Silicon Roundabout

Essential free iPhone apps for people who actually live in London

Darren Atwater | Tuesday 18 January, 2011 10:58

Everything that you need to know about this story is in the headline. Further, these are apps that not only are free, but are at least as good as a paid version.

You’ll notice that no media or music apps are listed—everyone has such terrible taste, and you should really be getting your news from a website anyway.

What do you think? Leave your suggestions in the comments.

GETTING AROUND
Nothing unites Londoners like the shared sisyphean task of travelling around the city.

1. Journey Pro

This app is so much better than the paid apps. Covering the tube, bus, DLR, Overground, Tramlink, River Service, National Rail and domestic flights, this app shows the best route to anywhere.

2. Tube Change Lite

Never again shall you alight a carriage in a tube station and not be mere feet from your preferred exit or exchange.

3. London Bus Buddy

Bus Buddy shows you the nearest bus stops—including, and especially, the Night Bus stops. Plus, it has a handy alarm to wake you up before the bus goes to sleep in the garage.

4. London Taxi Meter

Calculate the estimated fare to any destination.

5. London Cycle: Maps & Routes

Shows the nearest Boris Bike and the best route to the next bike station. Of course, in this case, the headline ‘Essential free iPhone apps for people who actually live in London’ assumes you live in Zone 1 only.

6. Heathrow Airport Guide Pro

Your bog-standard flight-time app, but the fact that it shows which terminal you are leaving from makes it essential

7. TheTrainline

Like London Journey Planner, this free app is better than the paid ones for National Rail train times and ticket prices.

CULTURE

8. Museum of London: Streetmuseum

Stand anywhere in London, launch this app, and be amazed at 2,000 years of history in your immediate vicinity.

9. London’s Cinema Times

As it says on the tin.

FOOD

10. Around Me

Around Me doesn’t just list restaurants, it shows the banks and ATMs, hotels, and Apple Stores in your manor.

11. London’s Best Coffee

London is still not a coffee town, but this app will show the nearest of 60 of the best independent cafes and stalls serving locally roasted coffee. Bonus: no Starbucks or Costas.

12. Urban Spoon

The Urban Spoon app was the first and is still the best at answering the question: “what do I want to eat? No, I don’t want that, show me something else.”

13. SumSushi

This is only a London app in the sense that it calculates prices in pounds and, really, where else in the UK will you be eating sushi? But it’s genius—any sushi restaurant that uses six colours to link dishes to their prices you can now use SumSushi to calculate how much you’ve spent.

Edit 31 Jan 2010 Changed the name, but not the link of Journey Pro.

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