The best apps for expats in Ecuador

I kind of rely on apps a lot and the ones below cover several categories which are important to some Expats living here.


For communication

Whatsapp
Gmail
Outlook

These three apps are invaluable to me and I don't miss a thing with their notifications

Sports

NFL Gamepass, but keep in mind it only works on gadgets and computers
MLB TV – works flawlessly on TV and here's a tip, every September there is a postseason promo, usually around $9.99 but this year for Ecuador it was only $3.99, so I got to see the last three weeks of the regular season and the entire playoffs in Full HD.

Entertainment

Netflix (of course)
Amazon only has about 25 movies and TV series, better than nothing and Free if you're a prime member. You can get much more using a VPN but I won't get into that because I've been blocked.

Best walking around apps

Google Translator – when you need that one word this is the go-to app.
Google Maps – Hey sometimes some places are not easily found.

Food Delivery

Domicillios

Transportation

Easy Taxi or another app you like. I rarely use these apps but they are valuable to some people who don't have access to taxis or if it's very late. There's also Uber but have not tried that here yet.

Reading
Kindle (and with Kindle unlimited you can download many Spanish books)

Gaming

Playstation app

The PSN store in South America is different than PSN stores in US/Canada/UK etc. And the deals are not as great with the same games costing more. So open an account from your home country and validate a credit card from your home country with the PSN account.

Moovit works quite well in Cuenca, or so I've been told. And if you don't have WhatsApp, you may as well check your smartphone at the airport.

Ecuador is a beautiful country but I would not recommend staying there for more than 10 days ..i made a mistake i cant find the way to end from this mistake..i recommend to use this app for whole the world but not use for ecuador

I am a home owner in cuenca, 5 years, I do enjoy the weather, the fruit people, and life style,

In Quito, "Easy Taxi", remains the most frequently used taxi app. It's easy enough as you'll hear "easy, easy, easy"(each time a client uses the app while in vicinity of taxi), if the driver is using the app. A quick survey suggests, Fastline is the second most used taxi app.

Care to elaborate?

Are the taxis that come up vetted in any way?

Can you use amazon prime for free shipping there?  Probably not.  And, does Amazon even ship to EC?

Care to elaborate?

When a client uses the app the sound of “easy” sounds off in the taxi (smartphone) thus alerting the driver that a nearby passenger is requesting a taxi. The driver then has to decide whether to accept the trip. If he accepts then he will have a connection with the passenger(smartphone to smartphone) that made the request. So as a passenger one can see where the taxi is located and the driver also sees the location of the passenger. Communication is also possible because the driver will have access to the clients mobile/cellular number.

Are the taxis that come up vetted in any way?

With regards to “vetting”, taxis in Quito are registered with corporativos or taxi organizations.  Easy Taxi deals with drivers via corporativos and one of the requirements is a security check. As for other Apps I really don't know what the process is but technically taxis that are registered via a corporativo are legit. Again, that's the taxi, because for instance a driver might be part of a corporativo and drives for 12 hours a day and rents his taxi for the remaining 12 hours to another driver. That secondary driver may or may not be registered with Easy Taxi and could simply be using the primary

Can you use amazon prime for free shipping there?  Probably not.  And, does Amazon even ship to EC?

1. No
2. Yes

Thanks vsimple.  My question "Care to elaborate?" was to the person who said they don't recommend spending more than 10 days in EC.
By the way, have you ordered from Amazon there, and if so, how fast and reliable do you find it?  And how expensive is shipping?

OrganicMom wrote:

Thanks vsimple.  My question "Care to elaborate?" was to the person who said they don't recommend spending more than 10 days in EC.
By the way, have you ordered from Amazon there, and if so, how fast and reliable do you find it?  And how expensive is shipping?

My lone transaction with Amazon to Ecuador won't be of any help because my shipment was textbooks which were heavy and non-dutiable. I don't want to stray too far from the topic of this thread but Ecuador offers residents duty-free ($3.51) shipping for shipments that weight 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) or less if registered online and handled by local post. Using a forwarding service and having Amazon items shipped this way would make a lot more economical sense.

Vsimple, Can I PM you here?  I'd like to know more about forwarding services, but don't want to keep going off topic here.

You're more than welcome to PM me, but what little I know I will post on theshopping online thread as another member asked some relevant questions on it.

Is Uber used there?

Maps.me is a fantastic navigation map that doesn't require WiFi or cellular data. It is very well mapped for Ecuador and highly functional here. Very easy to share your location with someone else and works in GPS. I am not sure how we functioned without it!

On the issue of maps, Google Maps just eliminated the street that I live on. There seems to have been an update in the past week. They decided to include an unpaved, rutted path but left at least one paved street off the map. It was there as recently as a week ago, now it's gone. I, too, have been happy with Maps.Me.

I use several to navigate around Cuenca and Ecuador. 
Pilot Translator and Google translate.
Google maps.
WhattsApp
Cuenca Bus   shows the bus lines
These seem to be all I have on my phone or need.

Michael-2018 wrote:

Is Uber used there?

Yes in Quito, and I think also in Guayaquil.

We have to include Waze, a community based navigation app. I don't know how it is in other cities but it's damn awesome in Quito. The main reason is that it's very active as members are constantly updating it with all kinds of traffic information, from accidents to checkpoints.

For people who are accustomed to Google Maps, it'll take a little bit to get used to this app especially with all the emoticons that they have.

Because it's community based (people-power), it's a winner.   

vsimple wrote:

Michael-2018 wrote:

Is Uber used there?

Yes in Quito, and I think also in Guayaquil.

I can confirm Uber is in Guayaquil. I haven't tested Cabify yet. UberEats and Glovo (food delivery apps) are crazy busy in my working class Guayaquil neighborhood

Has anyone tried Glovo ?  Apparently, they deliver more than just food. I was at a Sweet & Coffee, and a Glovo driver was picking up coffee and cake.

Spotify is an App that many of you probably know about, but I will post about it anyway. In Ecuador it costs $5.99 a month, but the free version is excellent. Initially, I hated this App because the free version is very limited for instance you can't play the music that you want. You can select a song and make a playlist but those songs will be mixed with many more that Spotify selects and plays randomly.

This limitation doesn't bother me at anymore because Spotify's algorithm is beyond words and simply amazing. It finds and plays songs that it knows you'll like. This app is so great that it has found the type of Spanish music that I love. I'm quite sick of Reggaeton, traditional Ecuadorian music and definitely sick of the 80's music that is frequently played on the radio.

Give it a try, but be patient with it. By the way the type of Spanish music that  I like is more like the Spanish versions of Pop Rock. The song Chau by No Te Va Gustar and Julieta Venegas exemplifies my preference.

Two thumbs wayyy up for this app. 

vsimple wrote:

Has anyone tried Glovo ?  Apparently, they deliver more than just food. I was at a Sweet & Coffee, and a Glovo driver was picking up coffee and cake.

I'll share my experience, considering I used Glovo over the weekend. I was home and wanted to make a specific dish but lacked some ingredients so I used Glovo to order groceries. Using it is pretty straightforward, you input your data including address and phone number. They will text you a code to verify your number and you are all set.

So, I typed my grocery list and selected cash for payment method.

Just a heads-up, If an expat chooses to use this app to order something that is not on a  menu,  like a grocery list, be prepared for phone calls from the Glover (delivery dude) as they may need clarification on some of the items. The dude called my twice to clarify some items.

So, if an expat is not comfortable communicating in Spanish, perhaps order items that are on a menu like a restaurant menu or items that don't require much elaboration, like a 6-pack of Pilsener 330 ml bottle/can.

The cost for delivery was $1.90, and the scheduled time for delivery was 25-35 minutes, but the Glover arrived much quicker.

An important observation that I have experienced and would like to share. My cell phone provider is Claro, and the internet in my ride is also Claro. I didn't know about the latter until recently. Anyhow, here's what happened. Claro was down for about 30-40 minutes and on both devices and at the most inconvenient time (using it for navigation).

So, what's the lesson. Perhaps, it's best to have different providers for different devices. So for instance if you have internet at home by CNT then maybe have Movistar for internet on your phone.

BTW guys, Uber in Ecuador has been dethroned. The most popular transportation App now is inDriver.

With inDriver, customers can set the price of the fare. So, for instance you want to go from Quito to Cumbayá, well you (customer) sets the price and the drivers using inDriver can choose to accept or not. I've heard drivers accepting prices to go to the airport for half the usual fare.

Ecuadorians, when they find an App that will save them money, they jump on it.

Here's an update on Glovo which I reviewed briefly earlier on this thread. It is awful because the drivers are dishonest. You have to hand it to them though, they always come up with ways to increase the bill.

One example is picking up food from restaurants that are further away. So, for instance if you order from Dominoes pizza and there's one that 1 kilometer away, another 2 km away, and another 5 km away,

A Glover (motorcycle delivery man) may opt to choose the one that is furthest away because it will cost you more than the $1.90 minimum and more like double that. This results in you paying more money for colder food.

There are other scams that drivers do, but the example above is enough as a forewarning to people who want to use it.

And, BTW there is an online review of the App online with 600+ reviewers. Overall, Glovo has a 0.7 /10. That's less than 1/10.

I have not used an app to get a taxi in Ecuador, yet.  But I do have a related question.
Sometimes I want to "rent" a cab for a few hours while shopping or just going certain places.  I have not done this yet because I don't know about leaving purchases in a cab while not in the cab.  How do I go about getting a trustworthy driver? 
Right, now my husband and I fly back and forth from the USA so we don't have one or two trusted drivers.
Advice?

RobinJoel wrote:

I have not used an app to get a taxi in Ecuador, yet.  But I do have a related question.
Sometimes I want to "rent" a cab for a few hours while shopping or just going certain places.  I have not done this yet because I don't know about leaving purchases in a cab while not in the cab.  How do I go about getting a trustworthy driver? 
Right, now my husband and I fly back and forth from the USA so we don't have one or two trusted drivers.
Advice?

There isn't a formula to develop a mutual trusting relationship. For me, before I owned my own ride it just happened, there was one driver that i felt comfortable with for several reasons including him owning his own car. This is important because it's his car and he has complete control of the hours he works.

From there more trust was gained, but I have never did what you're proposing which is shopping and leaving stuff in the car. My idea of trust is using the taxi to take me from point A to point B safely. I still do so even with a car, when I know i'll drink more than a couple of beers.

To build-up the relationship, give a driver the best fares like airport and take it from there.

Youtube has definitely changed their algorithm and it's much better now. I think the new algorithm roll-out for Ecuador was recent. But, it's a much more pleasant experience.

The music Youtube selects is much better IMO and they probably changed things to compete with Spotify. I haven't used the Youtube premium app yet which I think it costs $5.99. That's about how much Spotify costs.

Yeah, I don't know what's the difference yet between the free Youtube and the paid Youtube. My concern is data usage because playing music videos can eat into ones data. Whether it's in a car or on a mobile, so I don't know how that works, yet. Maybe, there will be an option to just play the music without the video to minimize data usage.

I'd like to elaborate on how great Youtube is now. Check this out so I'm listening to M83 Midnight City, then I Follow Rivers and then Youtube takes me to Gorillaz, one of my favorite bands. Nice!

But wait, not just Gorillaz, but Gorillaz with Spanish subtitles. There's tons of Gorillaz and most without Spanish subtitles. Nice!

vsimple wrote:

Youtube has definitely changed their algorithm and it's much better now. I think the new algorithm roll-out for Ecuador was recent. But, it's a much more pleasant experience.

The music Youtube selects is much better IMO and they probably changed things to compete with Spotify. I haven't used the Youtube premium app yet which I think it costs $5.99. That's about how much Spotify costs.

Yeah, I don't know what's the difference yet between the free Youtube and the paid Youtube. My concern is data usage because playing music videos can eat into ones data. Whether it's in a car or on a mobile, so I don't know how that works, yet. Maybe, there will be an option to just play the music without the video to minimize data usage.

Paid YouTube Premium in the USA deletes the commercials.  Premium also allows you to listen to videos without watching videos (which reduces data consumption). Not only does it come in handy while driving, I like to listen to meditation videos in Spanish. But I can't watch those hour-long meditation videos. The youtube music app is included, as well as Google Play Music, which in my experience has better integration with Google Assistant/ Google Home than Spotify. A few months ago the youtube music app wasn't working in Ecuador. Is it working now?

I made the mistake of canceling YouTube in February and switched to paid Spotify. I discovered the problems with its Google Home integration quickly-- there's a lot of database errors. Spotify is fine on desktop. But I asked Google to play an album by The Cure on Spotify and instead she plays Pink Floyd? I asked for the soundtrack to "The Royal Tenenbaums", she plays 2 songs from it and then starts on other songs not actually on the soundtrack. There are many other examples of odd screwups, mostly playing the right artist, wrong album. Not a good integration

I would say the correct song/album hit rate was  60%, I expect like 95%

Anyhow, I've been in Florida for the last week. One of my first tasks was to cancel Spotify and resubscribe to YouTube premium and included apps, and then connect google home to google play music, deleting Spotify.  My girlfriend called me yesterday from Guayaquil to tell me Google Home was behaving as expected once again.

Good info Lebowski.  Cleared up questions I had.

Yup, Youtube premium sounds like a winner. As for Youtube Music app working, I use it all the time in the car and using it right now on playstation, this is assuming it's the same app for free and paid.

The commercials on PS are all about the paid subscription and now I know what they mean by “sin conexión.” As the videos can be downloaded and played at anytime without 4G/Wi-fi.  So, this is like Netflix. Nice.