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Useful Apps?

Greetings! I contacted my phone company and will have use of my cell while in England...therefore would anyone have suggestions on apps that might be useful to use while I am there? I will then install them on my phone before leaving. I leave next Wednesday the 12th. Thank you!!

Posted by
6113 posts

Transport for London - travel

Time out - for events

BBC - for weather

National Rail - if travelling by train.

Trip Advisor - restaurant recommendations

Posted by
251 posts

City Maps 2 Go. It works while offline and you just need to download the city map while on WiFi before you leave. I used it all the time and absolutely loved it!

Posted by
54 posts

Thanks for that last suggestion. I've been looking for a good map app so I will try that one.

Posted by
651 posts

I found CityMapper the most useful app for getting around London as well as other major cities.

I've also down loaded the Mobile Passport app and will use it the first time later this summer.

Posted by
88 posts

Another vote for Citymapper if you will be using the London Underground. I found it to be useful. It will even tell you which part of the train should be the least crowded at the time of day you are traveling.

Be sure to check your route before you descend into the tunnels. Your trip route will still stay up if you check it before you descend. You probably will not have access in the depths.

CityMapper & National Rail (if traveling outside of London) should be all of the special apps you need. Between those and other general purpose apps that come in handy everywhere that you probably already have on your phone like Google Maps, a weather app (I used Accuweather), and TripAdvisor should be all you need.

I also have Currency Converter so I can easily determine how much 20.00 GBP, etc. really is in relation to USD so that I don''t overspend when shopping.

Posted by
603 posts

If not for Citymapper, I doubt that I would have been able to figure out the buses.

(I know they are well signed but I'm directionally challenged to put it mildly)

Posted by
26 posts

The apps we used the most in England were WhatsApp and Uber. WhatsApp allowed us to get calls from relatives as well as texts as long as they had the app. The calls and texts used data if we happened to be away from our Airbnb wifi, so we mostly used it when there. But we also have unlimited data with TMobile so for us a non-issue. WhatsApp was a recommendation from this Forum and I'm so glad I got the app. Uber was used on those days or evenings when we just wanted a ride and very helpful.
Sonja