Tap the + button at the bottom right of the departures screen. Pick your From and To stations by typing a name or a three-letter station code, choose whether you want any train that calls at your destination or direct trains only, pick the days and hours the route applies to, then tap Save route.

The route appears as a card on the main screen straight away, with the next three departures.

That route is outside the days or the time window you gave it, so the app doesn't fetch departures for it. The card tells you when it comes back, for example "Mon-Fri 16:30-19:00 · trains appear from 16:30".

This is deliberate: an evening commute home shouldn't take up space at eight in the morning. If you'd rather see it all the time, tap the card header and turn All day on, or add the missing days.

Tap the round swap button on the right of the route card. It flips the origin and destination and remembers the change, so the card now shows the return journey. Tap it again to swap back.

Any train calling at {destination} shows every service that stops at your destination, including ones that stop many times on the way.

Direct only additionally drops services that split into two portions during the journey. Those trains do reach your destination, but only if you are sitting in the correct half - so if you would rather not think about it, pick direct only.

The app asks National Rail for a two-hour window, which is the maximum the live departure board supports. If nothing is scheduled in that window - late at night, on a Sunday, or during engineering work - there is genuinely nothing to show.

It can also mean no direct service exists between those two stations. Try switching the route to "any train calling at" and see whether departures appear.

It means the operator has confirmed the train is late but has not yet estimated by how much. The app shows exactly what National Rail publishes rather than guessing. A revised time usually appears within a few minutes - the screen refreshes on its own every minute.

The platform hasn't been announced yet, or that station doesn't publish platform numbers at all. Some large stations withhold them until shortly before departure. The badge fills in as soon as National Rail publishes it.

Tap the cancelled departure. The service screen shows a banner with the reason the operator gave, the stops the train would have called at, and a Next train to {your stop} row. Tap that row to jump straight to the next service that gets you there.

The train splits into two portions at that station and each half continues to a different destination. Depart UK shows you the calling points for the portion that reaches your stop, but you still need to board the right half - listen for the announcement, or check the platform display for which coaches go where.

Every 60 seconds while the app is open, again whenever you return to it, and immediately when you pull down to refresh. All active routes update at the same time. The header shows "updated HH:mm" so you always know how fresh the data is.

Partly. The station list is bundled with the app, so searching for stations and editing routes works with no connection. Live departures need the internet - without it, each route card shows a short error and a retry action.

Live rail data is a paid service, and the ads cover the cost of running it so the app can stay free with no account and no subscription. There is currently no paid ad-free version. If you would like one, say so by email - enough requests and it gets built.

In the UK, the EEA, and Switzerland, you can decline consent in Google's form when it appears. On Android and iPhone, tap the information button on the departures screen to open About, then choose Change your ad choices to reopen the form when available. Depending on your choices and ad availability, you may see non-personalised ads, limited ads, or no ads. Departure features keep working.

On Android, you can reset or delete your advertising ID in the device's ad settings. Depart UK on iPhone does not request tracking permission or access the iPhone advertising identifier. See the privacy policy for details.

The app never requests location permission or keeps a history of your journeys. Your saved routes are stored on your phone and may be included in device backups. The departure service receives station codes, search options, and the IP address of the request. Google may estimate your general location from your IP address for ads. See the privacy policy for the full picture.

The station list comes from an open dataset, so occasional gaps and odd spellings happen. Email the station name and its three-letter code and it will be fixed in the next update. Searching by code often works when searching by name doesn't.

They come directly from National Rail Enquiries, the same source the station screens use, and are passed through unchanged. That said, always check platform displays and announcements at the station - Depart UK is a convenience, not a guarantee, and it isn't affiliated with National Rail or any train operator.

Android 8.0 or later, or iOS 17 or later.

Delete routes in the app, or delete the app to remove its local data. On Android, you can also clear its storage in Settings > Apps > Depart UK > Storage. On iPhone, choose Delete App; offloading the app keeps its data.

Device backups may retain a copy, so manage those through your device and backup provider. codfishworks does not keep a copy of your saved route list. For support emails or data held by Google, see the privacy policy.