Snapp App Guide: Your Travel Companion for Exploring Iran

 Iran is filled with mystery. 

Although the somewhat difficult entry methods and unfamiliar language barriers obstruct travelers, Iran is full of beautiful scenery and kind people. 

During my 3-month stay here, I felt very safe and met many friendly people. 

 To make your Iran travel safer and more convenient, I would like to introduce you to one app

This is Chabahar, a city in southern Iran. I was able to get to this lesser-known place using the Snapp app (of course, I was very lucky. Please refer to my travel log for more details).

I also took this picture in Chabahar. It's really beautiful, isn't it..😍

Why should you install Snapp?  

1. Easy taxi calls in any city  
2. Various accommodation bookings  
3. Checking bus and flight schedules

You are a foreigner and have come to an unfamiliar country. 

Despite being filled with many beauties, this place does not have traveler-friendly systems like France, Germany, or Thailand. In fact, even if you have installed the Snapp app, you have the disadvantage of not having a debit card here. 

If your debit card were registered here, you could make prepaid payments, conveniently order food delivery anytime and anywhere, and book transportation. 

But this is a very difficult problem. I was able to register my friend's debit card with their help and use it very conveniently, but I couldn't book transportation because I didn't have my ID that could be used in Iran. 

 Nevertheless, if you can use the Snapp app, you don't have to struggle to find a hotel. (Since Iran is under various sanctions, it's difficult to easily find hotels or transportation on Google. 

 I tried this at first, but most information was outdated or didn't work.)

Main page of Snapp app

 

The main screen here can be changed to English, but it gets complicated after that. The rest of the pages are all in Persian... That's why you need to know some Persian alphabets or words, but if you don't want to do even that, there is still a way. Take a screenshot of the page and then use a translator..

If you enter the hotel screen, you can see the price range of hotels by region like this.

According to a businessman, he introduced his business abroad through an agency and is receiving travel applications from tourists there, but perhaps because of the fees paid to the agency there and exchange rates, I was able to pay much cheaper costs because I visited the place directly and contacted the person in charge. 

It's probably not impossible for you to book a hotel through Google, but the range of choices is very narrow, and there may be cases where you have to pay more than if you visited directly. 

Since I didn't have an official ID in Iran (you need to enter an Iranian ID when booking transportation or hotels, but I didn't have that number), I was able to book economical

accommodation for $10-20 by finding hotel prices and names through the Snapp app, then getting their location information or searching online, and visiting directly to make payment.

 You can use inter-city transportation in the same way. 

Since there may be dates when transportation doesn't exist for some small and medium-sized cities if you need to travel quite a distance, checking transportation in advance is essential. 

Moreover, if you don't know Persian, you won't be able to understand their explanations, so you must check transportation before going. As I remember, for some cities, if you type the city name in the alphabet, the city would be output in Persian, but since some cities are inaccurate, you need to first search for the Persian name of the city and then copy that word or check by typing it in English.  

The Persian alphabet is not difficult and can be fully understood if you invest about 1-2 days, so studying the Persian alphabet a little bit is actually the best method.

Fortunately, even if you don't have a card, you can use the Snapp taxi. You just need to select post-payment and then call a taxi.  

I was so happy to be able to get help with this feature, and I often called Iranian taxis for intercity travel. (Up to distances of 600km...) Since taxi fares in Iran are very cheap, I could travel even distances of about 100km for around $10.  

The Snapp app pays taxi drivers too little money, so intercity taxis may often refuse requests. 

However, I was able to persuade them by negotiating with the taxi drivers to pay about 20-30% more than the amount Snapp usually suggests. (For very distant places, I had to pay up to 100% more, but it was a reasonable amount.)

 *Unfortunately, because Snapp requires an Iranian phone number, you cannot use it immediately if you are abroad. After arriving in Iran, you need to activate a mobile USIM and register with an Iranian phone number. 

 *And when traveling, a VPN is essential. When first activating your phone, try giving the staff there a small tip and ask them to install the best VPN. Even if you pay a few dollars, a paid VPN is better. 

Not having a VPN during your Iran trip is like not using one of your hands. Trust me.

(But you can use snapp without VPN)

 

*For information on applying for an Iranian visa, please refer to the following link on my blog.