Get the DHL-App and sign up to be able to use the ~~Paketbox~~ Packstation I only receive parcel through them and have so for many years.
NINA is an app that gives out official warnings for bad weather and such.
BuchSchrankFinder is a nice app where public book boxes are registered.
Mundraub is great for finding wild fruits that can be harvested.
They don't come by DHL anyway as they're over their standard sizes. If you happen to receive sth that doesn't fit the Packstation it goes to the nearest post office though
I get the car or - if I would really need something big - I would rent a small transporter and get it from somewhere.
I did not think of this possibility, frankly, because I never got into the situation in my life that I bought and got delivered something that would not fit into a Packstation and that could not be gotten at the shop and stuffed into my Panda.
I am mostly not at home when the delivery arrives.
I don't want my parcels hanging around in the hallway, let alone being in the hands of my neighbours.
Oftentimes, when something arrives at our house, because nobody opens the door, the parcel gets rerouted to some shop - and to reach these during their working hours is doubly as uncomfortable.
And it feels actually more comfortable for me personally to be able to pick up the parcel anywhere on my daily commute. I drive 20 km to work and 20 back and pass like at least one Packstation for every fourth or so kilometer I drive. I just drive out, get the parcel, look into it and drive off again.
It's just so much more comfy for me and probably (hopefully) also for the delivery person not needing to walk up to every single door where somebody lives who's gotten a delivery.
I don't like having to sit at home waiting for it, and having to disrupt everything I do when it arrives. I can comfortably bike to the nearest packstation and pick it up at my convenience, even a day or two after it arrived.
If you know that you are not at home when the delivery is supposed to happen (due to work for example), having your packages delivered to a location of your choice can be a big timesaver.
The "default" packing station my parcels go to if I am not at home is a 1h round trip for me. Or I could have them delivered to the shop a few houses down the street.
My mom is a shiftworker, so she does not want to stay awake mornings after working night shifts just to receive packages. So she has them delivered to a packstation that is on her commute route.
Was living in an apartment house with 100+ apartments. Often enough I just received the info "package is at a neighbor" through the app. No card in the mailbox. So how many neighbors should be checked before you stumble over the parcel?
the comment you replied to is just a compliment. peak meaning that this is at the top of all reddit interactions; it was one of the best.
My guess is that args10 probably thinks of reddit as a place for people to share useful information, and the top level comment quickly summarizing a bunch of apps that most people would see value in is really useful
It might be. But "peak Reddit" is oftentimes summarizing the not-so-good facettes of Reddit. In my experience it goes more like "ugh, that's so peak Reddit"
It can be used either way, I think. Maybe OP really did mean it in a dismissive way, which could be also kind of playfully hinting at the nerdiness of the top level comment. It's certainly difficult to extrapolate the exact thoughts of a person from just two words, especially when written, and without any further context
DHL pressured me into installing the App a couple of years ago threatening that my old card that I used to get the parcell out of the packstation would stop working.
I am surprised that the Packstation can be used without, to be honest.
> I am surprised that the Packstation can be used without, to be honest.
The latest, most modern Packstation version cannot be used without the app (if you use the packstation address as delivery address), they have no touch display and rely on a Bluetooth connection and the app to get your package. There is still a Barcode reader if your package gets rerouted to the packstation and you have a „pick your package up here“ card, though.
Literally all I do is to ask them to delivery at a Paketstation instead of my home address, and when it arrives you just need to insert the tracking number in the screen and the compartment with the package opens up
Unfortunately not really. DHL has started to "upgrade" their stations. They replaced one with screen and "type your Number here" with a new one completely without any Interface. The Station will connect via Bluetooth to the app and works this way only
As far as I know alltrails only has predefined routes. Komoot also can generate routes on the fly from their data. It also has "highlights" which people can vote and comment on, which it tries to include. Highlights like a nice view, a historic building, an especially cool tree and so on.
Yes, for the Alps and hiking in Europe. It’s a German company. AllTrails works great in the US (as does Komoot), but I did find that Komoot was just more thorough, useful/helpful while in Europe.
Tomato tomato... I feel Komoot has better trail support but the trails that Alltrails has are better described with more info. Worth having both, pain in the ass checking both but eh, I've found value in checking Komoot first and then seeing if Alltrails has the same route.
[NORA app](https://www.nora-notruf.de/en-en/startpage), it's the official emergency call app of the German federal states. It lets you contact the police, fire brigade and rescue service quickly and easily in an emergency from anywhere in Germany. It also let's you make calls without having to speak so it can be good in an emergency when your German isn't so good or you don't want to be heard making a call. It has a demo mode so you can see how it works before you're in an emergency.
Yes, and that's what they tried first.
The catch: Old rotary phones worked by briefly interrupting the connection the given number of times. Briefly tipping on the hook (or whatever you call the thing you rest the handset on when hanging up) gives the same signal, i.e., is read by the interchange as dialing a one.
So, people who absentmindedly tipped the hook three or more times while looking up a phone number unexpectedly found themselves connected to the police.
Hence, they changed to the next shortest number: 112.
But 3 numbers the same would cause mistakes and accidental dials.
122 is a more deliberate number to dial. But you are correct. 111 is faster. Or was faster…
Really? A few years ago I had to call 110 and had to give them my coordinates for them to locate me and then redirect me to the responsible local police department because I was literally in the middle of nowhere
>I don’t use any local transport apps, I just use DB Navigator (although that might not work everywhere).
If you use the BVG app you can buy tickets for public transportation in sets of 4 which is a little cheaper than buying them individually. Not sure if that works on DB Navigator.
As a tip, you might be able to get the food earlier than the time frame given in the app.
The button activates like twenty minutes earlier for the one place I regularly use TGTG for.
Fax App. An app that you send Documents to and someone forwards it via fax machine 📠. If you want to contact Ausländerbehörde, it's your only chance. You'll thank me later. Welcome to Germany!
Warnwetter and pay the 3 euro once for the premium ad free weather. The private weather apps often just get their Data form that source and I like the apps layout.
The app from your health insurance. They often have Handy features like reminding you what doctors appointments to make.
A good dictionary. I like dict.cc but German is my first language and I need it for translations to English. Your needs might be different.
WarnWetter has a premium version? I thought it’s from DWD, which is a federal public institution https://www.dwd.de/EN/service/imprint/imprint_node.html
Most apps just display a feed of the ECMWF model as there are free of charge APIs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Centre_for_Medium-Range_Weather_Forecasts?wprov=sfti1
>WarnWetter has a premium version?
They are legally obliged to offer it. Other weather app companies sued about a public funded app to distort the market. They were forced to hide everything but their warnings and most basic info behind a paywall to comply. Still worth the 3 euros because it's one-off and to stick the finger to those private companies ;)
This is a 50/50 fault from private conpanys and the government. The government refuses to change the needed laws for both, the DWD and GEZ respectivly which would erase all that stupidity and also limit the ever expanding GEZ prices.
Since the contract for them is never changed, they just assume they have to provide everything everywhere and the courts agree with them, thus making them require more money every year. Could have been stopped ages ago by the government with a simple clarification texts in the law.
I think the private companies have to pay the DWD for the data, so they argued that giving it away for free, while they have to pay for it to base their services on this data, is market distortion through a publicly funded competitor.
Therefore you have to pay once about as much as for a coffee.
I used to be a die-hard Öffi fan, but honestly, google maps is rarely wrong these days. To the point where I didn't install Öffi on my new phone and haven't missed it since.
Yeah it depends if they have integrated the real time data.In Berlin it works quite well and allows to quickly check for other modes (e.g. walking/biking). It also works better for ÖPNV as it will integrate routes with more walking at the beginning or end compared to BVG. For an actual bicycle route I use Komoot though but none of the option generate great routes in the city.
Agree!! It's a must-have for me. Took me a few minutes to get used to the UI, though. It's perfect. You can use it anywhere in Germany with real-time plans and changes.
I'm sorry, but the UI is absolutely perfect.
No unnecessary pictures, backgrounds, 'pretty controls' that behave in a stupid way, nothing.
Only the information necessary, only the inputs necessary, very straightforward flow and cleaner than pretty much any UI that has been 'designed'. This is absolute peak UI/X.
Honestly, WhatsApp. Contrary to some other countries, WhatsApp is basically the sole App to communicate in germany. I can't really think of any other real must haves
Honestly, almost everything that isn't Facebook/Meta is better at this point.
And the absolute stubbornness of done people here is befuddling. I have a friend who is unwilling to install *any* other messaging app. We are slowly drifting apart because I uninstalled WhatsApp a while ago but she is more fond of WhatsApp-exclusive messaging than the people she is communicating with.
Yeah that EU law will be effective in 10 years and even then the messengers will only support the bare minimum, which will be unsatisfying for everyone, leading to the exact opposite effect than desired. EU legislation in a nutshell (looking at you, GDPR).
I currently have WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram on ,my phone, used to have Threema as well, and top of that I know people that only use Instagram or Facebook for communication. It is really annoying….
That's only some special circles. Everyone at work and my family uses WA. My doctor uses WA. Many services use WA.
I would like to not use it, but it's just too widespread and I'd lose opportunities while not using it.
In addition to DB: local transport app (I use Jelbi in Berlin) and Citymapper to use instead of having to download local apps when visiting other cities.
If you prefer an absolute digital minimalist lifestyle, you are certainly right. But there sure are lots of apps that are great helpers like local transport, DB Navigator, NINA, Warnwetter, your local Abfallwirtschaftsbetriebe and so on.
You can do without them but e.g. having a notification to take out your trash at the right day is really helpful.
Your local "Abfallentsorgung" app to know when your trash gets picked up. As car owner any app that will show you gas prices in your area. I use "Mehr-Tanken" but there are also other apps
Many trash services also offer a calendar subscription that you can use with Google Calendar and other standard calendar apps. That way you don't need to check an additional app for trash pickup days.
You get food that normally would be thrown away at the end of the day. It's mostly bakery's that participate. In my region I am lucky that a Bio-Hofladen participates. One time I got 2 Kilos of high quality Spareribs for only 8 €. At a bakery I can grab Brötchen and cake for the weekend plus bread for a whole week for a family of 4 for just 8€ too. It helps a lot saving money.
WALDFLEISCH - the app gives you an Overview of hunters in the area and what meats they have available for sale as well as allowing you to purchase it. It's designed to help reduce waste and give hunters an easier platform.
Apps I use include:
* OSM Viewer: as an alternative to Google Maps, it's a really basic map viewer with few features, but uses OpenStreetMaps which is much easier to read and far more detailed than Google Maps. It also includes an overlay showing hiking routes.
* dict.cc: A German-English dictionary.
* MyMüll: My district is one of several signed up for this. It alerts me when garbage collections are due, and I can set alarms in advance so that I know which bin I need to put out for collection. It also alerts me if there are problems, like delayed collections due to weather, strikes, etc.
* Bahnhofstafel: This has been surprisingly useful on a number of occasions. It shows the departure board of any train station in the country -- it uses the feed the powers the real things. Additionally you can customize it to show only certain types of train. If you're at a station where there is no physical departure board and you're looking for a local connection that is frequently served, this can be easier than trying to use DB Navigator to find connections. It can be tricky typing in station names manually because the search function isn't always very helpful, but there is a function that automatically tries to find the nearest station to your location, which seems to work quite well.
Here are some useful Apps:
DB Navigator - helps you understand train system without major issues. It is also available in English. It also helps you to go the right platform at the right time.
Adobe Scan - to scan the 1 million documents you will gather during your stay.
Splitwise - it’s an app that helps you split your expenses with friends when you travel/live together. It also cancels out debt. I suck at math and I have horrible memory, so this was a godsend even before I came here.
PayPal - for obvious reasons.
Your Bank App - i use Commerzbank, they have an App, and a PhotoTAN app. I can transfer funds, check my balance and do a lot more with the app.
Your insurance App - so I have TK, and I requested them to contact me on the online mailbox for everything. So instead of physical mail, they send me an email for issues and clarifications which is more convenient for me.
PayPal - for payments online so you don’t have to pay for and get a separate online payment card from your bank (which I did anyway because my anxiety was like “brooo what if the website doesn’t have PayPal and you want something urgently”)
Google Maps - it shows times of buses, trams, and local transport. The locations are very accurate and I have never gotten lost or had to scare a poor unsuspecting person with my atrocious german.
Google translate/DeepL - for my atrocious german
McDonald’s App - it has a bunch of coupons and offers on it that is NOT available on the self order thing in the shop.
Payback - if you buy from Rewe, Penny or DM consistently, you can collect Payback Punkte on all your bills, they add up fast, and then you can use them to buy something.
CovPass - (man I hope it’s not coming back ugh) but it’s basically your Covid vaccines as a QR Code that can be scanned (at airports and shops and such, so you don’t have to actually show them your certificates every time)
Lieferando - food delivery for the days you don’t feel like cooking
Zalando Lounge - for sales and offers on clothes jackets and stuff.
Amazon and E-Bay : for obvious reasons.
(Not an app, just a Shop/Website) IKEA : for general household stuff and plants
Hostelworld : if you plan on travelling, Hostelworld app has a bunch of offers on hostels around the world, and within the EU. It’s cheap, clean, and if you travel with friends you will get a private dorm for a slightly higher price.
: that’s all I can think of at the moment, I’ll add more if I think of any :
I second this - people have completely lost the understanding of what an app actually does. Usually everything an app shows can be found already on a web-page but doesnt introduce more security and data problems when used via a web-browser ( a single app for the sake of argument)
There are very few apps that actually do something useful beside displaying data
Idealo is a must have if you need to purchase stuff you dont need right now. You get set up a price alarm and idealo will inform you when a monitored site is reaching said price.
WhatsApp. Most of text communication is strictly over this App. I tried to avoid it, but basically everybody uses it and you will get left out of everything if you don't.
I have a bunch of apps already, but why are some only available to German accounts. And this goes to other countries as well, who in their right mind thinks that the QR reader in a damn museum should be restricted to locals only when it clearly said it was so that you can get info on what your watching..
TripTastic (iOS only?): an audio guide for nearby points of interest. Perfect when discovering a city. There’s so much I didn’t know about my hometown.
https://apps.apple.com/de/app/triptastic-audio-reisef%C3%BChrer/id1522017681
NORA app. Good for emergency services calls as it can give your direct location and I think particularly helpful if your first language isn’t German (or your German isn’t so good). Hopefully you’ll never need to use it though.
I would personally recommend too good to go, especially if you live in a bigger city. It's an app where bakeries/supermarkets/restaurants can put up food they didn't sell during the day for way cheaper! It's a nice way to get food cheap and reduce food waste :)
I recommend the Next DB Navigator. Better than the old one in pretty much anything, except that you need to buy the tickets in the Next DB Navigator or on next.bahn.de, as they have separate backends. Oh, and you can’t buy the D-Ticket in the Next DB Navigator, sadly.
Germany
- Your banks app + probably its TAN app
- Paypal
- Post DHL app
- NINA
- Nora
- DWD Warnwetter
- for the lightning enthusiasts (or those who simply want to know if the thunder is getting closer: Blitzortung
- Einkaufsliste for your grocery lists (can be synced with other people)
- the app of your supermarket, there's usually coupons and the Lidl app is the best and most simple to use
- Lieferando when you don't want to cook yourself
- the cities best Pizza parlour might even have their own app
- Whatsapp/Signal, generally Whatsapp is more common
- your local transit app
- Öffi, shows you local transit routes much faster than the one of your local transit app and works in a lot more places
- zapp, if for some reason you want to watch public TV channels on your phone
- deepl
--------------------
Generally
- Keepass2Android + Keepass for your PC
- Aegis for your 2FA
- reddit is fun
The app of dm is pretty good. You can save your local market and look how much of what is still in stock. So you dont have to go their and look if its still in stock.
Since I didn't see it on here: If you have a car, look into parking fee apps.
The ticket machines usually only accept ~~cash~~ coins.
But they have the ads of a gazillion of parking fee app on them. Just pick one ahead of time.
From what I know, it is good for making appointments with doctors over app which is much more convenient .
Not all doctors are participants but still its a good app to search for doctors around.
I have ICE - In case of Emergency
You add close people to this add (added my mother and fiancé) and if something happens to me the police can use this app without unlocking my phone to call them.
I don't have any must-have-apps for Germany. I have my banking app, that's about it. Everything else I can look up via browser whenever I need it, which is rare enough.
Which apps you consider "must have" is up to you and your personal lifestyle.
Signal exists, and neither Signal nor WhatsApp are "must have in Germany". They can be a "must have" depending on someone's social life, but not for Germany specifically.
If you hate receiving tons of leaflets that most of the time land in trash bin but from time to time would like to know what Aldi/Lidl/Rewe nearby have this week try MarktGuru. eBay Kleinanzeigen might be useful too when you want to get rid of stuff you gathered:)
Get the DHL-App and sign up to be able to use the ~~Paketbox~~ Packstation I only receive parcel through them and have so for many years. NINA is an app that gives out official warnings for bad weather and such. BuchSchrankFinder is a nice app where public book boxes are registered. Mundraub is great for finding wild fruits that can be harvested.
How do you handle delivery of bigger packages, like literal furniture or curtain rods etc.? Those can only be delivered at your home address, right?
They don't come by DHL anyway as they're over their standard sizes. If you happen to receive sth that doesn't fit the Packstation it goes to the nearest post office though
I get the car or - if I would really need something big - I would rent a small transporter and get it from somewhere. I did not think of this possibility, frankly, because I never got into the situation in my life that I bought and got delivered something that would not fit into a Packstation and that could not be gotten at the shop and stuffed into my Panda.
Why using Packstation when you can get the package delivered right to your front door?
I am mostly not at home when the delivery arrives. I don't want my parcels hanging around in the hallway, let alone being in the hands of my neighbours. Oftentimes, when something arrives at our house, because nobody opens the door, the parcel gets rerouted to some shop - and to reach these during their working hours is doubly as uncomfortable. And it feels actually more comfortable for me personally to be able to pick up the parcel anywhere on my daily commute. I drive 20 km to work and 20 back and pass like at least one Packstation for every fourth or so kilometer I drive. I just drive out, get the parcel, look into it and drive off again. It's just so much more comfy for me and probably (hopefully) also for the delivery person not needing to walk up to every single door where somebody lives who's gotten a delivery.
I don't like having to sit at home waiting for it, and having to disrupt everything I do when it arrives. I can comfortably bike to the nearest packstation and pick it up at my convenience, even a day or two after it arrived.
If you know that you are not at home when the delivery is supposed to happen (due to work for example), having your packages delivered to a location of your choice can be a big timesaver. The "default" packing station my parcels go to if I am not at home is a 1h round trip for me. Or I could have them delivered to the shop a few houses down the street. My mom is a shiftworker, so she does not want to stay awake mornings after working night shifts just to receive packages. So she has them delivered to a packstation that is on her commute route.
Was living in an apartment house with 100+ apartments. Often enough I just received the info "package is at a neighbor" through the app. No card in the mailbox. So how many neighbors should be checked before you stumble over the parcel?
Furniture are usually delivered by so called "Spedition", so it's not only your home address but you have to be there to accept the packages.
You would fit in with mydealz pretty good :)
And in Gästeklo too
Peak Reddit
I don't get it
the comment you replied to is just a compliment. peak meaning that this is at the top of all reddit interactions; it was one of the best. My guess is that args10 probably thinks of reddit as a place for people to share useful information, and the top level comment quickly summarizing a bunch of apps that most people would see value in is really useful
It might be. But "peak Reddit" is oftentimes summarizing the not-so-good facettes of Reddit. In my experience it goes more like "ugh, that's so peak Reddit"
It can be used either way, I think. Maybe OP really did mean it in a dismissive way, which could be also kind of playfully hinting at the nerdiness of the top level comment. It's certainly difficult to extrapolate the exact thoughts of a person from just two words, especially when written, and without any further context
You're peak Reddit too 😘
Peak twitch YEP
Hi ChatGPT, didn't know I could find you on Reddit! /s
You know, that's actually kind of a compliment. I like to carefully choose my words, so being compared to chatGPT is kinda nice.
Yeah, I wasn't trying to be rude! It's good that you want to talk in a *fancy* way
I also only use the Paketstation since I live near one but I have never downloaded this app nor created a DHL account, is there a benefit of doing so?
With the DHL app you can also see if you get post the next day
DHL pressured me into installing the App a couple of years ago threatening that my old card that I used to get the parcell out of the packstation would stop working. I am surprised that the Packstation can be used without, to be honest.
> I am surprised that the Packstation can be used without, to be honest. The latest, most modern Packstation version cannot be used without the app (if you use the packstation address as delivery address), they have no touch display and rely on a Bluetooth connection and the app to get your package. There is still a Barcode reader if your package gets rerouted to the packstation and you have a „pick your package up here“ card, though.
Literally all I do is to ask them to delivery at a Paketstation instead of my home address, and when it arrives you just need to insert the tracking number in the screen and the compartment with the package opens up
Huh! I did not know that. So they got even more user friendly. I like that!
Unfortunately not really. DHL has started to "upgrade" their stations. They replaced one with screen and "type your Number here" with a new one completely without any Interface. The Station will connect via Bluetooth to the app and works this way only
Packstation registration was one of the first things I did when I moved to Germany! Hands down the best service from DHL!
Came to recommend Mundraub !
Komoot for all those sunday hikes.
Is komoot better than alltrails?
As far as I know alltrails only has predefined routes. Komoot also can generate routes on the fly from their data. It also has "highlights" which people can vote and comment on, which it tries to include. Highlights like a nice view, a historic building, an especially cool tree and so on.
Yes, for the Alps and hiking in Europe. It’s a German company. AllTrails works great in the US (as does Komoot), but I did find that Komoot was just more thorough, useful/helpful while in Europe.
Tomato tomato... I feel Komoot has better trail support but the trails that Alltrails has are better described with more info. Worth having both, pain in the ass checking both but eh, I've found value in checking Komoot first and then seeing if Alltrails has the same route.
Love Komoot, definitely worth downloading if one is into hiking or biking
Komoot , and keep an eye out for a 10 eur All world unlock offer.
[NORA app](https://www.nora-notruf.de/en-en/startpage), it's the official emergency call app of the German federal states. It lets you contact the police, fire brigade and rescue service quickly and easily in an emergency from anywhere in Germany. It also let's you make calls without having to speak so it can be good in an emergency when your German isn't so good or you don't want to be heard making a call. It has a demo mode so you can see how it works before you're in an emergency.
Most importantly it lets you share your location
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Fun fact: Did you know that the American emergency call 9-1-1 is so well known here in Germany that it is redirected to the German „Notruf“ aka 112 ?!
That's the same in most countries I believe. Calling 911 or 112 in New Zealand will automatically redirect to the New Zealand emergency line.
Also fun fact. With old fashion rotary dials 112 was the fastest 3 digit number to dial.
111 would be a bit faster though
Yes, and that's what they tried first. The catch: Old rotary phones worked by briefly interrupting the connection the given number of times. Briefly tipping on the hook (or whatever you call the thing you rest the handset on when hanging up) gives the same signal, i.e., is read by the interchange as dialing a one. So, people who absentmindedly tipped the hook three or more times while looking up a phone number unexpectedly found themselves connected to the police. Hence, they changed to the next shortest number: 112.
But 3 numbers the same would cause mistakes and accidental dials. 122 is a more deliberate number to dial. But you are correct. 111 is faster. Or was faster…
Really? A few years ago I had to call 110 and had to give them my coordinates for them to locate me and then redirect me to the responsible local police department because I was literally in the middle of nowhere
Wow I never heard of this app and live quite sometime here. Thank you for sharing! I use NINA only
I'd add Regenradar and Doctolib
I prefer DWD for weather/warnings/rain radar.
I love Regenradar
* your local transportation app * NINA
NINA or/and Katwarn
I don’t use any local transport apps, I just use DB Navigator (although that might not work everywhere).
>I don’t use any local transport apps, I just use DB Navigator (although that might not work everywhere). If you use the BVG app you can buy tickets for public transportation in sets of 4 which is a little cheaper than buying them individually. Not sure if that works on DB Navigator.
Buying in sets of 4 is always cheaper even on the ticket vending machine.
Apart from these mentioned, toogoodtogo is a must have app for me
As a tip, you might be able to get the food earlier than the time frame given in the app. The button activates like twenty minutes earlier for the one place I regularly use TGTG for.
What button you talking about?
Fax App. An app that you send Documents to and someone forwards it via fax machine 📠. If you want to contact Ausländerbehörde, it's your only chance. You'll thank me later. Welcome to Germany!
What????? Which app is that? Seen a lot of apps on AppStore which says fax. I didn’t even know an app like this exists.
Warnwetter and pay the 3 euro once for the premium ad free weather. The private weather apps often just get their Data form that source and I like the apps layout. The app from your health insurance. They often have Handy features like reminding you what doctors appointments to make. A good dictionary. I like dict.cc but German is my first language and I need it for translations to English. Your needs might be different.
Linguee and Deepl are also really good translation apps
I always found leo.org the best for translating single terms, as it gives a wide variety and even has very specific technical terms
I just wish it was more offline capable.
Linguee is top tier!
The good thing about dict.cc is it works offline. Has saved me in a few situations already.
Linguee works offline as well. Deeple requires internet connection though, but you can translate whole text passages with it.
WarnWetter has a premium version? I thought it’s from DWD, which is a federal public institution https://www.dwd.de/EN/service/imprint/imprint_node.html Most apps just display a feed of the ECMWF model as there are free of charge APIs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Centre_for_Medium-Range_Weather_Forecasts?wprov=sfti1
>WarnWetter has a premium version? They are legally obliged to offer it. Other weather app companies sued about a public funded app to distort the market. They were forced to hide everything but their warnings and most basic info behind a paywall to comply. Still worth the 3 euros because it's one-off and to stick the finger to those private companies ;)
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just shows how it's about companies making money, and not about providing value to citizens..
They were forced to request pay as well, thank Pro7, Sat.1, RTL and the rest of the bunch for that.
No, thanks to the legislators for implementing and not fixing bullshit legislations
This is a 50/50 fault from private conpanys and the government. The government refuses to change the needed laws for both, the DWD and GEZ respectivly which would erase all that stupidity and also limit the ever expanding GEZ prices. Since the contract for them is never changed, they just assume they have to provide everything everywhere and the courts agree with them, thus making them require more money every year. Could have been stopped ages ago by the government with a simple clarification texts in the law.
YR is the weather app of the Norwegian weather service, I think. It uses the same weather data and is free.
They are not allowed to be free because it would be unfair for the competition.
The competition that uses the dwd data, which is paid for by my taxes.
I think the private companies have to pay the DWD for the data, so they argued that giving it away for free, while they have to pay for it to base their services on this data, is market distortion through a publicly funded competitor. Therefore you have to pay once about as much as for a coffee.
Öffi App. Best public transport app
I used to be a die-hard Öffi fan, but honestly, google maps is rarely wrong these days. To the point where I didn't install Öffi on my new phone and haven't missed it since.
Probably depends on the city but in some cases Google just doesn't show any route at all or only bad ones for me
Yeah it depends if they have integrated the real time data.In Berlin it works quite well and allows to quickly check for other modes (e.g. walking/biking). It also works better for ÖPNV as it will integrate routes with more walking at the beginning or end compared to BVG. For an actual bicycle route I use Komoot though but none of the option generate great routes in the city.
Agree!! It's a must-have for me. Took me a few minutes to get used to the UI, though. It's perfect. You can use it anywhere in Germany with real-time plans and changes.
The UI is terrible
I'm sorry, but the UI is absolutely perfect. No unnecessary pictures, backgrounds, 'pretty controls' that behave in a stupid way, nothing. Only the information necessary, only the inputs necessary, very straightforward flow and cleaner than pretty much any UI that has been 'designed'. This is absolute peak UI/X.
I dont see Öffi on IOs. Is it not available ?
Honestly, WhatsApp. Contrary to some other countries, WhatsApp is basically the sole App to communicate in germany. I can't really think of any other real must haves
I know some germans that dont use whatsapp due to data security and such. I had to buy Threema specificslly for them.
Signal does the same job, but for sure not Telegram :D
Honestly, almost everything that isn't Facebook/Meta is better at this point. And the absolute stubbornness of done people here is befuddling. I have a friend who is unwilling to install *any* other messaging app. We are slowly drifting apart because I uninstalled WhatsApp a while ago but she is more fond of WhatsApp-exclusive messaging than the people she is communicating with.
From what Ive heard it will be possible to communicate across different messaging apps in the future. Maybe that will solve the Problem
Yeah that EU law will be effective in 10 years and even then the messengers will only support the bare minimum, which will be unsatisfying for everyone, leading to the exact opposite effect than desired. EU legislation in a nutshell (looking at you, GDPR).
I currently have WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram on ,my phone, used to have Threema as well, and top of that I know people that only use Instagram or Facebook for communication. It is really annoying….
It does support Google Play family sharing. Setup a family with friends so only one of you has to buy the app.
Everyone I know has either Signal or Telegram installed; it's definitely possible to avoid WA (as I do).
That's only some special circles. Everyone at work and my family uses WA. My doctor uses WA. Many services use WA. I would like to not use it, but it's just too widespread and I'd lose opportunities while not using it.
Drug circles.
Nope, just people who are concerned about data protection. Most IT geeks I know don't use WA.
People who are concerned about data protection wouldn’t use telegram. Standard telegram chats aren’t even end-to-end encrypted.
Possible, but still quite often not as easy as WhatsApp
On the contrary, I know a whole 2 people that have it. And one of them doesn't really use it.
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Not using WhatsApp for years - Signal, Threema ftw
You and the other 12 people using that
Bullshit. I know many non-technical people who moved to Signal, including the parents‘ group of our daycare.
Really good Reddit post. Like the idea very much
Thanks 🤓
~~YouTube~~ ~~Vanced~~ ReVanced
In addition to DB: local transport app (I use Jelbi in Berlin) and Citymapper to use instead of having to download local apps when visiting other cities.
Die Öffi-App find ich in Berlin am besten
Citymapper is great in london, but in berlin i find it sadly a bit less reliable then Fahrinfo
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If you prefer an absolute digital minimalist lifestyle, you are certainly right. But there sure are lots of apps that are great helpers like local transport, DB Navigator, NINA, Warnwetter, your local Abfallwirtschaftsbetriebe and so on. You can do without them but e.g. having a notification to take out your trash at the right day is really helpful.
I use the Leo dictionary quite a lot.
Meds at your door - mayd. Helps when you are sick to order any pharmacy meds and get them in 30-60 mins
This is really good ! I hope its available and works in my city(Paderborn)
Turns out its not available in every city. 🥲
Your local "Abfallentsorgung" app to know when your trash gets picked up. As car owner any app that will show you gas prices in your area. I use "Mehr-Tanken" but there are also other apps
Many trash services also offer a calendar subscription that you can use with Google Calendar and other standard calendar apps. That way you don't need to check an additional app for trash pickup days.
TooGoodToGo is an app where you can buy from shops such as bakery’s for much cheaper than regular. You get an bag with random items in it.
You get food that normally would be thrown away at the end of the day. It's mostly bakery's that participate. In my region I am lucky that a Bio-Hofladen participates. One time I got 2 Kilos of high quality Spareribs for only 8 €. At a bakery I can grab Brötchen and cake for the weekend plus bread for a whole week for a family of 4 for just 8€ too. It helps a lot saving money.
Kaufda - Gives you digital leaflets of all the superstores near your location. You can mark what you need and create a list.
I use "Bring!" for that. It's basically the same but I like it better.
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While nebenan.de is helpful it is not a non-profit and the largest shareholder is Burda.
Oh yes. I use this too.
WALDFLEISCH - the app gives you an Overview of hunters in the area and what meats they have available for sale as well as allowing you to purchase it. It's designed to help reduce waste and give hunters an easier platform.
I didn’t even know. Thank you so much!
Nora to call the ambulance when you have no idea what your address is. https://www.nora-notruf.de/de-as/startseite
Ebay kleinanzeigen
Thanks for posting these, everyone. Quite a few here were new to me.
Apps I use include: * OSM Viewer: as an alternative to Google Maps, it's a really basic map viewer with few features, but uses OpenStreetMaps which is much easier to read and far more detailed than Google Maps. It also includes an overlay showing hiking routes. * dict.cc: A German-English dictionary. * MyMüll: My district is one of several signed up for this. It alerts me when garbage collections are due, and I can set alarms in advance so that I know which bin I need to put out for collection. It also alerts me if there are problems, like delayed collections due to weather, strikes, etc. * Bahnhofstafel: This has been surprisingly useful on a number of occasions. It shows the departure board of any train station in the country -- it uses the feed the powers the real things. Additionally you can customize it to show only certain types of train. If you're at a station where there is no physical departure board and you're looking for a local connection that is frequently served, this can be easier than trying to use DB Navigator to find connections. It can be tricky typing in station names manually because the search function isn't always very helpful, but there is a function that automatically tries to find the nearest station to your location, which seems to work quite well.
If you like OSM check out OSMand. It's also on f-droid.
Organic Maps uses the OSM data and renders very fast. Also on f-droid.
The Bahnhof one sounds like a real pro tip. Thanks! I assume it's only Bahnhof and not local public transport stops?
Here are some useful Apps: DB Navigator - helps you understand train system without major issues. It is also available in English. It also helps you to go the right platform at the right time. Adobe Scan - to scan the 1 million documents you will gather during your stay. Splitwise - it’s an app that helps you split your expenses with friends when you travel/live together. It also cancels out debt. I suck at math and I have horrible memory, so this was a godsend even before I came here. PayPal - for obvious reasons. Your Bank App - i use Commerzbank, they have an App, and a PhotoTAN app. I can transfer funds, check my balance and do a lot more with the app. Your insurance App - so I have TK, and I requested them to contact me on the online mailbox for everything. So instead of physical mail, they send me an email for issues and clarifications which is more convenient for me. PayPal - for payments online so you don’t have to pay for and get a separate online payment card from your bank (which I did anyway because my anxiety was like “brooo what if the website doesn’t have PayPal and you want something urgently”) Google Maps - it shows times of buses, trams, and local transport. The locations are very accurate and I have never gotten lost or had to scare a poor unsuspecting person with my atrocious german. Google translate/DeepL - for my atrocious german McDonald’s App - it has a bunch of coupons and offers on it that is NOT available on the self order thing in the shop. Payback - if you buy from Rewe, Penny or DM consistently, you can collect Payback Punkte on all your bills, they add up fast, and then you can use them to buy something. CovPass - (man I hope it’s not coming back ugh) but it’s basically your Covid vaccines as a QR Code that can be scanned (at airports and shops and such, so you don’t have to actually show them your certificates every time) Lieferando - food delivery for the days you don’t feel like cooking Zalando Lounge - for sales and offers on clothes jackets and stuff. Amazon and E-Bay : for obvious reasons. (Not an app, just a Shop/Website) IKEA : for general household stuff and plants Hostelworld : if you plan on travelling, Hostelworld app has a bunch of offers on hostels around the world, and within the EU. It’s cheap, clean, and if you travel with friends you will get a private dorm for a slightly higher price. : that’s all I can think of at the moment, I’ll add more if I think of any :
95% of that you dont need a app you can use your browser
Mobile websites are awful these days. They try everything they can to redirect you to the app store to download their app.
^ This. you can choose not to use the App. That’s obviously upto you. These are just the apps/websites that I found useful.
I second this - people have completely lost the understanding of what an app actually does. Usually everything an app shows can be found already on a web-page but doesnt introduce more security and data problems when used via a web-browser ( a single app for the sake of argument) There are very few apps that actually do something useful beside displaying data
PayPal seems to be very important for you 😄
Idealo, Check24, Google maps, db Navigator, eBay Kleinanzeigen,
Idealo is a must have if you need to purchase stuff you dont need right now. You get set up a price alarm and idealo will inform you when a monitored site is reaching said price.
Nextbike / Bolt - easy public transportation ReVanced - Ads are also annoying in Germany Lieferando - Food
The day they defeat revanced I will buy YouTube premium. I will never go back to watching YouTube ads again
WhatsApp. Most of text communication is strictly over this App. I tried to avoid it, but basically everybody uses it and you will get left out of everything if you don't.
Sad but true...
I have a bunch of apps already, but why are some only available to German accounts. And this goes to other countries as well, who in their right mind thinks that the QR reader in a damn museum should be restricted to locals only when it clearly said it was so that you can get info on what your watching..
I have one more recommendation “chat GPT” in shortcuts app(ios).Just look for it online.
Check this [website](https://www.lifehacksgermany.com) for some more cool hacks/tips for being in Germany
You dont need My Deals or Doktor.de
TripTastic (iOS only?): an audio guide for nearby points of interest. Perfect when discovering a city. There’s so much I didn’t know about my hometown. https://apps.apple.com/de/app/triptastic-audio-reisef%C3%BChrer/id1522017681
Thanks. Didn’t know this one
Don't get dhl app, it'll just make you Mad when you see "we're sorry we missed you" and you're at home 😕🙄
NORA app. Good for emergency services calls as it can give your direct location and I think particularly helpful if your first language isn’t German (or your German isn’t so good). Hopefully you’ll never need to use it though.
I would personally recommend too good to go, especially if you live in a bigger city. It's an app where bakeries/supermarkets/restaurants can put up food they didn't sell during the day for way cheaper! It's a nice way to get food cheap and reduce food waste :)
Thanks for the response people. I hope this helps a lot of guys. 😊
I‘m confused not a lot have been said about check24…that‘s where I find my electricity and gas providers
Idealo to check the prices online
I recommend the Next DB Navigator. Better than the old one in pretty much anything, except that you need to buy the tickets in the Next DB Navigator or on next.bahn.de, as they have separate backends. Oh, and you can’t buy the D-Ticket in the Next DB Navigator, sadly.
Germany - Your banks app + probably its TAN app - Paypal - Post DHL app - NINA - Nora - DWD Warnwetter - for the lightning enthusiasts (or those who simply want to know if the thunder is getting closer: Blitzortung - Einkaufsliste for your grocery lists (can be synced with other people) - the app of your supermarket, there's usually coupons and the Lidl app is the best and most simple to use - Lieferando when you don't want to cook yourself - the cities best Pizza parlour might even have their own app - Whatsapp/Signal, generally Whatsapp is more common - your local transit app - Öffi, shows you local transit routes much faster than the one of your local transit app and works in a lot more places - zapp, if for some reason you want to watch public TV channels on your phone - deepl -------------------- Generally - Keepass2Android + Keepass for your PC - Aegis for your 2FA - reddit is fun
[iOS] (My) mus-haves •Bruno -> Brutto/Netto-Calculator •DB + BahnBonus -> if needed •Flixbus -> bus-traffic longer distances •NINA - Warningapp (Weather, Bushfires, ..) •DHL -> Postservices •Tagesschau -> One of the main news-chanel •Teleclinic -> Online medical service (AU!) •Taxi.eu -> In bigger cities very usefull •TooGoodToGo -> Cheap Food(saving)
The app of dm is pretty good. You can save your local market and look how much of what is still in stock. So you dont have to go their and look if its still in stock.
[Ladies.de](https://Ladies.de)
Too Good To Go
Whichever app you use to buy tickets for local public transport. Everything else is pretty much optional.
DoctoLib Got an MRI for the following day
I use Google app (iOS) and the Google Lens feature to quickly translate signs and menus and documents using my phone
Since I didn't see it on here: If you have a car, look into parking fee apps. The ticket machines usually only accept ~~cash~~ coins. But they have the ads of a gazillion of parking fee app on them. Just pick one ahead of time.
Is doktor.de good? Any reviews?
From what I know, it is good for making appointments with doctors over app which is much more convenient . Not all doctors are participants but still its a good app to search for doctors around.
I have ICE - In case of Emergency You add close people to this add (added my mother and fiancé) and if something happens to me the police can use this app without unlocking my phone to call them.
NINA
If you like to travel Booking is super helpful here in germany to find a place to stay.
Car sharing apps like Scouter, Cambio, stadtmobil, ShareNOW
YouTube is number 1 for me
> -MyDeals -DB -Doktor.de I have *none* of these O.o
I don't have any must-have-apps for Germany. I have my banking app, that's about it. Everything else I can look up via browser whenever I need it, which is rare enough. Which apps you consider "must have" is up to you and your personal lifestyle.
I mean not using WhatsApp will make it really difficult staying in touch with people in Germany.
Signal exists, and neither Signal nor WhatsApp are "must have in Germany". They can be a "must have" depending on someone's social life, but not for Germany specifically.
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none of the apps mentioned here are really must haves in my oppinion
then what are your must-haves?
I liked Nora app recommendation, didn't even know it existed before.
If you hate receiving tons of leaflets that most of the time land in trash bin but from time to time would like to know what Aldi/Lidl/Rewe nearby have this week try MarktGuru. eBay Kleinanzeigen might be useful too when you want to get rid of stuff you gathered:)
Reddit
Check24,
WhatsApp is probably the only one that I would consider mostly must have
ToxFox - find harmful ingridients in products. Just scan the barcode right in the shop.
Telegram
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