira! You’ll find bicycle (standard and electric) and electric scooter stations along Lisbon’s major thoroughfares where you can, for very little money, rent a bike or scooter and zip around Lisbon. I recommend you download the app and set up your account ahead of needing to rent a bike because the app is a bit wonky. It’s so fun but be safe. Look both ways and abide by the bike lane signals.
Carris
Carris is the city bus provider and their app, while a little clunky, helps you find the best bus route. The downside is that it doesn’t provide details for other forms of public transit like metro or train.
Citymapper
When we first moved to Lisbon, I used Citymapper every day. It’s great because it combines all forms of transportation: bus, metro, walking, bicycling, etc. Giving you a full range of options to get you from point A to point B. The only downside is that the free version has too many ads for my liking.
Comboios de Portugal (CP)
I haven’t used this app yet, but I’m told it’s great if you need to use the large train network within Portugal.
Parking and Tolls
Via Verde
If you own a car in Portugal you MUST HAVE the Via Verde app. Tolls, navigation, traffic alerts, parking garages, discounts on gas and Booking.com, and even pay for your McDonald’s through the app. You get a monthly bill direct debited from your designated bank account with a full list of all your charges. This is super helpful because I wasn’t accustomed to so many toll roads.
Via Verde Estacionar
With national coverage, the Via Verde Estacionar App allows you to pay for surface parking in a simple, fast, and safe way! No need for pre-loading, no need to go to parking meters, no coins or receipts, and no Via Verde identifier. You can even park multiple license plates and anticipate/prolong the parking time!
EMEL ePark
The new ePark is the Emel App for paying for parking on the streets of Lisbon only.
Telpark
If you are just visiting and need to use a parking garage, Telpark is a great option. Many garages in Lisbon and Telpark garages. To realize the full benefits, download the app, add your rental car details and a credit card, then you can enter and exit automatically. NOTE: be sure to remove your rental car from your account once you’ve returned it or else you might be paying for the next person’s parking (we’ve done this).
Food
Uber Eats
Get food, groceries, and pharmacy items, and even book an in-home consultation with a doctor! Just like with Uber ride-sharing, I think the prices and fees are higher than with Bolt.
Bolt Food
I use Bolt Food – A LOT! For restaurant food and groceries, they never fail to deliver (get it?). I prefer Bolt Food to Uber Eats. Fight me.
Glovo
Glovo is unique. It does everything that Uber Eats and Bolt Food does, but it also has a courier service that will pick up packages and do other simple tasks for you.
All The Rest
A VPN Service, I like Surfshark
Whether you are visiting or moving to Portugal, there are some websites you just won’t be able to visit or if you can visit them, you won’t see the same content. Solution? A Virtual Private Network. A VPN allows you to connect to a network of your choosing anywhere in the world. Missing your Netflix content from the US? Connect to Ashburn, VA and you’re all set to Netflix and chill with your favorite shows.
If you’re interested in Surfshark, please help me out and use my link here when you sign up. Thank you!
Banking Apps
No matter what bank you use in your home/previous country, download their mobile app and be sure you can login before leaving your country.
Wise
We use Wise to move money from our US bank accounts to our Portugal bank account. We have scheduled reoccurring transfers with the lowest fees around. Wise offers a number of other services like debit cards and credit cards, but, no thanks. There are other apps that do the same but we’ve been really happy with Wise.
MB WAY
If you are living in Portugal, you will HAVE TO create an MB WAY account to do any online shopping. If not, you’ll be in a world of hurt. Once it’s set up, it’s super easy to send and receive money between people and businesses and approve online purchases. Here’s more from the app store.
The MB WAY app is SIBS’s digital solution that simplifies your payments, allowing you to do everything on your mobile phone! By associating your mobile phone number to your bank card, you can send, receive and request money, split bills, shop online and in physical stores, with QR Code or NFC. You can also withdraw money and use MULTIBANCO with just MB WAY. Additionally, through the new authorized payments feature, you can now control your subscriptions and recurring purchases, allowing you to manage and organize everything in one place. In addition to the previous options, through MB WAY you can also generate MB NET virtual cards and even win prizes! All this and much more, always with SIBS’ security guarantee. The MB WAY app is already a reference and has 4,
A Virtual Mail Box, I use Traveling Mailbox
If you are moving from the United States to Portugal, I highly recommend getting a virtual mailbox. You redirect all your US mail to this new address and then the provider opens, scans, ships, shreds, deposits, whatever you need!
Correios de Portugal (CTT)
CTT is the Portuguese USPS. Most of your mail and shipments will come by CTT so it’s a good idea to create an account and download the app to track your packages, clear customs, and get help.
What Apps Do You Use?
Let me know if I’ve missed anything important by sending me a message here.
