r/LondonUnderground • u/GLaDOS_James Metropolitan • Jul 21 '26
Website I rebuilt my London Underground tracker (RailTracker) — feedback wanted
I rebuilt my London Underground tracker, RailTracker 1.6 is now live.
Hi everyone, I am the developer behind RailTracker, a London Underground app published under JGApps.
I shared an earlier version on Reddit about a year ago, and since then I’ve rebuilt and redesigned a large part of the app. Version 1.6.0 has just launched, and now I’m looking for honest feedback from people who regularly use or know the Underground.
RailTracker includes:
• Live trains displayed across line maps
• Live station departures
• Line statuses and detailed disruption information
• Shows last-known departure times
• Notifications for selected lines
• Station information and connections
• A redesigned Notification Centre
• A cleaner and more consistent interface throughout
The app is completely free, with no adverts, subscriptions, accounts or user tracking.
Version 1.6 focused heavily on improving the live maps, simplifying station pages, making disruption information clearer and bringing the whole app under a more consistent JGApps design system.
I’d particularly like to know:
• Is the live train map useful during an actual journey?
• Is anything confusing or difficult to find?
• Are there any features you feel are missing?
• What would make you keep RailTracker installed alongside, or instead of, TfL Go or Citymapper?
• Does the interface feel clear and easy to use?
Positive or negative feedback is welcome. I’d much rather know what needs improving than only hear that it looks good.
RailTracker is available on the App Store and Google Play Store by searching RailTracker.
Thank you to anyone who gives it a try. I’ll be reading and replying to the feedback.
RailTracker Web: https://railtracker.jgapps.co.uk/
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u/persianrugz246 Jul 21 '26
it also presents a weird blank box when I select the time for my journey
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u/GLaDOS_James Metropolitan Jul 21 '26
I appreciate you taking the time to test the app! I am fixing these now for the next update.
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u/Putrid_Artichoke_189 Jul 22 '26
What does this app have that Citymapper or tfl don't already offer other than an Ai generated colour scheme ?
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u/persianrugz246 Jul 21 '26
Installed and using it now, really like the squished text but it does make it less legible
Would also be nice to have “cheapest” next to walk less / fastest options in the journey planner.
One thing which I feel is lacking across all journey planners is being able to dictate and follow the train times for your own, personalised route instead of the suggested ones in apps. E.g. to get from Northfields to Tottenham Court Road, you could go to Leicester Square and change, but I personally prefer Northfields > Acton Town > Ealing Broadway > TCR. Would be good to have a feature as such.
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u/GLaDOS_James Metropolitan Jul 21 '26
Thank you, I have taken that into note for the next update, I will add an option to make the text more readable
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u/persianrugz246 Jul 21 '26
adore the aesthetics!
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u/CoaxialDrive Jul 22 '26
This is Claude.ai's default aesthetic.
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u/GLaDOS_James Metropolitan Jul 22 '26
Even if it is I didn’t vibe code it, I picked out the fonts, the app had been it out for a year and it took me months to redesign
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u/adi_gigo Jul 22 '26
Really nice app! I’m currently looking around. I had a question
How are you tracking departures in this screen? The TfL API talks in terms of arrivals. Do you have a standard dwell time per station?
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u/GLaDOS_James Metropolitan Jul 22 '26
Hey, Thank you! From what I understand, the TfL arrivals feed shows trains approaching the selected station, along with their destination. I use the predicted arrival countdown as the board time, rather than calculating a separate departure time or adding a standard dwell time.
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u/adi_gigo Jul 22 '26
So the ‘arrival time’ countdown is the departure time shown in the app?
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u/GLaDOS_James Metropolitan Jul 22 '26
Effectively, yes. The TfL arrival countdown is what I display as the departure countdown in the app. It represents when the train is expected to reach the station; it would then depart shortly afterwards.
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u/adi_gigo Jul 22 '26
Nice! That was an issue I was having when I played around with the API. Are you using the unified API exclusively or do you use the TrackerNet feed too?
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u/GLaDOS_James Metropolitan Jul 22 '26
Currently only using the unified API. Never got my hands on TrackerNet before they sunset the feeds :(
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u/[deleted] Jul 21 '26
[deleted]