Here's how to work the official Edinburgh Festival Fringe app for 2024 - including its nearby event finder
With so many events on in August, Edinburgh Festival Fringe organisers last year launched an app for visitors - here’s what you need to know about it.
With the Edinburgh Fringe soon to kick off, many will already have tickets booked and schedules lined up.
But for those looking to stumble upon excitement in the city while the festival is on, look no further than the official EdFringe app.
With features such as 'nearby now', which allows users to find nearby shows starting soon, a personalised planner which will display booked performances and more, the EdFringe app should help make finding shows a breeze.
In addition, users can take advantage of functions such as randomised suggestions and even push notifications to help with time management. With the Edinburgh Festival Fringe running from Friday, August 2 – Monday, August 26, here’s how to make the most of it.
Personalising your app
If you’re a seasoned Fringe-goer you may have already had a festival account set up. However, if not the app will allow you to create an account and set up your preferences. Simply select your preferred show genres and the app will do the rest of the hard work, picking performances for you based on your choices.
It would be difficult to break so many shows down into fine details, which means this feature is mostly based on the genre of each show. Helpful for finding out what's on, but for some surprises other app features may better serve users.
Using the planner
The planner which is built into the app is an extremely useful feature. To add an event to your planner – without buying a ticket – you must select the show you’re interested in and navigate to dates. Once you’ve done that, you can then select the date/time and from there add it to your planner.
You can also book show tickets directly from the planner, which will then appear ready for use so everything is in one handy place.
In addition, during the festival the EdFringe app planner will notify you when shows are about to start and will even be able to provide directions between shows so you don't miss any of the action.
Search
This section of the app does a few different things – all of which you’d expect from a search box. You can search by show title or performer’s name, or by date or venue. You can also search by genre, a nice addition since there are so many shows on offer.
The date and time search is geared toward visitors coming to Edinburgh for a few days at the festival as you can search over multiple days and even specific times – perfect for those working around public transport or flight bookings who want to squeeze the most from their trip.
There’s not too much else to say about the search feature as it is a necessity and highly practical, however there is one other standout feature: ‘shake to search’.
Users can shake their phone (or tap the screen) to receive a randomised show suggestion – which can be filtered by date or venue. A fun but functional addition to the EdFringe app.
Nearby Now
However the app’s real stand out is the ‘Nearby Now’ feature. It was rolled out with the 2019 version of the app, and was missed during the 2022 event. Using your phone’s location services, the app will provide a real-time guide to shows which will start soon.
Perfect for finding a new unexpected favourite.
Favourites
Speaking of favourites, the favourites section of the Edfringe app is also worth utilising. If you’ve heard about a show but maybe aren’t quite ready to commit to buying tickets or adding it to your Festival schedule, you can simply favourite the event.
From the Favourites section you will then have a fast shortcut to the show details, whether it’s to remove it from your list or to buy tickets.
Festival venue map
And if all of those features weren’t enough to convince you how handy the app is, the built-in map featuring every Festival venue should hopefully convince you. You can click on the pins for directions or for details on all the upcoming shows which will take place during the Fringe.
Book and store Edfringe tickets
As the festival will take place throughout August, one of the best things about the app is how pretty much everything you need to attend is in one place – including tickets. You can find, book and present your tickets all from the app. E-tickets will be available for any shows users have booked so that everything is conveniently in one place.
However, users should be aware that booking fees will apply – even if the event is free. A £1.25 booking fee will appear.
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe app is worth downloading
Overall, the Edinburgh Fringe app is a much needed addition to the festival – especially since it wasn’t available last year. It will help take the stress out of planning for those attending, while also allowing users to discover a whole host of shows which they may not have known about otherwise with the 'Nearby Now' and 'shake to search' features.
The app is available to download on iPhone or Android, and more information can be found on the official Edinburgh Festival Fringe website.
Users can also submit feedback and suggestions for the app, which will go towards future iterations.
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