Train Timer

This app is so useful to me, I use it everyday. Add your most used routes and it'll show you the next train, the platform and arrival time all in a glanceable way. The iOS 10 Widget is perfect for this. Also, the icon makes more sense if you never open the app, it acts as a key/legend for the colours. Wish it had a WatchOS complication for the next train and platform number.

My daily commute is a 2.5hr grind. Finding out how poorly the rail company is doing with providing their overpriced service makes this grind even harder, so when I got a shiny new Apple Watch (series 2), one of the things I was hoping for was an app which could reduce the friction of this dull task. Having tried several other apps (Trainline; poor watch implementation, Citymapper; wanted me to walk my 85 miles home, Train Times; doesn't have a watch app and hasn't seen active development in a long time despite the hefty purchase price, National Rail Enquiries; horrible, just horrible), I came upon Train Timer and I'm loving it. After a bumpy start; having purchased the app right about the time they were experiencing an outage on connecting to NRE feed, the developer was incredibly responsive, polite and informative. Now I put it to use to check beofre leaving the house whilst getting my daughter ready for school, on my walk to the station and through the day to keep an eye on how my commute it likely to go. I've managed to catch 2 delayed trains owing to the speed of the watch app and for that alone I'm more than happy to have paid the purchase price. Highly recommend. I would have given 5 stars had I not experienced the NRE outage. I believe this is something which may be avoided in future now lessons have been learned about best to interoperate with their feed.

This app does one thing, and does it very well. If you find yourself taking the same journey (or few journeys) back and forth often, then this app is for you. Setup your route and then based on your location it figures out which way you are going and shows future and past trains, their departure and arrival times and he platform. That's pretty much it, but it is so quick and clear that it easily out-performs fuller train journey planners for commuters. Two things make it even better - the ability to view trains that have left means you can keep an eye on the train you are on, and an Apple Watch app makes it all glance-able from your wrist.