Leap Top Up vs Translink mLink
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Leap Top Up
This official app allows you to manage your TFI Leap Card directly from your NFC-enabled iPhone. Check your balance, top-up your card, and purchase tickets conveniently. It also lets you collect pre-paid tickets and view recent transactions.
- Check TFI Leap Card balance
- Top-up Leap Card instantly
- Purchase and collect tickets
- View daily/weekly capping
- See last 5 transactions
- Email receipts for top-ups
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This official Leap Top-Up app from Transport for Ireland (TFI) allows you to check your balance, top-up your TFI Leap Card and purchase tickets - directly from your NFC-enabled iPhone. Open the app and simply hold your TFI Leap Card to the back, top of your iPhone to instantly check your balance, buy a ticket, collect a pre-paid ticket, or top-up your card – anytime, anywhere. Key Features: * Check your balance – see the current balance of any TFI Leap Card * Top-up instantly by using the dial to select a top-up value or tap to enter your desired amount * Check the daily, weekly capping value * Buy and Collect pre-paid tickets or tickets bought online from LeapCard.ie * View your last 5 transactions * Receive receipts via email for top-ups made via the app * Save your payment details * View your card information at a glance * View ticket information for tickets on your TFI Leap Card Note: The Leap Top-up app's minimum requirement is an iPhone 7 running iOS 13.0. Due to the NFC chips used on iPhone 7 and 7 Plus some users may experience scanning issues or delays when scanning their TFI Leap Card. If the app fails to read the card it is recommended to adjust the position of the card.
Translink mLink
Purchase and use public transport tickets directly from your mobile device. This app allows you to buy various ticket types for multiple transit services, simplifying your travel experience.
- Mobile ticket purchase
- Weekly, Monthly, and Day tickets
- NI Railways, Metro/Glider support
- Airport Express 300
- Refund and Delay Repay information
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The quicker and easier way to travel with Translink. Buy, receive & use your tickets via your mobile. You can buy your Weekly, Monthly, 3 Day Flexi and new 1 Day Peak and 1 Day Off-Peak tickets using your mobile phone. You can purchase NI Railways, Metro/Glider, Foyle Metro, yLink and 24+, Airport Express 300, Goldline services (within Northern Ireland), selected Ulsterbus and urby tickets. Full details of ticket validities, what to do if your phone is lost, stolen, damaged or faulty, how to apply for a Refund, how to make a claim under our Delay Repay scheme, further information and full Terms & Conditions can be found at www.translink.co.uk/mLink
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Leap Top Up at 3.0 against Translink mLink's 1.5. Leap Top Up also leads on review sentiment (25% vs 2%) and ratings volume (47 vs 8). Translink mLink's advantage is update cadence (fortnightly vs every 3 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Leap Top Up holds the better App Store score, 3.0 against 1.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Leap Top Up has 47 ratings behind it against 8, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 25% of Leap Top Up's written reviews are positive against 2% of Translink mLink's.
Leap Top Up ships an update every 3 months, Translink mLink fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Leap Top Up | Translink mLink |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.0 (47 ratings) — better | 1.5 (8 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 24.5% of reviews — better | 2.1% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 47 — better | 8 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 14.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 15 MB | 24 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | National Transport Authority | Corethree Ltd. |
Customer experience
Leap Top Up
Translink mLink
User reviews
Leap Top Up
From 47 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Good for topping up
- 👍 Easy to see balance
- 👍 Convenient for transactions
- 👍 App is pretty solid
- 👍 Great idea for an app
Room to improve
- 🐛 Scanner doesn't work
- 🐛 Payment fails
- 🐛 App freezes
- 🐛 Top up times out
- 🐛 Card won't read
Translink mLink
From 8 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Great app
- ✨ Aesthetically pleasing interface
Room to improve
- 🐛 Crashes frequently
- 🔒 Login/password reset issues
- 🚫 Lacks functionality compared to old app
- 🤯 Confusing and difficult to navigate
- 🔋 Offline usage problems
Bugs and requests
Leap Top Up
Reported bugs
57 issues- Card won't read
- Repeatedly saying to place card flat
- Failing payment saying check card type
- Doesn't give anywhere to select card type
- Keeps failing payment
Show 52 moreShow fewer
- Scanner doesn't work
- Scanner doesn't want to scan
- Scanner doesn't work half the time
- Trying to top it up, it fails consistently
- Ne skanuie kartku
- Fails and gives an error to please select the correct card type
- No menu to select any card type
- Scanner geht nicht
- Cannot scan card since latest update
- App freezes all the time
- Top up always times out
- Payment system buffers and fails
- Scanner doesn't work
- Not possible to enter details manually
- Scanner doesn't work
- Says please wait for a second and nothing happens
- Card won't load sometimes
- Not scanning any of the cards
- Does not add money
- Does not do anything to the card
- Scan does not work
- Weird to choose to not permit the use with the number of the card
- Asks to select the right card type and won't accept the payment
- Card type is not even an option
- Doesn't work as all reviews but one state
- Keeps adding money to mine and my friends card when we scan to check out balance
- Reader randomly doesn't work
- App implies user error
- Place the card in the same spot every time and repeat the exact steps, yet it randomly stops working
- Does not happen with any other NFC scenario or app
- Big fat bug in the implementation of this app
- Behavior is random, likely a multi-threaded deadlock type of bug
- Make payment NOT working
- Button simply doesn't work
- Doesn't work on iPhone 14 pro
- Nothing happens when I tap “open scanner”
- Keep getting error message despite keying in all card details
- Please correct the following and try again
- Please select correct Card Type
- App only reads my card 10% of the time
- Extremely frustrating when it is not able to read it
- Issue is in the app not the user
- Scanner won’t open
- Please wait… then nothing happens
- Scanner run and the card was readed correctly after iPhone upgrade
- Scanner will not even open
- Worked for a week, then it stopped reading the card
- Now it’s frozen in the scanner opening page
- Not possible to scan at all
- Tried reinstalling app but still doesn’t work
- Scanner problem
- Tapping on 'scan new tfi leap card' but it's starting to scan
Requested features
14 requests- Create an account for automatic balance updates
- Option to create an account
- Tap to pay on public transport
- Purchase tickets directly off the app
- Apple Pay integration
Show 9 moreShow fewer
- Use iPhone for tap to pay
- See if cap is reached
- More history transactions
- No cap meter on iOS
- Ability to log in with username or Leap card number
- See the scan as you are using the app
- Option to input card number
- Auto top up
- Pay with Apple Pay
Translink mLink
Reported bugs
5 issues- Constant log-outs
- Tickets disappearing
- Crashes when selecting destination
- Basket validation errors when purchasing
- Password reset emails not being received
Requested features
4 requests- Add 'Add to Apple Wallet' button
- Remember last route when buying tickets
- Ability to buy tickets for multiple people
- Integrate ticket purchasing into main app
In-app purchases
Leap Top Up
No in-app purchases
Translink mLink
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Leap Top Up free?
Is Translink mLink free?
Which has better reviews, Leap Top Up or Translink mLink?
Do Leap Top Up or Translink mLink have ads?
Which is updated more often, Leap Top Up or Translink mLink?
Other comparisons
