# Realtime Trains — Live GB train information

> Live GB train times and real-time location tracking for mainline railways. (iPhone/iPad app by Swlines Ltd.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/realtime-trains/id6756188537 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Swlines Ltd](https://appshunter.io/developer/808408879)
- Category: Travel, Utilities
- Price: Free
- Rating: 5.00/5 from 2 App Store ratings · 9 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 17.2 · 46 MB
- Languages: American English
- Released: 2026-05-14
- Data updated: 2026-08-25
- Monetization: ad-supported
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/realtime-trains/id6756188537/reviews.md

## What is Realtime Trains?

Shhh, it's the secret that no-one else wants you to know about. Get ahead of the rush when boarding your trains at some of the busiest stations.

We're Realtime Trains, and we're Great Britain's largest independent service for train times - used by millions every year. And we're back - finally - with our new app.

Get live train times from any mainline railway station, see where your train is and what's available onboard. Favourite your frequently used stations, routes and services. See train information in far more detail than any other app with our detailed mode! For the professional travellers and enthusiasts, you can even see non-passenger trains like freight and empty stock - so you can really tell if there's a steam train coming... or what's in the way.

From Penzance to Thurso, and Arisaig to Lowestoft, we cover the entire mainline railway network with live, up to date, train information. Unlike many other apps, we process data from Network Rail and signalling systems ourselves rather than just showing everything the industry wants to tell you. 

We're not funded by the rail industry: we pride ourselves on being as accurate as we can be.  We started Realtime Trains from a frustration of missing trains and incorrect information and are still at it nearly 15 years later. However, if you spot an issue as they do happen sometimes - let us know and we'll do our best to make sure it doesn't happen again!

## Key features

- Live train times
- Real-time train location
- Onboard amenities information
- Detailed mode for enthusiasts
- Non-passenger train tracking
- Favorite stations and routes

## Recent user reviews (9 of 9)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/realtime-trains/id6756188537/reviews.md

### 1/5 — Rubbish for searching for services on other dates

*2026-07-13*

Absolutely useless for searching trains on other days. It doesn’t find the journeys at the time I put and “earlier” and “later” just says “no services” even though there are services running.

It’s just unreliable as it’s totally incorrect.

### 1/5 — Close but still no cigar

*2026-06-27*

Those of you who have read my reviews before will know that I am visually impaired. I use VoiceOver on my iPhone to work these apps. 

The latest update of RTT has made several improvements but as yet it is still not easy to use this app. I know a lot of my sighted friends use RTT and find it brilliant. However, for a visually impaired user, this app is still a long way from user-friendly. 

E.g. when you type in part of the station name or its NLC,  such as WOF  for Worcester Foregate Street,  although you can flick the focus to the top of the name list,  if there are multiple names for those first three letters, the focus jumps all over the place and does not read straight down the  list.

  Another feature that is missing is being able to identify quickly where the train is currently at. A fully cited person can look down the timeline and see the blue indicator where the train is currently located. For a visually impaired person, it is necessary to read the full length of the Trains journey and try to work out by time where that train is. In the past I have seen on an app where when you got to the first point of the timeline it would say this train is currently at XYZ. This would be an incredibly useful feature for this application.

Another major fault is that when entering the date you can navigate to the date you wish to look at but then when you double tap on that date, (this is the gesture a blind person uses to indicate they want to use that function) the window stays open. A more accurate way to program this functionality would be to close that window once that date has been selected. The same correction could be done with the time selector.

Overall, this latest update is a step forward in the right direction but as yet I would not want to use RTT with confidence as I would spend far too long trying to find the information I need quickly in a given situation. I look forward to trying out further updates and hopefully writing a more positive review for this application. I would also welcome contact to discuss this from the app designers. Thanks.

**Developer response:** Hello, we're aware of issues with using the app using VoiceOver and other accessibility issues. We're working on overhauling this properly for a future release, but we'd rather do this properly and do it full justice rather than a piecemeal effort that isn't that great. If you'd like to get in touch with us please email us at hello@realtimetrains.com.

### 5/5 — Game changer, the industry (not so) little secret

*2026-06-17*

Having RTT back is a massive game changer for everyone, but importantly for railway workers, the information is absolutely spot on, and is rarely wrong with the formations. This has made my life so much easier on a personal level as now I know where my train is, which platform it’s going to, and on what routes, but additionally as a driver standards manager it is more intuitive than other railway platforms for data (such as TOPS and ERIC), a clean modern look, in an easy and familiar format. Never let it go away again please!

### 4/5 — Almost there!

*2026-06-15*

As a very regular user of RTT, it’s great to see an App back.  So far so good, has most of the features of the website but just a couple of things that would make a big difference: 1. The ability to click on a location within a service for it to then go through to all services around that time from that location and 2. The ability to search on other criteria, such as headcode or stock number.

### 4/5 — Good to have as an app

*2026-06-08*

Please add support for Shortcuts!

### 4/5 — Really fantastic, mostly

*2026-06-04*

Replicates the website pretty well with all the convenience of an app. The typeface is very small compared to similar apps, would be good to have it larger. And a quicker way to filter live departures/arrivals by ‘calling at’ stations.

### 2/5 — Welcome return but unpolished

*2026-05-31*

As far as I can tell, some of the options on the web version are missing. There seems to be no way of viewing services in a way other than “now” or at a certain time. Where is the “all day” or between “x” and “y” that is available online? It’s clean but clearly not fully polished yet which is unfortunate

**Developer response:** We've now added between X and Y times in our detailed mode in a recent release.

### 1/5 — Cookie Notification

*2026-05-28*

No matter what you select, the cookie option shows every time you open the app. 

What makes this worse is the styling doesn’t allow the text on the buttons to show so you don’t know what you’re selecting.

1 star until this basic option is corrected!

**Developer response:** We asked the supplier of that component for feedback on this as we hadn't observed this with anyone else and have updated the software doing this - hopefully you will no longer experience this problem.

### 5/5 — Welcome Back

*2026-05-20*

Good to have the app back. Very useful and does what I want. As any app, it does rely on the data and information it is supplied by the industry, so can't be totally right all the time but after years of using the web page, it's helped me a lot

## Frequently asked questions about Realtime Trains

### Does Realtime Trains have ads?

Yes, Realtime Trains contains advertisements. This allows the service to remain free for users while providing comprehensive train information.

### What is the age rating for Realtime Trains?

Realtime Trains has an age rating of 4+. This indicates it is suitable for young children and general audiences.

### How often is Realtime Trains updated?

The latest version of Realtime Trains is 2.1.6, and it was last updated on June 23, 2026. Updates typically occur to improve performance and add new features.

### What devices does Realtime Trains support?

Realtime Trains is currently supported on iPhone devices. Information regarding Android or other platform availability is not provided.

### Can I see freight trains with Realtime Trains?

Yes, Realtime Trains offers a detailed mode that allows users to see non-passenger trains, including freight and empty stock, providing a comprehensive view of railway activity.

### How does Realtime Trains get its data?

Realtime Trains processes data directly from Network Rail and signalling systems, rather than relying solely on industry-provided information. This independent approach aims for greater accuracy.

### What if I find an issue with Realtime Trains data?

If you encounter an issue with the data provided by Realtime Trains, you are encouraged to report it to the developers. They are committed to addressing and resolving such problems.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 2.1.6 — 2026-06-23

It's hot out there! We're helping you keep cool with this release. On our departures boards, we'll now highlight trains installed with air conditioning, wi-fi and power (whether sockets or USB). You can still tap through for a full facilities run down on the train through Know Your Train.

We've also added a 'search until' time feature in detailed mode, better highlighted that you can long press any station or location to bring up its departure boards and fixed a few minor issues.

### 2.1.5 — 2026-06-10

We somehow broke junctions in detailed, sorry. They're fixed now.

### 2.1.4 — 2026-06-08

This release fixes a number of things and makes some other things a bit more obvious!

For our iOS 17 users, we're sorry about the crashes when viewing services - it's taken quite some time to work out what caused it but we've fettled around a bit and flicked some configuration switches and we think we have now fixed those.

Other fixes include:
- Favourite ordering will no longer have a mind of its own
- Fixed some issues on services that join/divide at unadvertised locations (we're looking at you, Caledonian Sleeper) so they no longer look ridiculous
- Fixed some issues switching between simple & detailed mode
- Fixed the STP filters in detailed mode
- TOC code DF now available in detailed mode

### 2.1.3 — 2026-05-22

A few minor bug fixes in this release and... detailed mode is now more detailed!

You can search for your heart's content at railway locations such as Junction Road Junction or everyone's favourite mistake station, Abbeyhill Junction, just outside Edinburgh.

### 2.1.2 — 2026-05-21

Lots of very minor bug fixes, almost all to do with the minutiae of how trains move around the network that we didn't quite get right before.

Also includes fixes for train services that cross midnight, the predictive dropdown being temperamental, and improves the search results page that should reduce the number of crashes being experienced on iOS 17.

## Related topics

[trainsnap](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/trainsnap) · [free phone games](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/free-phone-games)

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-25.*
