In short. Before the flight: All Indonesia for the arrival declaration, the e-VOA site for the visa, Love Bali for the tourist levy. On day one: Gojek or Grab for taxis and delivery, GoPay as a wallet, Google Maps with its motorbike mode, and WhatsApp, because here it replaces the telephone. For those who stay: PLN Mobile for electricity, MyPertamina for fuel, Ferizy for ferries, Info BMKG and MAGMA for weather and volcanoes, and your operator's app for SIM balance. Install only from links on official pages or from the app stores by exact name: popular services have fakes.
Entry and documents. Three services that are checked even at the airport:
- All Indonesia. The single electronic arrival declaration: immigration, customs and health in one form, official site allindonesia.imigrasi.go.id, with an app. You fill it in before the flight and show the QR at passport control and customs. How to fill it in step by step is in the guide to All Indonesia.
- e-VOA. The visa on arrival online on the immigration site evisa.imigrasi.go.id; it has no app, and the site opens on a phone. It is covered in the guide to arrival.
- Love Bali. The Bali provincial government's app for the tourist levy: payment by QRIS or card, a voucher with a QR sent to your email, voucher checking, and in it the list of authorised money changers. The official site is lovebali.baliprov.go.id, with links to the App Store and Google Play. How much and for what is in the guide to the tourist levy.
Transport. Taxis, motorbike taxis, navigation, ferries and fuel:
- Gojek. The GoRide motorbike taxi, the GoCar car, GoFood food, GoSend courier, and in it the GoPay wallet. How to order is on the official Gojek help page; the app registers with a foreign number.
- Grab. The same from the competitor: GrabBike, GrabCar, GrabFood, GrabExpress; official page. Keep both: prices and driver availability differ at different times. What to do near the airport and on streets "closed to Gojek" is in the guide to Grab and Gojek.
- Google Maps. A navigator with a "motorcycle" mode that routes you along lanes where a car would not be let in; download the area's maps offline, as connectivity drops in the hills.
- Ferizy. Official ASDP ferry tickets: Ketapang - Gilimanuk to Java, Padang Bai - Lembar to Lombok; the site ferizy.com and the Ferizy App. You will not board the ferry to Java without a ticket from the app; details are in the guide to the ferry.
- MyPertamina. The Pertamina Patra Niaga app: fuel payment, a loyalty programme, a QR for subsidised fuel that a foreigner is usually not entitled to, and Bright Gas delivery; the site is mypertamina.id. You need it if you fill up often at official petrol stations; on fuel in bottles and pumps see the guide to petrol.
Money and shopping. What to pay with without an Indonesian bank and where to order:
- GoPay. A wallet that can be opened on a foreign number, accepts QRIS and is topped up with cash at a minimarket; official site gopay.co.id. Step by step with screenshots in the guide to GoPay, and how to pay by QR in the guide to QRIS.
- Tokopedia and Shopee. The two main marketplaces: from a socket adapter to a washing machine, with cash on delivery at most addresses; the official help pages are Tokopedia and Shopee. What to order and how to explain your address to a courier is in the guide to shopping.
- Your bank's app. It appears only with a KITAS and a local account: then payments, QRIS and transfers go through it; opening an account is in a separate guide.
Home and connectivity. Electricity, SIM, messengers:
- PLN Mobile. The app of the state energy company PLN: buying an electricity token by meter number, reporting an outage, a new connection; the official page is on pln.co.id with links to the stores. How a token meter works is in the guide to electricity.
- Operator app. Telkomsel, Indosat and XL have their own apps for balance and packages, which you need so as not to buy internet from resellers; which operator works where and how to register a SIM to a passport is in the guide to SIM cards.
- WhatsApp. Here it is the telephone: villas, rentals, clinics, laundries and delivery answer on WhatsApp, and many simply do not pick up a call from an unknown number. An Indonesian number is better: it is easier to write to local services and register in apps with it.
Weather and safety. Official sources instead of rumours in chats:
- Info BMKG. The Indonesian weather service app: forecasts, storm warnings, earthquakes with magnitude and epicentre, with store links at the bottom of the site bmkg.go.id. Waves and tides are on a separate site, maritim.bmkg.go.id, on which the guides to the rainy season and to tides are based.
- MAGMA Indonesia. A service of the geological agency with volcano activity levels and aviation warnings, site magma.esdm.go.id, with an app. What each level means and what to do in an ash fall is in the guides to volcanoes and to ash and flights.
- 112. This is a number, no app needed: ambulance, police and rescue from any phone, free and with no credit on the SIM. The other numbers are in the guide to emergency numbers.
How not to install a fake. Love Bali, All Indonesia and GoPay have clones in the app stores and in adverts. The rule is simple: take the link to the app from the service's official site, check the publisher in the store (Pemerintah Provinsi Bali, Direktorat Jenderal Imigrasi, PT Pertamina Patra Niaga, PT PLN), and do not enter passwords and SMS codes on pages that opened through a QR or a link from a chat.
Our advice. Install everything from the "entry" block while still at home, Gojek, Grab and GoPay in your first hour on the island, and the rest as needed. You do not need to switch your app store to the Indonesian region: everything in the list is available in European accounts, except a few banking apps.
What this means for you. Ten apps cover entry, the road, food, money, electricity and weather; all of them are free and official, and the links above lead to the owners' sites. If one does not install or does not register a foreign number, ask in a chat: such things change more often than we can rewrite a guide.