Using an iPhone & iPad in Thailand Tips, App Reviews and News for the iPhone and iPad by Richard Barrow

4 iPhone apps about the Thai Flood

The following are three iPhone apps that have come out this week to do with the flooding in Thailand. All of them are free to download from iTunes. Unfortunately, although they are all very good, they are only in Thai.

This first one is called #ThaiFlood Reporter. As the name suggests, you can use this app to report flooding in your area. On the first page your present location is marked on the map. Then you can choose one of a dozen or so messages. On the next page you have the option to send as a tweet or SMS. There is also the option to take a picture and also edit the text that you will tweet.

This second app is called Thai Flood Map & Updates. This one is also made by Code App and works hand-in-hand with their other app. On the first screen you are given a list of all of the latest reports sent in by people using the previous app. Click on one of these it then takes you to the map which shows the location of that report. It is actually quit good as there are updates nearly every minute. I just checked again and people are reporting heavy rain. Some said flooding has started while others said no floods yet. I like this one, but if you cannot read Thai then you won't be able to use it.

This next app is called ThaiFlood Help List. Again it is produced by the people at Code App. This one has a handy list of all of the call centers in Thailand to do with the flooding. Click on the name and it will start dialling for you. On the next screen you can see details about how to donate by sending an SMS message. The next screen gives you a long list of organizations that accept donations for flood victims. Bank details are given for each one to make it easier for you to donate. The final screen shows organisations which are helping flood victims if you want to volunteer your time.

The final app is called FloodFeed and basically gives you the latest tweets with the hashtag #ThaiFlood. I guess it is useful for people  who don't have a Twitter account as you can read without signing up. According to their website: "Even though you don't have Twitter account, you can forward and share the news right away through Social network both Twitter and FaceBook." That is a bit of a contradiction of course. Personally I won't use it as I can do this kind of search in the Twitter app already. Secondly, as you can see from above, most of the tweets are re-tweets. It is easier enough for us to do our own search ""#thaiflood -RT" which will only show you the original tweets.  But some people might find it useful.