Pura Vida on your phone
WhatsApp is the backbone of communication in Costa Rica. Businesses, tour operators, and hosts all use it. Outside of San José and major tourist hubs, app coverage thins out significantly, so download offline maps before heading into the rainforest or mountains.
Costa Rica's dominant ride app in San José, Río Segundo, La Fortuna, Liberia, Limón, Puntarenas and tourist corridors.
Lower-cost car rides in San José, Liberia and San Carlos, with growing coverage around Costa Rica's main urban areas.
Fare-negotiation rides in San José, Liberia, Alajuela, Heredia and selected Costa Rican tourist cities.
Restaurant delivery across Greater San José, Cartago, Liberia and other populated Costa Rican areas.
Broad meal delivery in San José, Escazú, Santa Ana, Heredia, Alajuela, Curridabat, Cartago and selected tourist cities.
Food and retail delivery in San José, Escazú, Santa Ana, Heredia and Alajuela, with a smaller restaurant base.
Lower-cost food delivery concentrated in San José, Escazú, Santa Ana, Heredia, Alajuela and Curridabat.
Costa Rica's national instant payment system, run by the central bank. Locals pay everyone by phone number, from sodas and taxis to farmers markets, through their regular banking apps.
Multi-currency card that handles Costa Rica's dual pricing in dollars and colones. Withdraw colones at ATMs and tap to pay at card-friendly businesses nationwide.
The single most important app for any visit to Costa Rica. Every hotel, tour operator, restaurant, and local contact communicates through WhatsApp.
The navigation app of choice for Costa Ricans with real-time community alerts for potholes, flooding, fallen trees, and road closures.
Excellent for finding businesses, reading reviews, and using offline maps when you have no data signal in remote areas.
Essential for bridging the Spanish language gap, especially outside tourist areas. Camera translation is useful for menus and signage.
Reliable mobile internet at better prices than most travel eSIMs, with polished iOS and Android apps and support for making and receiving phone calls.
One of the biggest travel eSIM brands, with a very large destination catalog.
Known for unlimited-data plans in many destinations, at a higher price per gigabyte.
The free social media bundled with prepaid plans on all three carriers excludes TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube, an easy catch to miss. Data allowances are small by regional standards and Costa Rica is not the bargain its neighbours are. Prepaid SIMs typically expire after 90 days of no use, carrier stores have limited opening hours, and once you buy you cannot return the SIM if your phone turns out to be locked, so check that first.
The state-owned network with the most customers and the best coverage by far, thanks to a much higher tower count. The default pick for anyone leaving the main towns.
Second on coverage and the cheapest SIMs, at roughly $1.25 to $4. It took over Movistar's Costa Rican operation, so older guides and airport signs may still say Movistar.
The newest entrant, with solid 4G, early 5G in major cities and plans often cheaper than Kolbi's, but weaker off the beaten path.
The essential apps for Costa Rica are Uber, DiDi, PedidosYa, Uber Eats, SINPE Móvil.
We've curated 13 apps across 6 categories for traveling in Costa Rica, including 8 essential apps.
Uber is the top-rated ride hailing app in Costa Rica. Costa Rica's dominant ride app in San José, Río Segundo, La Fortuna, Liberia, Limón, Puntarenas and tourist corridors.
Cards, peso cash, open transit payments and dependable local apps
Cash backup, QR payments, cable cars and roadblock-aware travel
Carnival vibes, Pix payments, and iFood on speed dial
From Atacama to Patagonia, these apps will keep you moving
From Bogotá's buzzing streets to Caribbean coast vibes
From Quito's cobblestones to Galápagos shores
