MAD Next Bus vs Transit.Tracker
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
MAD Next Bus
Find nearby bus stops and get real-time arrival information for Madison Metro Transit. Use your location or map navigation to discover stops, view routes, and save your favorites. An optional in-app purchase can remove ads.
- Location-based bus stop identification
- Real-time bus arrival information
- Map navigation for stop discovery
- View bus routes
- Save favorite stops
- Ad removal in-app purchase
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MAD Next Bus shows real-time bus arrival predictions for Madison, powered by live Madison Metro data. See nearby stops on the map, tap any stop for the next buses, and save favorites for quick access. Service alerts keep you posted on detours and delays. Rebuilt from the ground up for the latest iOS, MAD Next Bus now includes a companion Apple Watch app plus a Home Screen widget and Watch complication. Data provided by Madison Metro.
Transit.Tracker
Plan your journeys and track public transit in real-time. Find nearby stations, view departure times, and get turn-by-turn navigation. Supports numerous transit agencies across multiple metro areas.
- Real-time vehicle tracking
- Scheduled departure times
- Nearest station finder
- Built-in trip planner
- Multi-metro area support
- Today Widget and Watch App integration
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Transit Tracker puts public transit schedules, nearby departures, route stops, and trip plans on your device. Download the schedules for the cities you ride in, and Transit Tracker stores them on your iPhone. Once a city is downloaded, nearby stops, scheduled departures, route and stop search, and trip planning all work from the data on your device. Real-time predictions are added when the transit agency publishes them and you are online. Use Transit Tracker to: - Download the transit schedules you need from the Downloads screen, and update or delete them at any time - Download more than one city and see stops near you across all of them in one view - Find nearby bus, subway, light rail, commuter rail, ferry, and other transit stops - View scheduled departures, with real-time estimates where the agency provides them - Search routes and stops and see a route's stops and path on the map - Plan trips with the built-in trip planner, then tap any stop to see its departures - Save stops, and save trip plans exactly as they were planned - Use Apple Watch and widget support where available - Choose light, dark, or custom app themes Schedules come from the transit agencies and are stored on your device. Each download is a one-time transfer of the agency's published schedule; Wi-Fi is recommended for larger cities. Schedule data is replaced when you update a city, and the app tells you when a downloaded schedule is about to end. Coverage and feature availability vary by region. Schedules, routes, and real-time predictions depend on the data each transit agency publishes. Optional in-app purchases remove ads. You can also watch a short video to remove ads for an hour.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Transit.Tracker at 4.5 against MAD Next Bus's 2.0. Transit.Tracker also leads on ratings volume (3.4K vs 17). On price, review sentiment, update cadence and ads 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. MAD Next Bus sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Transit.Tracker sells 6 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Transit.Tracker holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 2.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Transit.Tracker has 3.4K ratings behind it against 17, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 21% and 20% positive.
MAD Next Bus ships an update every 6 weeks, Transit.Tracker every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 12, 2026 and October 20, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | MAD Next Bus | Transit.Tracker |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.0 (17 ratings) | 4.5 (3.4K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 20.8% of reviews — better | 20.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 17 | 3.4K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | Yes | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, Apple Watch | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 16.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 21 MB | 59 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Junebot, LLC | Raging Coders |
Customer experience
MAD Next Bus
Transit.Tracker
Bugs and requests
MAD Next Bus
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Transit.Tracker
Reported bugs
4 issues- App freezes or crashes frequently
- Incorrect route and schedule data
- Issues with restoring paid upgrades
- Location services not working properly
Requested features
4 requests- Improve real-time bus/train tracking
- Expand coverage to more cities
- Add more customization options
- Fix bugs and crashes
In-app purchases
MAD Next Bus
- MAD Next Bus - No Ads$2.99
Transit.Tracker
- Transfer Ticket$0.99
- 40 Tokens$0.99
- 100 Tokens$1.99
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- 180 Tokens$2.99
- Ad Free$3.99
- 400 Tokens$4.99
