If you're planning or attending a meeting overseas, you'll want to update your smartphone before you leave, as the U.S. Department of State has released a new "Smart Traveler" app for U.S. travelers going abroad.
Available for Apple's iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, the Smart Traveler app gives users access to official country information, travel alerts, travel warnings, maps, U.S. embassy locations and more. It also allows travelers to set up customized e-itineraries to keep track of arrival and departure dates, and to make notes about upcoming trips.
The app is based on — and provides a link to — the State Department's new Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP), which was introduced in November as an updated version of the Internet Based Registration Service (IBRS). Free and voluntary for U.S. travelers, the program allows registrants to create an account, then enter their itinerary and contact information. In return, travelers receive detailed and timely information — including travel warnings and alerts related to natural disasters, terrorism and civil unrest — about the destination they're traveling to. Additionally, the program allows U.S. embassies and consulates to track down travelers if there's a family emergency back home, or to better assist them in the case of a personal crisis, such as a lost or stolen passport.
"We believe that a well-informed traveler is a safer traveler," reads the STEP website. "Our consular officers around the world compile country-specific information, travel alerts, travel warnings, fact sheets and warden messages to provide you with timely and accurate travel information about every country where you may travel."
For more information about STEP and the Smart Traveler app, visit travel.state.gov.