Comparison

Virgin Australia vs NT Bus Tracker

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Virgin Australia

Your essential travel companion for managing flights. Book trips, select seats, check in, and track your luggage. Access your boarding pass and flight updates directly from your lock screen.

Highlights
  • Search and book trips
  • Manage trip details
  • Select seats
  • Check in for flights
  • Track luggage
  • View boarding pass
  • Flight updates
Features
Read full description

The Virgin Australia app is your perfect travel companion. Check into your flight, view your boarding pass, watch movies, and track your bags all from your phone. Use the Virgin Australia app to: • Search and book trips, Search and book your next holiday or business trip with a few taps. • Manage trips with ease, You can select a seat, amend your trip details and check in for domestic flights. • Track whatever you pack, Get updates on the whereabouts of your bags when travelling. • Use Journey Tracker, View flight updates and grab your boarding pass from your lock screen. We're working on so much more to make your next trip with Virgin Australia even more wonderful. Love our app? Leave us a rating on the app store. Any questions or feedback? Reach out using the App feedback form on the More screen.

About

NT Bus Tracker

This official government app provides real-time public bus tracking for Darwin and Alice Springs. Find nearby stops, view departure times, and see bus locations on a map. Save your favorite stops for quick access.

Highlights
  • Real-time bus tracking
  • Locate nearby bus stops
  • View departure times
  • Save favorite bus stops
  • Route and bus stop details
  • Map view of bus locations
Read full description

NT Bus Tracker app is a free official Northern Territory Government app. The app provides information about public buses in Darwin and Alice Springs. Buses may be tracked in real-time showing when the next bus is due to your selected stop. With the app you can: - Locate nearby bus stops
: Find the bus stops closest to you and see the routes that use these bus stops. You can also search for bus stops via suburb, number or name. - Save your favourite bus stops: 
You can save the bus stops you regularly use to your favourites, to make them easily available. - Show departures from a bus stop
: You can view the next scheduled routes departing from a bus stop, with a real-time forecast of when the bus will depart. - View route details
: You can view the location of the bus servicing your selected route and the bus stops on this route. - View bus stops and your bus on a map: 
You can track your bus as it approaches your bus stop on a map in real time.

Screenshots

Virgin Australia4 screens
NT Bus Tracker3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: NT Bus Tracker at none against Virgin Australia's shown. NT Bus Tracker also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.8) and monetization model (free vs ad-supported). Virgin Australia's advantage is update cadence (fortnightly vs every 7 months) and ratings volume (1.5K vs 4). On price, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

NT Bus Tracker holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Virgin Australia has 1.5K ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 41% of Virgin Australia's written reviews are positive against 22% of NT Bus Tracker's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Virgin Australia ships an update fortnightly, NT Bus Tracker every 7 months. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Virgin Australia versus NT Bus Tracker: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterVirgin AustraliaNT Bus Tracker
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (1.5K ratings)5.0 (4 ratings) — better
Positive reviews41.0% of reviews — better22.2% of reviews
Number of ratings1.5K — better4
Update frequencyFortnightly — betterEvery 7 months
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationAd-supportedFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS16.016.0
Further details — not scored
Size461 MB29 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperVIRGIN AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS PTY LIMITEDNorthern Territory of Australia

Customer experience

Virgin Australia

All ratings1,456 ratings
Positive94.4%
Neutral1.6%
Negative4.0%
Written reviews415 reviews
Positive41.0%
Neutral5.5%
Negative53.5%

NT Bus Tracker

All ratings4 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews9 reviews
Positive22.2%
Neutral33.3%
Negative44.4%

Bugs and requests

Virgin Australia

Reported bugs

6 issues
  • Screen freezes when trying to upgrade or amend booking
  • Flight notifications show wrong timezone
  • Inability to check in through app
  • Seat selection issues
  • Booking issues
Show 1 more
  • Login failures

Requested features

4 requests
  • Liquid Glass support for modern design
  • Integrate hotel and car bookings
  • Show state credit points in app
  • Dark mode option

NT Bus Tracker

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Virgin Australia

No in-app purchases

None

NT Bus Tracker

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Virgin Australia free?
Virgin Australia is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is NT Bus Tracker free?
NT Bus Tracker is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Virgin Australia or NT Bus Tracker?
NT Bus Tracker is rated higher. Virgin Australia averages 4.8 out of 5 from 1.5K ratings, while NT Bus Tracker averages 5.0 from 4 ratings.
Do Virgin Australia or NT Bus Tracker have ads?
Virgin Australia shows ads; NT Bus Tracker does not.
Which is updated more often, Virgin Australia or NT Bus Tracker?
Virgin Australia ships an update fortnightly, and NT Bus Tracker every 7 months. Most recently, Virgin Australia was updated on October 24, 2026 and NT Bus Tracker on October 24, 2026.

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