Best iPhone Widgets for Train Times

A home screen widget for train times means you never have to open an app just to check if your train is running. Here is what is available and what is worth using.

Why Use a Train Times Widget?

If you catch the same trains regularly, opening an app every morning is unnecessary friction. A home screen widget shows your live departure board automatically - times, delays, and platform numbers - the moment you look at your phone. For commuters, this saves time every single day.

Railtime app iconRailtime Widgets - The Most Complete Option

Railtime offers the most comprehensive widget collection of any UK train app. There are multiple widget sizes and several distinct visual themes, which is unique in the UK train app market.

Widget Sizes and Types

  • Small: Shows the next departure from a saved station. Compact and works well in a corner of your home screen.
  • Medium: Shows several upcoming departures with times, status, and platform. This is the most useful size for daily use.
  • Large: A full departure board showing the next six or more trains, with destination, time, and live status for each.
  • Interactive: Tap a service directly on the widget to see when you need to leave. No need to open the app.
  • Clock: A dual-purpose widget that works as your home screen clock while also showing your next train departures. Useful if you want to save home screen space and want the beautiful retro departure board look.

Widget Themes

Railtime's signature widget is its retro LED matrix theme, which replicates the look of the dot-matrix departure boards found at British railway stations. It is immediately recognisable and has been praised in App Store reviews as a favourite feature.

A clean modern theme is also available if you prefer something that blends into a dark or light home screen aesthetic.

What About Other Train Apps?

Trainline app iconTrainline Widget

Trainline offers a basic widget showing a single upcoming departure. It is a useful quick-view option if you use Trainline for tickets, though it shows one train at a time rather than a full departure board. Customisation options are limited compared to Railtime.

National Rail app iconNational Rail App

The National Rail app does not currently offer a meaningful home screen widget. For official timetable and disruption information you still need to open the app directly.

Railboard app iconRailboard

Railboard does not currently offer home screen widgets. If widgets are important to your workflow, Railtime is the app to use for this.

UK Live Train Times app iconUK Live Train Times

UK Live Train Times does offer home screen widgets, but they have a noticeably dated visual style that does not look the best on a modern iPhone home screen. There is a more significant drawback too: the widgets only stay up to date if you open the app regularly. If you do not, they stop refreshing unless you pay a monthly subscription. For a feature that should just work, this can feel like an unnecessary limitation, especially when apps like Railtime offer this for free.

On Rails app iconOn Rails

On Rails is another app with train time widgets, but the interface is a little clunky and dated. On the free version, widgets only show a single train service at a time. Seeing multiple departures on one widget requires a monthly subscription. For a basic use case that Railtime covers for free, the paywall may seem steep.

How to Set Up a Train Times Widget

Setting up a train times widget on your iPhone takes less than two minutes. See our full walkthrough in How to Add a Train Times Widget to Your iPhone.

In brief: install Railtime, open the app, find your station and favourite it. Then long-press your home screen, tap the plus icon, search for Railtime, choose your preferred widget size and theme, and place it on your home screen. The widget will start showing live departure data immediately.

The Verdict

Several UK train apps offer widgets, but most fall short in meaningful ways - a single service, a paywall for basic functionality, or an interface that looks stuck in 2015. Railtime's widget collection is the most complete option available: multiple sizes including interactive and clock variants, the popular retro LED matrix theme, and live data that updates reliably - all completely free.

See also: How to Add a Train Widget to iPhone | Best Train Apps for iPhone

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