My Essential Apps for Living in Bali

Every country has its own everyday apps. In Bali, I built my own list pretty quickly.

Some of them became useful literally in the first few days: calling a taxi, ordering food, finding a shop, checking a route. Others appeared later, when a normal trip slowly started turning into life on the island.

If you are going to Bali for the first time, save this list. Most of these apps can be downloaded before your flight.

🚕 Taxis and delivery

Gojek

My main app in Bali. You can use it to:

• order a car or motorbike taxi;
• call a courier;
• order ready-made food;
• order some products;
• use the GoPay e-wallet.

If you are planning to stay in Bali for more than a couple of weeks, the app quickly becomes part of everyday life.

We can also top up GoPay through ExchCore, a FROGI partner.

You can message the manager here: @ExchCore_bot

It is better to check the current exchange rate and available top-up methods directly before making a transaction.

Important: Gojek registration requires a phone number. Some foreign numbers may not be supported, so this is usually easier with a local Indonesian number.

Grab

Grab works not only in Indonesia but in many countries across Southeast Asia. If you have already used Grab in Thailand, Vietnam or Malaysia, it is the same app.

You can use it to order:

• a car;
• a motorbike;
• food delivery;
• a courier;
• products from shops.

In my experience, Grab often shows a higher price than Gojek in Bali, but sometimes it is the one that finds a car faster. So I do not choose one app once and forever. I usually compare a few options before a ride.

Green SM

Another taxi app. It uses VinFast electric cars.

I have used Green SM several times already, and the prices pleasantly surprised me. The most memorable example was a trip from Bukit to Ubud.

Grab showed around 650,000 IDR, while we travelled with Green SM for 153,000 IDR.

That does not mean the difference will always be this big. The price depends on the route, demand and time. But after that, Green SM simply became another app I check before a trip.

🗺 Google Maps

My main app for getting around the island. It is useful for:

• building routes;
• checking travel time;
• finding nearby cafés and shops;
• reading reviews;
• saving places;
• seeing what is actually around your future accommodation.

But there is one thing to understand about Bali.

20 kilometres here absolutely does not mean 20 minutes.

Traffic, narrow roads and busy areas can completely change the travel time, so before leaving I always check the current route.

And the places we have already found ourselves are gradually being collected separately in the Places section.

🌊 Ocean and surfing

Surfline

Useful if you are planning to visit beaches or want to try surfing. In the app, you can check:

• tides;
• wave forecasts;
• ocean conditions;
• conditions at different surf spots.

In Bali, the tide can genuinely change a beach completely.

So sometimes it is better to spend one minute checking the ocean before leaving than to travel across half the island and arrive at completely different water from what you expected.

🎾 Padel

Jungle Padel

I added this one for people who already play padel or want to start in Bali. Through the app, you can:

• book courts;
• find open games;
• see who is already planning to play;
• join matches;
• find players;
• create your own game;
• check player levels.

I like the logic of the app itself. Even if you arrive on the island alone and do not yet have your own group to play with, you do not need to search for people through chats.

You can open available matches, check the level and join a suitable game.

Jungle Padel has several locations in Bali, so the app is also convenient if you move between different areas.

🛍 Shopping

Shopee and Tokopedia

Two major Indonesian marketplaces. In short, the local version of the everyday Ozon / Wildberries experience.

You can order almost anything there:

• household products;
• electronics;
• clothes;
• cosmetics;
• everyday essentials;
• sports products;
• things you could not find in regular shops.

If you are coming for a one-week holiday, you probably will not need them at all.

But if you are staying to live here, sooner or later you will start looking for something there.

💱 Currency exchange and transfers

For currency exchange and international transfers, we use ExchCore, a FROGI partner.

Through the service, you can deal with:

• currency exchange;
• topping up some local services.

If you are not sure how to make a specific transaction, you can message the manager directly: @ExchCore_bot

Conditions, exchange rates and available transfer methods change, so it is better to check the specific option for your request at the time.

We will prepare a separate full guide about cash, cards and currency exchange in Bali.

💱 How to exchange money in Bali and what to pay with — coming soon.

📶 Internet immediately after landing

All the apps above only become useful once you actually have internet.

You can buy a local SIM after arriving on the island. But if you want to get off the plane and immediately open Grab, Gojek, a map or message your accommodation host, it is easier to prepare your internet in advance.

For this, you can set up FROGI eSIM before the trip.

Choose a package for Indonesia, install the eSIM in advance and connect to a local network after arrival.

That way, buying a SIM card does not need to become your first task after a long flight.

And later, if you are staying in Bali longer and need a local number, you can calmly get a physical SIM.

Check the latest Indonesia packages and conditions directly on the FROGI eSIM website.

What I would install before my first arrival

You do not need to download everything at once.

For the first few days, I would prepare:

1. Gojek
2. Grab
3. Green SM
4. Google Maps
5. Surfline, if you are planning to visit beaches
6. FROGI eSIM, so that everything else actually works after landing

Jungle Padel, Shopee and Tokopedia belong more to the next stage, when you are no longer just travelling but slowly starting to build an ordinary life in Bali.

My list did not appear in one day either.

First I needed a taxi. Then delivery. Then I realised that before a longer ride, it was worth comparing three apps instead of one.

And then one day you are already looking for where people are playing padel tonight, checking the ocean and ordering some random household item from a marketplace.

That is how a new country gradually stops feeling new.

Read also

📱 Which SIM card to choose in Bali

🚖 How to get from Bali Airport

📄 Which documents you need to enter Bali

🌏 What to know before travelling to Bali