Before coming to LSE, I had been travelling to London every summer since I was 12, so I was fairly comfortable navigating London city life. Or so I thought. I quickly found out in my first year that I was, in many ways, still a tourist. Living full time in London and as a student was very different from summer visits with my parents. Now a seasoned Londoner after three years, here are a few of my favourite apps that have helped me adjust:

Citymapper

Of course, if you’re an Apple user you already have Apple maps or something of a similar sort downloaded on your phone, and for the most part, it does the job. Citymapper does more than the job, providing much more information than routes from point A to point B. My favourite feature of the app is that it alerts you to any issues on the Tube, so you can check if there are any closures before you get to the station and reroute to another station if necessary.

If you don’t want to take the underground and London’s weather isn’t suitable for walking or biking, the app will estimate the cost of different taxi services like an Uber or a black cab so you know exactly how much of a hit your wallet is taking. However, if that’s not the case and the weather is perfectly fine, London is a beautiful city, so if you have the option to take a stroll it’s a useful way to become more familiar with your environment and stay healthy (Plus, if you’re super health conscious, Citymapper estimates calories burned from walking or biking.).
 

Unidays/Student Beans

Unidays and Student Beans are essential to have as a student. These apps have discounts for everything from train tickets to gym memberships. Lots of these discounts are eligible for online shopping, but if you’re already in a store, it’s always good to check if it accepts one of the two apps. It can never hurt to ask, and every little bit of saving you can do as a student will help stretch your budget a little further. Another benefit of these apps is that they provide proof of your student status in case you forget to bring your student ID card to a store. In some cases, stores will specifically ask for your Unidays or Student Beans ID rather than your student card anyways, and then you will be glad to have signed up for these apps.
 

Fever

Fever is a wonderful resource for finding out what’s going on around the city. When you sign up, the app will ask you to select a few categories for the types of things you are interested in, whether that’s touring museums or attending crazy brunches. Using these preferences, it will alert you to events being held around London and provide exclusive offers. In the past, some of their offers have been discounted tickets for special exhibitions like the Van Gogh experience or The Art of Banksy. I highly recommend the classical Candlelight concerts at St. Martin-in-the-Fields near LSE since it’s close to campus and a very beautiful setting, but Fever’s advertised events will bring you all around the city. Additionally, Fever is used in other cities around Europe, like Barcelona and Amsterdam, so it’s great for finding events in other places if you’re planning a trip and don’t know what to do.
 

Too Good To Go

Too Good To Go is not just a great money saver, but also a clever waste saver. The idea behind the app is to reduce food waste around London by having restaurants sell untouched leftovers at cheap prices. Lots of these sales happen at the end of the day when stores need to get rid of surplus, so make sure to check the app to see if any nearby restaurants have good deals. Every time will be a surprise, but the surprise is always pleasant; I once got a huge loaf of sourdough bread and a rainbow of different fruits and vegetables from a local market for £5, saving me an extra grocery run which would have added up to much more. As the saying goes: “waste not, want not.”
 

Dusk

If you enjoy going out, Dusk will certainly help minimise the damage you do to your bank account. If you’re new to London and haven’t developed a favourite bar yet or just want to try something new, Dusk shows you where all the hottest participating bars are. When you spend at one of these locations, you collect points, which can be redeemed for various prizes, like saving on coffee for the hangover the morning after your night out. The app even curates guides on new bars and Instagram-worthy hot spots so that you can start getting to know your future go-to going out places.