Top 5 Edinburgh iPhone Apps

With the launch of the iPhone 4 at the end of June, Apple reclaimed the top spot in the ever-expanding smartphone market and laid down the first salvo in the ongoing battle for future supremacy. For all its detractors though, the iPhone (and its rival Android, Blackberry and Palm handsets) is becoming an increasingly essential part of daily life for thousands of Edinburgh residents, with apps allowing them to do everything from simplifying their daily commute to finding somewhere new and exciting to eat. We’ve compiled a list of our favourite Edinburgh iPhone apps offering something special to both locals and visitors.

Edinbus

Price: Free

The brainchild of local software developer Gordon Christie, Edinbus is perhaps the essential iPhone app for Edinburgh residents. Tapping into Lothian Buses’ Bus Tracker system, Edinbus provides up-to-the-minute travel information for every bus stop in the city. Simply find your stop using the intuitive Google Maps interface and the app pulls up a beautifully formatted and easy to read list of bus arrival times. Favourite stops can be saved for easy access later on and a handy map arrow even helps make sure that your bus is headed in the right direction. We were overwhelmed by glowing recommendations for Edinbus from our readers when we asked what everyone’s favourite Edinburgh iPhone apps were on Twitter and LinkedIn – a clear sign that Gordon Christie’s creation has become a part of Edinburgh residents’ daily lives.

Lonely Planet Edinburgh

Price:  £3.49

Ostensibly one for the tourists, Lonely Planet Edinburgh is perhaps the most authoritative and comprehensive travel guide apps available and still has plenty to offer the local. Taking its cue from the famous series of print travel tomes, the iPhone app features a comprehensive database of places to see and things to do spanning hundreds of Points of Interest.  The guide is fully searchable and individual POIs can be bookmarked for easy reference later. Lonely Planet Edinburgh also includes comprehensive mapping functions, all of which are optimised to work offline, meaning that worries about data roaming costs can be left at home.

Urbanspoon

Price: Free

Urbanspoon originally started life as a website offering users a platform to post their own reviews of restaurants in major cities across America. Over the last few years, the service has expanded to the UK, Canada and Australia and has launched a phenomenally successful iPhone application. As one of only five British cities covered by Urbanspoon, residents and visitors to Edinburgh can use the app to find restaurants based on location, type of food and price range and view menus and user reviews online. Urbanspoon for iPhone also includes ‘Scope’, a revolutionary augmented reality feature that allows you to view the surrounding area via your phone’s camera, with restaurant suggestions and information overlaid onto the picture..

Edinburgh Secrets

Price: £0.59

An alternative to big name, corporate travel applications like the Lonely Planet guides, Edinburgh Secrets was created by Andy Hayes, a professional travel writer and longtime Edinburgh resident. Though not as thorough in its coverage of every nook and cranny of the city as some of the bigger guides, Edinburgh Secrets is nevertheless packed with information and secret spots that only a local could provide. The app has also been designed with budget conscious travellers in mind, a fact reflected not only in the its low price but in the plethora of recommendations for cheap eats and attractions. Edinburgh Secrets also includes great original photographs for each guide entry that are worth the asking price on their own.

Foursquare Edinburgh Trail

The Dogs on Foursquare, an Edinburgh Trail venue.

Price: Free

A new initiative by Edinburgh Inspiring Capital site This Is My Edinburgh, the Edinburgh Trail uses geo-location social networking app Foursquare to guide residents and visitors to the city around 31 Edinburgh locations, with the chance to win exclusive prizes and goodies. Foursquare allows users to “check in” at a venue from the app interface and score points for each visit, with the top scoring person at each location becoming the ‘mayor’. In order to become the ‘Mayor of Edinburgh’ and be eligible to win, Edinburgh Trail followers must visit every location on the list – ranging from pubs to tourist attractions to beauty spots like Blackford Hill – and checkin on Foursquare. And because the Edinburgh Trail uses the Foursquare service rather than an iPhone specific app, owners of Android, Blackberry and Palm devices can play too.

Have we left out one of your favourite Edinburgh iPhone Apps? Let us know in the comments! We’d also love to hear from anyone who might be interested in writing a similar feature for Android phones.