The Robin vs Spine Guide
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
The Robin
This app facilitates flexible bus travel within specific Gloucestershire operating areas. Users can search, book, and pay for journeys, receive real-time travel alerts, and track their minibus live.
- Search for bus journeys
- Book and pay for travel
- Receive travel alerts
- Live minibus tracker
- Flexible pick-up/drop-off points
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The Robin bus service is run by Gloucestershire County Council and is a flexible bus service for everyone. The service is specifically designed to pick up and drop off close to people’s homes (e.g. known bus stops or village centres) to get you to a destination in the operating areas and/or a connection to onward travel. Use The Robin App to search for, book, and pay for your travel, get alerts sent straight to your phone to inform you of pick up and drop off times, and view the live minibus tracker to see where your driver is. Areas of operation: A north and south area of the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, a south area of the Forest of Dean, Tewkesbury district and Berkeley Vale. The service runs 7am to 7pm, Monday to Saturday
Spine Guide
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Welcome to Sheffield Innovation Spine - your energised urban innovation district in the centre of Sheffield, UK. Powered by two leading universities, global businesses and a flourishing cluster of startups and spinouts, we connect people, ideas and research in spaces that inspire. Get to know the Spine with our dedicated app, featuring a directory of local businesses and innovation hubs, a self-guided walking tour and a changing programme of events guides. Whether you live, work, study or want to invest in the Spine, the app provides information about the people and activities which bring the Spine to life. The Spine Guide includes the official guide to Open Doors 2026, happening on October 20th. This free event is for curious people to explore Sheffield Innovation Spine. Meet with people innovating, making and doing cool stuff from Sheffield's specialist lab, studio and coworking spaces. Download the Spine Guide now to unlock exclusive content about the people, businesses, buildings and neighbourhoods which make Sheffield an amazing and innovative place. The app is GPS-enabled. This feature is used to show you relevant content based on your location. Note that you do not need to be at the locations in Sheffield featured in order to access the app content. The app also optionally uses Location Services to determine your location when the app is running in the background. It will trigger notifications when you are close to a location of interest. However, as with all apps that use location, please note that continued use of GPS running in the background can dramatically decrease battery life. During Open Doors 2026 on 20th October, content in the app is ‘unlocked’ by interacting with NFC tags at physical locations within Sheffield. Each scan will earn the user points. The user can optionally choose to join the event leaderboard, and a chance to win a £100 gift card.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Spine Guide at daily against The Robin's every 3 weeks. Spine Guide also leads on device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.0). On price, ads and in-app purchases 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.
The Robin ships an update every 3 weeks, Spine Guide daily. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | The Robin | Spine Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 1.0 (5 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 0.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 5 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Daily — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 46 MB | 176 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Padam Mobility | Llama Digital |
In-app purchases
The Robin
No in-app purchases
Spine Guide
No in-app purchases






