Comparison

Explore Redwood City vs BART (Official)

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

Head to head
About

Explore Redwood City

Discover the vibrant city of Redwood City with guided tours. Initially featuring public art, more tour categories will be added soon. Explore the city's offerings at your own pace.

Highlights
  • Discover city attractions
  • Public art tours
  • Future tour categories planned
  • Community and visitor focused
  • GPS-enabled exploration
Features
Read full description

The City of Redwood City has created this EXPLORE RWC TOURS app to make it easier for our community and visitors to discover all that our vibrant city has to offer. We are launching this app with the Public Art tours first, with other categories of tours to follow. Enjoy and EXPLORE! Note: Continued use of GPS running in the background can dramatically decrease battery life. We advise you to quit the app when finished.

About

BART (Official)

Plan your Bay Area transit journeys with real-time train departures and official service alerts. This app offers end-to-end trip planning, step-by-step navigation, and customized notifications for a hassle-free commute.

Highlights
  • Real-time train departures
  • End-to-end trip planner
  • Step-by-step navigation
  • Customized service alerts
  • Contactless parking payment
  • Service disruption information
Features
Read full description

The official Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) app has arrived. It’s the easiest way to plan your trip and get accurate real time train departures with data straight from BART, along with official service alerts. The BART app offers exclusive features for hassle free travel for daily commuters, infrequent users and tourists alike: -Plan your entire end to end trip with BART’s exclusive Trip Planner giving you the fastest route from your starting point to your destination using BART and multiple modes of transportation, including connecting transit, biking, walking and driving. -Step by step navigation with personalized preferences and saved favorite stations and trips. -Real time departures and schedule timetable. -Customized in-app notifications about BART service and announcements. -Contactless in-app Daily Fee parking payment -Service disruption information linked to your trip itinerary. -Report a Biohazard that needs addressing and access our BART Watch App for reporting crimes. -Escalator and Elevator advisories. -Fleet of the Future train tracker. -Cancelled trip notices. -Easily see the last train of the evening by station when you’re planning your night out or your trip home from the airport. -Station information (including if it offers a parking lot and secured bike parking). -Seamless connection to bart.gov and BARTable for deals, events, and fun. -It’s ad free; who wants to be distracted when looking how far away your train is? BART is working on future features of the app to enhance your BART experience... Tell us about the features you want.

Screenshots

Explore Redwood City4 screens
BART (Official)4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Explore Redwood City at 5.0 against BART (Official)'s 4.6. Explore Redwood City also leads on iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.6). BART (Official)'s advantage is ratings volume (28K vs 2) and update cadence (every 2 months vs every 6 months). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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

Explore Redwood City holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: BART (Official) has 28K ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Explore Redwood City ships an update every 6 months, BART (Official) every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 6, 2026 and November 1, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Explore Redwood City versus BART (Official): the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterExplore Redwood CityBART (Official)
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (2 ratings) — better4.6 (28K ratings)
Positive reviews—30.7% of reviews
Number of ratings228K — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 monthsEvery 2 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS15.1 — better17.6
Further details — not scored
Size136 MB81 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperCity of Redwood CitySan Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District

Customer experience

Explore Redwood City

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

BART (Official)

All ratings21,736 ratings
Positive91.1%
Neutral2.9%
Negative6.1%
Written reviews225 reviews
Positive30.7%
Neutral8.9%
Negative60.4%

Bugs and requests

Explore Redwood City

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

BART (Official)

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Real-time departure times not updating accurately
  • Trip planning providing incorrect/nonsensical routes
  • Login and password issues causing frequent logouts
  • Parking payment not working as expected

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to check Clipper card balance
  • Automatic license plate recognition for parking
  • Offline mode for schedules and trip planning
  • Better notifications for service advisories and delays
  • More customization options for favorite stations

In-app purchases

None

Explore Redwood City

No in-app purchases

None

BART (Official)

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Explore Redwood City free?
Explore Redwood City is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is BART (Official) free?
BART (Official) is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Explore Redwood City or BART (Official)?
Explore Redwood City is rated higher. Explore Redwood City averages 5.0 out of 5 from 2 ratings, while BART (Official) averages 4.6 from 28K ratings.
Do Explore Redwood City or BART (Official) have ads?
Neither Explore Redwood City nor BART (Official) shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Explore Redwood City or BART (Official)?
Explore Redwood City ships an update every 6 months, and BART (Official) every 2 months. Most recently, Explore Redwood City was updated on October 6, 2026 and BART (Official) on November 1, 2026.

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