Useful apps for Expats in the Netherlands

If you’ve just moved to the Netherlands and your bags are unpacked, it’s time to get to know your new country a little better. But before we set off, it is helpful to start this new adventure well prepared, and these handy apps on your phone will undoubtedly help you with this. So check out these useful apps for expats in the Netherlands, and you are good to go.

1. Buienradar

With Buienradar, you can see where and when it will rain. Buienradar has a handy radar that shows the location of the rain showers over the Netherlands. With this app, you can look 24 hours ahead and see the weather forecast for the next two weeks. Buienradar has a lot to offer and is almost essential for a good start to the day.

2. 9292

With the 9292 app, you can plan a trip by tram, train, bus, and metro. Enter ‘from’ and ‘to’ and ‘when’ you want to leave on the home screen. Choose if you’re going to start from an address, a station, or choose a zip code. The travel advice from public transport is automatically displayed.

Make it more personal by indicating how you want to travel, for example by bus and train. You also have the choice of your current location via GPS. You can view the map to see your route when selecting’ travel advice. Scroll from left to right to know the route step by step.

3. NS (Dutch train network)

Where you use the app 9292 for all kinds of public transport, this NS app is for train tickets and information. You can buy your train tickets online via this app, and the app lets you access your train ticket on your phone.

You can use your phone to scan through the gates and access the platforms. The app also shows you which platform your train will leave and when you will arrive.

4. DigiD

With your DigiD, you show who you are when you arrange something on the internet, whether to set things with the government, education, healthcare, or your pension fund. Your DigiD account is linked to your BSN, and it comes in the form of a username and password.

Thanks to your DigiD, you can log in easily and securely anywhere. Your personal data remains well protected.

5. WhatsApp

WhatsApp is the chat service we use most in the Netherlands. With this app, you can send messages and make voice calls and video calls. All you need is a working internet connection and a linked phone number.

6. Tikkie

Did you go out with friends and pay the bill at the restaurant? Tikkie is an app with which you can send someone a payment request via WhatsApp, SMS, or however you want. With this app, you will have your money back in no time.

7. Too Good To Go

With this app, you can easily contribute to the fight against food waste. If you enter your location, you will see shops in your area that offer ‘magic boxes’ for a few euros with products that would otherwise be thrown away.

In this way, you contribute to saving the planet and having good food at an affordable price.

8. Thuisbezorgd

With this app, you can order food online from various restaurants in your area, and for a small extra fee, they will deliver everything to your home.

Very handy if you don’t feel like going out.

9. Stocard

This app is especially useful if you hate all those different cards in your wallet. You can add your loyalty cards to this app so that you can leave all those cards at home from now on. For example, when you visit Albert Heijn, you open the AH card on your app, and you can simply scan it from your phone. So very handy!

10. Stadsparkeren

If you own a car, this app is easy for paying for your parking ticket. When you use the app for the first time, you add your car’s license plate. There are blue signs with an x-digit zone number in the parking lot or along the road. You enter this zone number after selecting your car and press start. Just don’t forget to stop your parking action when you return to your vehicle. Once a month, the invoice is automatically debited from your bank account.

11. Google Maps

Everyone probably knows this app and has it on their phone, but I would like to add it to this list. I find it especially useful for sharing interesting locations with friends. If we meet somewhere, we are sure we are both at the exact location.

I also use this app to mark the locations that I want to visit soon and throw them out again when we have seen them.

12. Party of 4

Party of 4 is for finding friendship, (totally platonic), and for couples only. This app is designed by an expat and helps you find your future best friends. Whether you are a young couple, you have children, or your children have already left the parental home, you will always find a couple that suits you. Check out a couple’s bio to see what they enjoy doing. Then say hello to your new brewery friends, or new golf friends, or new foodie friends. Whatever you 2 enjoy doing, find another couple to do it with.

It’s a great way to get to know people after moving to a new country.

13. Google Translate

This app is gold when you move to a country where you don’t speak the language. We have used this app a lot during our adventures. The translation isn’t always perfect, but it does get you a long way.

14. Social Deal

This app offers the best deals for attractions in the Netherlands, cafes, restaurants, and even hotels and wellness. You will find new offers every day.  If you’re planning a romantic date or a nice family outing and love saving a little money along the way, this is your app.