Now Departing vs RailApp
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Now Departing
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Now Departing provides real-time departure board information for your commute or train journey within the UK. You can use it for general departure enquiries and to check and view the latest updates. Make stations as favourites so they can be easily accessed when required. You can view the detail of each journey, giving you a breakdown of the stops, train operator, the time of each stop and if available the departing platform. It will tell you which services are on-time, which are delayed and which are cancelled and any Service Update messages.
RailApp
Access live and offline departure boards for UK railways. View journey stops for direct train services between stations. This application does not plan routes.
- Live departure boards
- Offline access
- Journey stop overviews
- UK railway information
- Direct train services
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Departure boards for UK railways. Provides online and offline results, and overview of journey stops. Note that this is for direct trains between stations only, and cannot plan routes.
Screenshots
Verdict
Now Departing and RailApp are too close to call on the numbers: across 6 compared parameters — price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.
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.
Now Departing ships an update every 7 months, RailApp every 9 months. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Now Departing | RailApp |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Positive reviews | — | 66.7% of reviews |
| Update frequency | Every 7 months — better | Every 9 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | — | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 13.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 22 MB | 11 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | SpiralArm Consulting Limited | Jacob Parker |
In-app purchases
Now Departing
No in-app purchases
RailApp
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Now Departing free?
Is RailApp free?
Do Now Departing or RailApp have ads?
Which is updated more often, Now Departing or RailApp?
Other comparisons
