Please review the Frequently Asked questions below. If these don’t answer your question, or if you have a different bug or behaviour, please send me feedback via the Contact link above.

August 9, 2026

Using Next3Trains with Shortcuts

Next3Trains provides two actions you can use in the Shortcuts app to build your own automations. Both run in the background without opening the app, so they work as one step in a longer shortcut.

Check My Trains

The same action Siri uses. It takes no parameters - it works out which of your saved routes is most relevant from your location, your widget, or the route you last looked at - and returns the next three departures with times, platforms and any delays.

August 9, 2026

What notifications will I get?

Next3Trains can send you push notifications when something goes wrong with a train on one of your routes. Notifications are opt-in - if you never turn them on, the app carries on working exactly as it did before and nothing about your setup leaves your phone beyond the station codes needed to fetch train times.

The three kinds of alert

You can turn each of these on or off independently in Settings:

August 9, 2026

How do Live Activities work?

A Live Activity is the panel that appears on your Lock Screen, and in the Dynamic Island on iPhones that have one, showing your next trains without you needing to unlock or open anything. Next3Trains uses one to keep your next three departures in front of you while you’re actually travelling. This needs iOS 16.2 or later.

Starting one

You don’t start it manually. During one of your commuting windows, the app starts a Live Activity for the saved route whose departure station you’re nearest to. Opening the app also refreshes whichever one is running.

August 9, 2026

Using Next3Trains on Apple Watch

There’s a Next3Trains app for Apple Watch, for watchOS 9.2 and later. It shows the same train departure data as the phone, on your wrist.

Setting it up

Set your routes up on the iPhone first. The watch app doesn’t have its own route editor - it receives your saved routes from the phone automatically. If the watch app says “Add routes in Next3Trains on iPhone”, that’s what it’s waiting for.

August 9, 2026

Next3Trains on Mac

Next3Trains runs natively on macOS 14 or later. It’s the same app record on the App Store, so if you’ve downloaded it on iPhone you can just download it on Mac.

The widget works on Mac too - you can add it to Notification Centre or put it on the desktop.

Keyboard shortcuts

⌘R - refresh all routes
⌘N - add a route
⌘, - open Settings
Escape - close the train detail window

Toolbar buttons that are icon-only show a tooltip when you hover over them.

August 9, 2026

Lock Screen, StandBy, Control Center and the Action Button

The whole point of Next3Trains is getting your departures in front of you in a couple of seconds, so there are several ways to reach it without hunting for the app icon.

Home Screen widgets

The Next3Trains widget comes in small, medium and large sizes. Which route it shows is chosen for you - see Why is my widget showing the wrong station?. On iOS 17 and later, the circular arrow icon in the widget’s header is a button: tap it to pull fresh data without opening the app.

August 9, 2026

Where does the train data come from?

All departure information in Next3Trains comes from National Rail Open Data, licensed via the Rail Data Marketplace. It’s the same live departure board feed that drives the screens at the station. The attribution is shown in the app under Settings → About.

The app displays that data and doesn’t modify it. If National Rail’s feed is having problems, the app will show a clear error rather than pretend - and if a train’s status looks wrong on the departure board at the station too, that’s the upstream data rather than the app.

August 9, 2026

Is Next3Trains accessible?

Accessibility is an area where I’ve tried to include sensible uplifts to support those who need them.

VoiceOver

Each train is read out as a single combined description rather than as a scatter of separate labels, so you get “the 08:42 to Waterloo, on time, platform 4” in one go instead of having to swipe through the pieces. Decorative icons and off-screen route cards are hidden from VoiceOver so they don’t get in the way.

August 9, 2026

What devices does Next3Trains run on?

Next3Trains started out as an iPhone app, but it now runs on most of the Apple devices you’re likely to be carrying on a commute.

iPhone - iOS 16 or later. This is the main app, in portrait and landscape.
iPad - the same app, with a grid layout that uses the extra width rather than just stretching the phone screen.
Apple Watch - watchOS 9.2 or later. There’s a proper watch app plus complications for your watch face. See Using Next3Trains on Apple Watch.
Mac - macOS 14 or later, as a native Mac app. See Next3Trains on Mac.

Apple Vision Pro is not supported. There’s no visionOS version and I don’t currently have plans for one.

August 9, 2026

How many routes can I save?

Up to 10, and on smaller iPhones fewer than that.

The reason is the row of page dots at the bottom of the screen that lets you swipe between your saved routes. Those dots are accessibility and navigation affordances that have to stay big enough to tap comfortably, so the number of routes the app allows is worked out from how wide your screen is. On a Pro Max you’ll get the full ten; on an iPhone SE or mini you’ll get fewer.