The Australian Expat’s App Toolkit: What to Put on Your Phone Before You Go

There’s a particular kind of panic that hits about three days into living overseas. You go to do something utterly ordinary, call your Australian bank, watch the footy, work out what a menu actually says, send money home, and discover that the easy thing is now weirdly hard. The good news is that your phone can solve most of it, if you set it up before you leave rather than while standing in a foreign supermarket at 11pm wondering what you just bought.

Here’s the toolkit we’d put on an Australian expat’s phone in 2026. A quick disclaimer up front: app features, prices and availability change constantly, and some services aren’t available in every country, so treat this as a starting point rather than gospel, and check the current details before you rely on anything.

For calling home: WhatsApp, and a calling app for landlines

First, a public service announcement: if your old expat checklist says “download Skype,” bin the checklist. Microsoft retired Skype for good in May 2025, so it’s no longer an option. The world moved on, and so should your shortlist.

For everyday calls and messages to family and friends, the workhorses are the free internet-calling apps: WhatsApp, FaceTime (if everyone’s on Apple), or Facebook Messenger. App-to-app calls cost you nothing but data or wifi, which is exactly what you want when the alternative is international call rates that belong in a museum.

The one gap those apps don’t fill is calling an actual landline or mobile number, which you’ll still need for things like your Australian bank’s hold music or a government department. For that, a pay-as-you-go internet-calling service with cheap international rates does the job Skype used to. There are several around now, so compare rates for the countries you’ll actually be calling rather than just grabbing the first one.

For sending money home (or anywhere): Wise and OFX

This is the one where the wrong choice quietly costs you real money, every single transfer. Your regular bank will happily move money across borders for you, then take a generous bite through a mediocre exchange rate plus fees, usually without making the damage obvious. Specialist transfer services exist precisely to stop that.

Two worth knowing: OFX and Wise. Both let you see the real exchange rate, move money between currencies far more cheaply than a bank, and set up alerts so you’re nudged when the rate moves in your favour. OFX leans towards larger transfers and offers a more hands-on service with rate tracking, while Wise is built around fast, low-cost transfers and a multi-currency account. If you’re moving the proceeds of your Australian tax refund overseas, or sending money home, the difference between using one of these and just letting your bank handle it can be hundreds of dollars on a decent-sized transfer.

We’re not financial advisers and we don’t earn commission for saying any of this, so do your own comparison for your amounts and currencies. But “I’ll just use my bank” is one of the most expensive default settings in expat life.

For staying connected cheaply: an eSIM app

This one didn’t exist in any useful form when most expat checklists were written, and it’s a genuine game-changer. Instead of hunting for a local SIM card the moment you land, or getting flayed by international roaming, you can install an eSIM, a digital SIM, straight from an app before you even leave Australia. Apps like Airalo and similar let you buy a local or regional data plan in minutes, so you’ve got working internet from the second you switch your phone on at the airport. For short trips and the first few weeks in a new country, it’s far cheaper than roaming and far less hassle than a SIM shop.

For watching Aussie shows: a VPN (with a caveat)

If you can’t bear to miss your Australian shows, a VPN such as ExpressVPN or one of its competitors lets your device appear to be back in Australia, which can help with geo-restricted streaming. A VPN also adds a layer of security when you’re using dodgy hotel or cafe wifi, which is a genuinely good habit when you’re logging into banking or email overseas.

The honest caveat: using a VPN to access streaming services from outside their licensed region can breach those services’ terms of use, even where it isn’t illegal as such. So go in with eyes open, and treat the security benefit (encrypting your connection on public wifi) as the rock-solid reason to have one, with the streaming as a bonus that comes with fine print.

For not getting lost in translation: Google Translate

If you’re heading somewhere English isn’t the first language, Google Translate remains a quiet hero. It handles the obvious stuff (typing a phrase, deciphering a menu), but the genuinely magic features are the camera mode, where you point your phone at a sign or a label and it translates the text live on screen, and the conversation mode for back-and-forth chats. Download the offline language pack for your destination before you go, so it still works when your data doesn’t. It won’t make you fluent, but it’ll get you fed, housed and pointed in the right direction.

For your Australian tax life: the ATO app and your myGov login

Here’s the one nobody puts on a “fun expat apps” list, and the one that quietly matters most: leaving Australia does not switch off the Australian Tax Office. Depending on your residency position, you may still have Australian lodgement obligations, Australian-sourced income to report, or a HELP or HECS debt that follows you overseas and now has to be worked out against your worldwide income.

So before you go, make sure you can actually access your Australian tax affairs from abroad: get the ATO app set up, confirm your myGov login works, and importantly, sort out how you’ll receive your myGov security codes once your Australian mobile number lapses (the myGov Code Generator app is built for exactly that, so you’re not locked out of your own government login from the other side of the world). Future you, trying to lodge a return from a different time zone, will be grateful.

And if you’re not sure whether you even need to lodge while you’re away, or how your residency affects what’s taxable, that’s squarely our department.

The bottom line

Set your phone up before you fly, not after. Sort out how you’ll call home, move money without donating to your bank, stay connected on arrival, and reach your Australian tax accounts from overseas. None of it is complicated, but all of it is far easier to organise from your couch in Australia than from a new apartment in a country where you don’t yet speak the language or know which app the locals actually use.

The apps handle the day-to-day. The one thing an app can’t do is tell you where you stand with the ATO once you’ve left, and that’s the part that tends to get expensive if it’s ignored.

Heading overseas and not sure where you stand with the ATO?

We help Australians work out their tax position before, during and after a move overseas: whether you’re still a tax resident, what you need to lodge, what happens to your Australian income and assets, and how it all fits together. Get the tax side sorted before you go, and you can spend your energy on the fun parts of the move instead.

Book an appointment with our expat tax specialists today, ideally before you board the plane. A bit of admin now saves a world of bother later.

General information only. This article mentions third-party apps and services for general convenience and isn’t a recommendation, endorsement or financial product advice; we don’t consider your personal circumstances, and we aren’t financial advisers. App features, pricing, availability and terms change frequently and vary by country, so confirm the current details yourself before relying on any of them. For advice about your Australian tax position, speak to our specialist expatriate tax team today, or to another registered tax agent.