Best Alternatives to the National Rail App

The official National Rail app is a solid foundation, but some commuters and regular travellers find that dedicated alternatives serve their day-to-day needs better. Here is what is available.

What the National Rail App Does Well

The National Rail app is the official source for UK train timetables, and its data is accurate and comprehensive. Its disruption notification system is genuinely excellent - you can subscribe to push alerts for specific routes and receive advance warning of engineering works and major delays. No other app fully matches this coverage.

Where some users look for alternatives is in the day-to-day experience of checking live times quickly, the lack of home screen widget support, and the presence of adverts within the app.

Railtime - Best for Live Times and Widgets

Railtime is a UK train times app that does one thing well: showing you live departure boards for any UK station, fast. There are no ads, no ticket booking flows, and no account required. The app is 6 MB.

Where Railtime genuinely stands out is widget support. You can place a live train times widget on your iPhone home screen, showing real-time departures from your favourite station without opening any app. The retro LED matrix widget theme is particularly popular with commuters. The National Rail app does not currently offer comparable widget support.

For day-to-day checking of live times, Railtime is the fastest and most focused option on iPhone.

Railboard - Live Times with Ticket Options

Railboard offers live departure boards alongside the ability to buy tickets. If you want a single app that handles both, Railboard is a cleaner, more modern option than the National Rail app. Booking fees apply on ticket purchases and home screen widgets are not currently supported.

Realtime Trains - For Power Users

Realtime Trains is a web service (with a mobile-friendly website) that provides detailed live train movement data. It shows where delayed trains are, historical punctuality statistics, and platform information. It is more technical than a standard departure board app but is excellent for tracking specific services or understanding why a train is running late.

When to Keep the National Rail App

The National Rail app remains the best option for disruption notifications. Its route-specific push alert system is unmatched. If your commute line is prone to disruptions or engineering works, keeping it installed alongside Railtime is the most complete setup.

The Recommended Setup

The best combination for most commuters is:

Railtime as your primary app for live times, departure boards, and widgets
National Rail kept installed for disruption alerts on your route
TrainSplit or TrainPal for buying tickets when needed

Together these cover everything the National Rail app offers, and Railtime handles the most frequent task - checking live times - faster and without ads.

Try Railtime for Free