15 Most Useful Apps for Living in Jakarta (2017)

You can make your life in Jakarta much easier by downloading a few apps on your phone. They will be helpful in numerous everyday situations, from getting around the city to buying your groceries. There's even an app to order a massage!

I've selected here my 15 favorites, most of them free. Please leave me a comment if you think I forgot one worth mentioning!

Here are the most useful apps for living in Jakarta:

Owned by Google, Waze is a GPS navigator with real-time traffic information. For instance, it tells you if there are traffic jams, accidents, road repairs and even police stops on your way.

It is an essential tool to estimate the length of your road trips within Jakarta. It can also give you excellent advice on the best routes from a point A to a point B.

Alternative:
Lewat Mana has webcams pointed at the main thoroughfares in Jakarta.

Price: FREE

Maps Me
Maps Me is similar to Google Maps with one additional benefit: You can download the maps you need and then consult them offline.

It is particularly useful whenever you are in an area of Jakarta with slow internet (or if you don't want to use your internet quota).

Price: FREE

If you are a single person in Jakarta, Tinder the best app available to find a partner. It doesn't work for everybody though (read my guide: Why You Are Failing at Tinder).

There are a few options other than Tinder that I listed in the guide Best Dating Apps in Indonesia: Badoo, Skout, Paktor, Grindr (for gays)...

Price: FREE with paying features.

You probably noticed that a lot of websites are blocked in Indonesia, including gambling, torrent and porn. To access them freely (while staying anonymous), you'll need to download a VPN on your phone and computer.

The one I currently use is Express VPN (it works great), but in the past, I also tried and enjoyed the following: Nord VPN, VyprVPN and Hide My Ass.

You can read more about this topic: Best VPNs for Indonesia and Are VPNs Legal in Indonesia?

Price: Between 4$ and 8$ per month with annual plan

I use both of these transportation apps to get around by car in Jakarta. I think Grab is a bit less expensive than Uber, especially if you use their prepaid program (Grab Pay).

You should subscribe to their newsletter too as they give out special promotion codes regularly.

Price: Compared with traditional taxis, they cost around 30% less.

Gojek is probably the most versatile app in Indonesia. Whatever your needs are, you'll almost always find a Gojek answer to them.

It started as a transportation app like Grab and Uber, but specializing in moto-taxis (Ojek in Indonesian). They now have an army of riders that can be used for regular transport (Go-ride), food delivery (Go-food), grocery delivery (Go-mart), package delivery (Go-send), medicine delivery (Go-med), ticket delivery (Go-tix), etc.

They also offer maid services (Go-maid), car repair (Go-auto), beauty services (Go-glam) and moving truck rental (Go-box).

Last, but not least, you can order Blue Bird taxis through the app.

Price: Each service has its own pricing, usually cheap.  By using the prepaid option Go-pay, you'll get significant discounts and you can use your credit to buy phone credit (Go-pulsa).
HappyFresh

HappyFresh allows you to buy your groceries directly from their app and get them delivered to your door within a couple hours. They have partnerships with several supermarket chains like Lotte, Carrefour, Ranch Market or Farmer's Market.

I use it for buying beer among other things (see How to Buy Alcohol in Jakarta).

Price: IDR20,000 per delivery + a 10% markup on every item bought (they are not very transparent about this, unfortunately).

I wrote about Babbel in my article How I Learned Indonesian. It is a fun app for learning Indonesian, perfect for those who don't have too much free time available. Typically, I open it when I'm stuck in traffic or waiting for someone at the restaurant. 10 minutes every day for a month is enough to make significant progress.

Price: Around 20 lessons are free, and then you have to pay a few dollars per month.

Make sure you download the Indonesian language package so you can use it offline. Google Translate is available on Play Store and on iTunes.

Price: FREE

In general, Traveloka has lower prices for Indonesian hotels and flights, especially if you are paying with an Indonesian credit card (Mandiri, BNI, BCA, etc).

You can also try the competition, PegiPegi (only in Bahasa) and Tiket.com. All these companies always give promo codes through their websites or through their newsletter.

I don't trust the reviews of Zomato, but you can use their app to read the menus of restaurants around you.

Price: FREE

Similar to Whatsapp, Line is a very popular messenger app in Indonesia. It is often used by small businesses, like warungs or laundry shops. As such, it is useful to install it if you wish to communicate with them.

Price: FREE

Those two marketplaces are the closest things to Amazon or AliExpress in Indonesia. They have an impressive number of items for sale, from discounted plane tickets to phone credit. The only problem is that they are in Bahasa.

TransferWise
As I wrote in my article "What Is The Cheapest Way to Send Money to Indonesia", the TransferWise app (or the website) allows you to send money to most countries on earth for a fraction of what it would cost with traditional banks or with Western Union. It's essential if you have a business or a girlfriend to support in Jakarta.