Comparison

Railwise vs Gleis 6

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

Head to head
About

Railwise

This app provides real-time reliability statistics for thousands of long-distance trains in Germany. It offers on-time rates, average delays, cancellation history, and platform changes to help you plan your journeys and make informed decisions about your travel.

Highlights
  • Real-time train reliability stats
  • On-time rates and average delays
  • Cancellation history
  • Platform change alerts
  • Personal travel map
  • Live Activities and Dynamic Island updates
Features
Read full description

Some trains in Germany are almost always on time. Others are late more often than not. The problem? There's no easy way to find out which is which, until now. Railwise tracks thousands of long-distance trains every day and turns that data into something actually useful: real reliability stats for every train. On-time rates, average delays, cancellation history, platform changes. All based on what actually happened, not what the schedule promised. Got a tight connection? Check whether that 8-minute transfer has worked in the past, or whether you're basically flipping a coin. Planning a trip? Compare trains and pick the one that actually shows up on time. But Railwise isn't just about delays. Save your journeys and build up a personal travel map of everywhere you've been. See your stats, total kilometers, hours on trains, cities visited, favorite routes. Think of it as a travel diary that fills itself in as you go. When you're on a train, Railwise keeps you updated right on your lock screen. Delays, platform changes, next stop — all through Live Activities and Dynamic Island, no need to open the app.

About

Gleis 6

Features
Read full description

Where are you off to next? Gleis 6 keeps your long-distance journeys in Germany in one place: the route on the map, your arrival in view, and how your train usually runs. En route · Adding a trip Ticket in, trip in. Pick a DB ticket PDF or share one with Gleis 6 from another app, and the train, date, time, origin and destination are set. A connection copied from the DB Navigator works just as well. Rather type it in? Choose the train type, the number, the date and — when the train's run is known — the stops in running order. En route · On the line Your train, live on the map. The home screen is a map with the real route, not a straight line. Your leg glows, the rest of the train's run stays quiet. On the day, a dot moves along with it — calculated from the timetable and the current delay. En route · On the day Arrival, delay, platform. The board shows when you will really get there — and from which platform. Below it, the whole run: actual and scheduled time stop by stop, platform changes, cancelled stops, messages. En route · Phone in your pocket Your arrival, without keeping the app open. Open Gleis 6 once on the day of travel and a Live Activity puts arrival, delay and platform on the Lock Screen and, where it exists, in the Dynamic Island. The widget keeps the next journey ready. Switch notifications on for a trip and you hear about delays from 5 minutes, platform changes and cancellations. You stay in your book, Gleis 6 stays awake. En route · Before you book Know your train. Once the train number is in — and the dataset knows that train — Gleis 6 tells you how it usually runs: mostly on time, or late more often than not, with the average delay and the trend across recent months. Once the trip is saved, the average shows at every single stop. Drawn from months of real journeys — knowing that makes the trip easier, ideally before you book. Last stop · Honestly So you know what you're getting: Long-distance only: ICE, IC, EC, ECE, FLX, NJ, RJ. No regional or suburban trains. No connection search: the train number comes from your ticket or from you. The ticket import reads DB online tickets (PDF text) and connections copied from the DB Navigator — no other providers, no camera scan. The dot on the map is calculated from scheduled and actual times, not a GPS signal from the train. Real track geometry covers around 94 % of station pairs; otherwise a straight line bridges the gap — usually short stretches inside cities, unmarked. Live data comes from public sources, applies on the day of travel and is sometimes incomplete. Notifications are checked on the server every five minutes, not second by second. The widget and the Live Activity show whatever the app loaded last; they fetch nothing on their own, and without a fresh reading the dot stays away. Not every train is in the statistics dataset; then the punctuality card stays empty. And punctuality is a monthly figure from the past, not a forecast for your day. The widget and the Live Activity need iOS 17; the app runs from iOS 15 and is dark throughout, with no light mode. Your journeys live on this device only: no backup, no sync. Last stop · Your data No account, no tracking. Gleis 6 starts without a sign-up and without an email address; journeys and notes stay on your device. The ticket is only read, never stored — your name and booking reference never leave your iPhone. Only with notifications on does the app sign in anonymously and mirror that one trip — without your note. Your location appears on the map only when you tap for it. Error reports carry no names, no ticket data, no screenshots. Gleis 6 is an independent project by Franz Bernack and is not affiliated with Deutsche Bahn AG. Data: Deutsche Bahn AG — timetable/delay (via piebro/deutsche-bahn-data) and stations (DB Station&Service), each CC BY 4.0, aggregated and modified. Routes: Transitous/MOTIS, OpenStreetMap. Maps: Apple Maps. Licence notices in the About screen. Have a good trip.

Screenshots

Railwise4 screens
Gleis 64 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Gleis 6 at 15.0 against Railwise's 26.0. On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Railwise versus Gleis 6: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRailwiseGleis 6
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews94.3% of reviews—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 10 days—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS26.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size112 MB31 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperRailwise UG (haftungsbeschränkt)Franz Bernack

In-app purchases

None

Railwise

No in-app purchases

None

Gleis 6

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Railwise free?
Railwise is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Gleis 6 free?
Gleis 6 is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Railwise or Gleis 6 have ads?
Neither Railwise nor Gleis 6 shows ads.

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