Best Train Apps on the App Store (2026)

The App Store has dozens of UK train apps. Here is how the best ones compare, and which one deserves a spot on your phone.

What to Look for in a Train App

Not all train apps do the same job. Some are built to sell tickets, others focus on live departure times, and a few try to do everything at once. The most important thing to know is that the most popular app is not always the best - especially when it comes to buying tickets.

Key things to evaluate:

Speed - how quickly can you see live departure times from the moment you open the app?
Widget support - does the app offer a home screen widget so you never even need to open it?
Ticket fees - booking fees vary significantly between apps and can cost more than any discount they claim to offer
Split ticketing - does the app find the cheapest combination of tickets, not just a single through fare?
Accuracy - does the app pull from real-time data feeds like the National Rail Darwin system?

Top UK Train Apps on the App Store

1. Railtime - Best for Live Train Times

Railtime is a lean, fast train times app built purely for checking departures and arrivals. There are no tickets to buy, no booking flows to navigate, and no ads. You open the app and your departure board is right there.

What sets Railtime apart is its widget collection. You can add a live train times widget to your iPhone home screen in multiple sizes and themes - including a retro LED matrix design that replicates a real station departure board. No other UK train app offers this level of widget customisation.

The app is only 6 MB - one of the smallest train apps available - and completely free with no in-app purchases.

2. TrainPal - Best for Tickets (No Booking Fees)

TrainPal is one of the best apps for buying UK train tickets. It offers split ticketing - automatically finding cheaper combinations of tickets for the same journey - and often charges no booking fee at all. This makes it the lowest-cost way to buy tickets for most journeys.

The trade-off is that changing or refunding a ticket can be more expensive with TrainPal than with some other apps. If your plans are fixed, it is hard to beat. Note that TrainPal is designed around ticket purchasing - finding live train times requires navigating through booking flows, and the app does not offer home screen widgets.

3. TrainSplit - Best for Finding Split Ticket Savings

TrainSplit specialises in finding split ticket savings across the widest range of combinations. It charges a percentage of the saving it finds as a booking fee, so you only pay when it saves you money. On longer routes it often finds cheaper tickets than any other app, including TrainPal.

It is worth checking both TrainSplit and TrainPal for the same journey, as they can find different combinations. Like TrainPal, TrainSplit is focused on ticketing - quickly checking live train times without going through a booking flow is not straightforward, and there are no home screen widgets.

4. National Rail - Official Timetables

The official National Rail app provides timetables and live departure boards. It is clunky and web-based in feel, lacking the speed of a native app like Railtime. It displays ads and takes several taps to reach a departure board. For occasional use it is functional, but it is not the best choice for checking times quickly.

5. Railboard - Live Times with Ticket Options

Railboard sits between a times app and a ticketing app. It offers live train times and lets you buy tickets in one place. At 61 MB it is a reasonable size, though booking fees apply on ticket purchases. Home screen widgets are not currently supported.

Trainline - Popular but Expensive

Trainline is the most downloaded UK train app, but popularity does not make it the best choice. It charges high booking fees, its split ticket options are narrower than TrainSplit or TrainPal, and the app is over 300 MB. It does offer a widget, but only a basic one showing a single upcoming train service - not a full departure board. For most journeys, you will get a better price elsewhere, and better widget and live times support from a dedicated app. It is best avoided when cheaper alternatives exist.

The Verdict

The ideal setup for most iPhone users is two apps: Railtime for live times and widgets, and either TrainPal or TrainSplit for buying tickets.

Avoid defaulting to Trainline just because it is well-known - the high fees and limited split ticket range mean you are likely to overpay, especially on longer journeys.

Try Railtime for Free