📱Apps

Here are some important apps which might be useful for day-to-day life in Amsterdam, you most likely won't need all of them, but they are all very nice to have

Public Transport

NS for train travel. Generally not a good idea to use this for local public transport.

GVB for tram, bus, and metro travel in Amsterdam only.

9292 for all public transport that uses OV-chipkaart/OVpay, e.g. trains, trams, bus, ferry.

It is generally not a good idea to use Google/Apple Maps for public transport, as these services are not directly tied to the public transport companies and therefore may give outdated or inaccurate information. See the Public Transport section for more info.

---

Biking

Fietsersbond Routeplanner for vastly improved bicycle directions compared to Google Maps. The app is only available in Dutch, but can be figured out using common sense.

Make sure to follow the biking laws! See this video regarding signs, as well as following the advice in the Biking section!

---

Food Delivery

Uber Eats / Thuisbezorgd / Deliveroo for ordering food.

Alot of times restraurants have their own websites where ordering from is generally cheaper than Uber Eats and often gives you benefits. So make sure to lookup where you wanna order from online before you use an app.

Food Pickup

Too Good To Go (TGTG)

You can get alot of really cheap good stuff from here. You just reserve it on the app then show your phone at the counter when you arrive. Highly recommended !

---

Payment

PayPal for payment, especially good for online stuff. Purchases using iDeal will be handled via your bank’s mobile app.

Revolut / Bunq for payment and crypto. You can also get a credit & debit card via Revolut if registered in NL.

I don't believe Revolut gives you an actual Dutch IBAN which is sometimes necessary, so I would recommend Bunq over Revolut but both services have thier own use case and pros and cons, so my personal recommendation is just to have both.

---

Weather

Buienradar and Buienalarm are hyperlocal weather apps.

---

Student Resources

Canvas Student to check your canvas information.

---

Grocery Delivery

Gorillas / Getir / Flink / Picnic for grocery delivery.

These apps often charge a considerable markup over just regular grocery stores, so just keep that in mind.

Though Picnic is definitely the cheaper one of the bunch and better for larger orders that you don't immediately need. Whereas the other 3 are better for smaller quicker orders.

---

Taxi Services

Uber / Bolt for taxi services.

Generally not advisable due to high cost and reliable public transport, except during late night hours from 1-5 AM, but always check if a night bus is available.

---

Government Services

DigiD is a government digital identity, tied to your BSN (Burger Service Nummer).

It is required to log in to certain government services as well as health insurance websites.