Helsinki Bikes vs HSL
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Helsinki Bikes
Discover HSL City Bikes in Helsinki with real-time station locations, available bikes, and parking space updates. Receive timely notifications about your ride duration and potential extra charges.
- Find city bike stations on map
- Real-time bike availability
- Real-time parking space availability
- Notifications for ride end
- Notifications for extra charges
- Extra charge calculation
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Helsinki Bikes is an easy to use app that helps you find HSL's City Bikes around central Helsinki. It shows all the bike stations near you or anywhere in the map with a realtime update of available bikes and free parking spaces in the stations. Helsinki Bikes can also give you notifications when your free ride time is about to end or when you are charged certain amount of extra money. In addition to that it also calculates the extra charge that is due depending on the time. The app is made using the open data provided by HSL and is not in anyway affiliated with HSL. More info about city bikes from https://www.hsl.fi/en/citybikes .
HSL
Plan your public transport journeys in the Helsinki region, buy tickets, and get real-time updates. Access buses, trains, metro, trams, and ferries all in one place.
- Public transport ticket purchase
- Journey planner
- Real-time timetables
- Vehicle tracking
- Service disruption alerts
- Multiple payment options
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Buses, trains, the Metro, trams and ferry – all in one app. The HSL app allows you to buy public transport tickets for the Helsinki region, find the best routes using the Journey Planner, view all timetables, and receive personalized transport information. You can buy single, day and season tickets for both adults and children via the HSL app. Adult multi-journey tickets and discounted tickets for students and passengers aged 70 and over are also available via the app. You can pay using the most popular payment methods, including debit/credit cards, MobilePay, phone bill and commuter benefits. The HSL app's Journey Planner helps you find routes and informs you about the ticket needed for your journey. You can view real-time stop-specific departure and arrival times and track vehicles in real time. The app also displays any service changes and disruptions, and you can choose to receive notifications about these updates directly on your phone. More information about Helsinki region public transport: hsl.fi
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: HSL at 3.9 against Helsinki Bikes's 3.0. HSL also leads on ratings volume (483 vs 2) and review sentiment (14% vs 0%). Helsinki Bikes's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). On price, in-app purchases and device support 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
HSL holds the better App Store score, 3.9 against 3.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: HSL has 483 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 0% of Helsinki Bikes's written reviews are positive against 14% of HSL's.
| Parameter | Helsinki Bikes | HSL |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.0 (2 ratings) | 3.9 (483 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 0.0% of reviews | 14.5% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 2 | 483 — better |
| Update frequency | — | Monthly |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 8.0 — better | 13.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 3 MB | 94 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Anteneh Sahledengel | Helsingin seudun liikenne |
Customer experience
Helsinki Bikes
HSL
Bugs and requests
Helsinki Bikes
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
HSL
Reported bugs
4 issues- Version 4.2.0 does not work on iPhone6 (iOS 12.5.5)
- Routes go blank, nothing to go back
- Login problems, like a scam
- Unable to create account, login, or purchase tickets
Requested features
3 requests- Allow buying multiple tickets in a single purchase
- Add maps showing all routes
- Provide email verification option instead of just SMS
In-app purchases
Helsinki Bikes
No in-app purchases
HSL
No in-app purchases
