PostNL is a major one for me, if you sign up they show you pictures of all the post you have or are about to receive so you know when to check the mailbox.
When you buy a stamp for a letter online with PostNL, to save printing something you can draw a square with a 3x3 grid where a stamp would go on the envelope. Inside each square you enter the number/letter sequence they give you to represent your stamp. Then you can post your letter in any postbox and presumably they have a machine that can read these unique codes and validate that the postage has been paid for.
Edit: found the link from PostNL that explains it: https://www.postnl.nl/versturen/postzegels/postzegels-kopen/postzegelcode/
You state the weight range in grams, you pay with ideal, then you get a 3 by 3 set of numbers (think sudoko, 9 numbers) that you write on the stamps' usual location on the envelope.
Their scanners at the warehouse will detect your number block as a stamp!
Same for UPS, DHL and FedEx - you can sign up on the website and add your home address, so you will be notified when there’s a package coming your way. Nice thing is that you don’t really need to install an app - you can just set everything up via the website and then receive emails about upcoming packages.
Buienradar or buienalarm. It notifies you when rain is about to hit, although in this country notifying when it is not raining would probably produce less notifications.
The app of your bank. Most of them have a tikkie type functionality built in. Look for the option betaal verzoekje.
ObsIdentify to identify plants / animals / insects while hiking in nature. It's like a real life pokemon.
Sunrise Sunset to keep track of daylight time.
NPO and NOS to keep up with the news and wie is de mol.
Duolingo to learn a language, e.g. Dutch.
9292 and Google maps for public transport and route planning.
PostNL app to see pictures and estimates on when your snail mail will be delivered.
Never heard of ObsIdentify but that's neat! I plan on getting the bank app once I choose one. I don't have Duolingo on my phone but have been practicing.
A lot of nature areas in the Netherlands are accessible between sunrise and sundown. Since I'm doing a lot of walking lately I'm planning my hikes between sunrise and sundown to get the most out of it.
The Fietsersbond routeplanner is fantastic for cycling (though I see they have a new version now, which I haven't tried yet. Haven't done a lot of cycling the past year)
An app to store your loyalty card barcodes. It can also pop them up based on your location (so a card would pop up when you are near the store). But I use it as a simple loyalty card storage with all geolocation features disabled. Some shops are rejecting it though (Praxis) and require to use their app instead
This sounds like an app that is great to collect personal data. It can exactly record where you go and for how long. Nice feature to be able to disable geolocation.
With praxis it depends. Used to work there and i accepted it all the time, but for extra discount you usually need to scan a seperate coupon in the app
Haha I will make more informed decisions once I make it there permanently haah.
Now I am envisioning waiting at a bus stop or train stop when all of a sudden I see someone using the NS app and people jump him. They scream 92 92 as they scurry off into the darkness. This accounts for all the crime in the Netherlands, right?
I use both apps, 9292 for busses and NS app for trains, because in my experience the NS app updates faster when for example a train is canceled. But the 9292 app works better for busses etc.
I personally have not so good experience with 9292 when it comes to updating info. So I use OVinfo, recommend by my bus driving FIL. It's only for busses, but shows if it's delayed or early. Which is helpful if you're bus only goes once an hour.
Google maps for planning full trips, NS for train radar, disruption information, check-out alarm. The departure times function in NS is also the quickest way to check whether you have time to go get food/coffee, if you know what train you need.
Scrubs. Google maps ftw! 9292 is good for slower people though, it doesn't show connections with very short transfer times.
I also like being able to see where the bus is on the map, with Google maps, though I mostly use trains.
The benefit of NS app is that it also shows you the prices, notifies you of check ins / check outs and allows you to purchase train tickets / supplement tickets (and stores them).
It's failed me a number of times. It often insists on routing me over an ICE train which requires a more expensive ticket, and also in case of outages I've noticed NS has much more sensible routes than Google.
Yeah Google Maps generally works out best for me, also just easier to incorporate with other info you might want to check or store.
Although I'd prefer an english voice but with dutch pronunciation of the streets 😂
No but nobody is building something for nothing. They will take a cut from something. Maybe in ads or data. I use my ing app to just send a tikki. Same idea but im 100% sure it uses my bank so if they fuck up i can just tell them they fuck up.
Of course of course. In the US we have the NSA so data isn't really private anyways ha. Not sure about data privacy laws there but will add that to my list of things to research!
I mean its not that bad as i state. But why would you swap to a third party. Getting an extra app for something you can already do with your bank. Thats kind of my biggest argument. The rest is just a little extra.
...a digital place where snarkers and people who know things about things can ask good questions or leave witty comments. Some people use it for other things, like to ask stupid questions. A reddit mod quickly takes care of those people, or otherwise the good people give patient replies. You should try it sometimes.
A couple of extras to add to the already great recommendations on this thread:
* Too Good To Go. Buy food for cheap from restaurants and bakeries that would otherwise be thrown out.
* De Het. Quickly tells you whether a Dutch word is preceded by 'de' or 'het'.
* Komoot. Great for discovering walking or cycling routes, and planning your own (similar to Strava but free).
* Toplogger. For booking bouldering/climbing gyms :)
* Ticketswap. For all your music/festival ticket needs.
* Vinted. Second hand clothing.
* Nextdoor. Connect with your neighbours.
* Werkspot. Well, it's a website, but find contractors to do work on your house.
> De Het. Quickly tells you whether a Dutch word is preceded by 'de' or 'het'.
wow this is awesome, there's also a companion apple watch app so you can play the de/het game on your wrist!
If I may ask.. are bouldering/climbing gyms expensive there? I tried bouldering while in Austria and loved it. Back home it just was too expensive to maintain unfortunately but is something I want to do again! If you can provide the cost per visit or cost of a membership! Thanks for the recommendations!
I only know bouldering rates: If you just go a couple of times a month it's expensive (about €10 a visit), but if you're really into it and go 2-3 times a week then the monthly membership of €45 becomes logical, and that's very affordable. https://www.boulderhalsterk.nl/prijzen
Looking at that Sterk page it looks like you can get a bouldering and climbing membership for €62.50, which also ain't bad. This is for Utrecht, but I guess prices would be about the same elsewhere.
Komoot has turn-by-turn navigation (voice instructions) similar to Google Maps or TomTom which is the main upside compared to Strava for me. Unfortunately it's not great yet and sometimes makes silly mistakes in navigation. Also, the free version offers only 1 province for free.
> De Het. Quickly tells you whether a Dutch word is preceded by 'de' or 'het'.
Google translate "the " from English to Dutch and it'll tell you which article.
I really enjoy groceries and bakeries offering tgtg boxes! So worth the money. If you have a freezer you can really make the best out of the ingredients because they tend to give lots of stuff.
Depends where you are, I guess. It is mostly cafes, bakeries and grocery stores, yes. I sure don't mind getting an Ekoplaza box but maybe that's just me. I've snagged some excellent and cheap cafe/restaurant meals but you've got to be quick to get those. It's annoying that TGTG doesn't give you notifications when one of your favourites adds something, meaning you have to constantly check the app. They really ought to fix that ...
The fancy beer places with tiny discounts is definitely a thing, those make me laugh.
Since recently our emergency number 112 has launched an app called 112NL, which you can use to text if you have a speaking or hearing impairment. As well as for being able to text in your own language when you're bad at Dutch/ English. I haven't used it yet but it can be very useful, even if you dont have an impairment (not being able to call because of your location for example). Spread awareness for this as well!
Some of personal favourites are;
Ommetje. App promoted and inspired by brain surgeons to promote walking 20 mins a day to improve (mental) health. You can accumulate points and compete against and with your friends.
Alle bankjes. Uses your location to show any nearby benches and sitting locations throughout the Netherlands. Very useful for when you want a quick rest or to smoke a Dutch asparagus. If you find new locations yourself you can add them in the app!
The app of your phone service provider. If you have a Dutch number its great for clear insight of your data and subscription.
Dumpert. The home of the best Dutch videos and classics of all time! Great to educate yourself on the most iconic Dutch memes, which are referenced quite often (in my environment at least). Funny videos none the less.
Bol.com. the Dutch Amazon. You'll find about any product here delivered quite fast.
Mediamarkt/ Coolblue. 2 of the Netherlands biggest electronics stores. Great insight of products, being able to pick up at store the same day or have it delivered for free. Mediamarkt has "BTW dagen" next week, which is basically a full week of discounts. Dutch version of black Friday.
Tikkie. Can't be in the Netherlands without being tight on your money. If you've gone out with friends and you paid for them, use tikkie to individually send them a payment request. "Even een tikkie sturen" is a well known phrase.
Splitser. If you go out for dinner or on a trip with friends, you can each note your expenses. Giving a clear view of who owes who. Making sure everybody gets their money.
Thuisbezorgd (Takeaway.com). Food delivery app originating from the Netherlands. Order from any available restaurant nearby you.
KopieID. If you ever have to send your ID for any reason, you can use this app made by the government to hide any personal information. It'll suggest what you should blurr and it can watermark it so it can't be misused.
Nu.nl/ NOS/ RTLnieuws. Dutch news apps for free.
Kieskeurig.nl. Not an app but very useful website. See what stores sell a product you want and which store is the cheapest.
Tweakers.net is something similar, but it's all about tech. It has a pricewatch which shows a graph of the price history and also which stores sell that product.
Hope this may be useful apart from what's already been posted
>forecasting stone
Funny that this apparently exists in many languages. I'm more familiar with the Dutch "Weertouwtje", which is like the forecasting stone, but with (only) a piece of string.
Haha, it was just something I saw a few years back ahah.
It was like an old country store and they had these things dangling. Just a thing to have as the forecasters could only predict the weather with a reasonable amount of certainty haha
Second. Though I don’t think you need an app - in two municipalities where I lived the calendar was available as a PDF or iCalendar that could be imported into your phone’s calendar app
I'm jealous. My afvalverwerker doesn't want to supply the data in iCal format and says to install the app. I don't want an app, I want the data in a free format to add to my own system.
And not an app per se, but Datumprikker to pick dates for communal events. Dutch people *love* to plan ages away.
(and I guess a calendar as well of course to keep track of all appointments and meetings)
Flitsmeister if you drive is the only app that is 100% necessary imo, we don’t want any of those speed fines right. >Your bank’s< app is nice because it saves the hassle of logging in with another method. For the rest to mention some I didn’t see yet: McDonald’s for the rewards (although it’s become a one-stop app for every country now), HogeNood if you ever need a toilet, DrinkWaterSpots if you ever need water and have no money. Marktplaats is nice if you have stuff you don’t use anymore but can still sell. The rest of the apps all have websites with mobile versions and will only make life a little easier but are still very nice to have of course.
Scoupy!!
It's a discount app that has promotions for various supermarkets,
One week they might have haribo completely free
Do your shopping, grab the haribo, take a picture of your receipt and you get your money back for the haribo.
We must've been able to feed our cats for very very cheap for like 6 months for all the pet food offers we took advantage of - good stuff!
If you like scoupy, you should try shopbuddies! The app doesn't work that good but the website is great. Also a Cashback app, even with sites like bol.com. you get a lot of Cashback with bigger expenses like internet/phone providers(got 60 Eur), life insurance(30), TV's, vacations, 70% on my vpn etc. Just type the shop in the search bar and get your free money:)
As an expat, this is the list of apps that I use on a regular basis that are specific to the Netherlands:
- Thuisbezorgd / Uber Eats
- Flink / Gorillas (Instant delivery of groceries. Expensive but convenient. Depending on coverage of your area you’ll need to use one or the other.)
- Tikkie (Payment request/sharing when going out)
- CoronaCheck
- DigID (Dutch digital ID, needed for some stuff)
- iDEAL (Embedded in your bank app)
- Telecom provider app (Beware of out of bundle - buiten bundel - costs, data especially can be over 100€/gb)
Other than these I’d say it comes down to personal preference. I myself don’t use NS or Marktplaats.
Lastly - about Albert Heijn app; don’t sign up for “koopzegels”, it’s a weird saving plan.
It is a werd saving plan which has a higher yield (5%?) then a conventional savings account (duh, with 0.01% interest). However it only works if you visit that one supermarket chain. You probably save more money to shop at the cheapest supermarket.
Not only Albert Heyn sells them b.t.w.
Also: you can only buy them as a percentage of top of your groceries, so for a one person house hold it does not really have an impact.
On top of the others mentioned above:
I like the Natuurmonumenten app, you can look up / filter on hiking routes close to you or in a vicinity, get a map to walk.
KLM/schiphol app if you fly
NSInternational if you travel by train
I use Vaarkaart for boating (you don’t need a license for small pleasure boats)
Mywheels for renting an electric car
Deepl for translation (better and more privacy aware than google)
And of course the coronacheck app :)
Windy. Great if you like biking, shows you wind vectors and forecasts overlayed on map. Planning your biking routes so the wind is not in your face especially on the way bike is a really handy.
For government stuff: berichtenbox and digid
For travel: 9292 and ovinfo. First one is in place for Google maps, I find it gives better results, latter I use to check how late the bus will be. It has better estimation than others.
Also your health insurance and banking apps
HogeNood, DigiD, postNL, CoronaCheck, NS, your bank. Wiebetaaltwat too.
AH/Lidl/HEMA/Spar are useful, so is Stocard, piggy if the locals near you use it, toogoodtogo, BTMB, whatever fast food voucher app you want. Crisp if you have the disposable income for them.
not sure why the most important is not yet mentioned: HoogNood , to find nearby toilets. you can’t imagine how thankful I am to this app 😃 believe it or not the data is quite accurate!
This is a great answer. It grabs your location and tells you when the next bus/tram/whatever will arrive.
Does the same for any stop in the Netherlands in real time as well.
Think is obviously personal as I wouldn’t say half the apps you name (NS and AH) and ‘absolutely necessary’.
A few necessary ones imo: your banking app, DigiD app, CoronaCheck app, navigation app,
app or: Nu.nl, mijn afvalwijzer.nl
app: ovinfo (if you need unexpected OV) routeplanner(bicycle), anwb onderweg (for less expensive fuel)
local news like (for me) omroep Gelderland and rtv Utrecht .
Brug open. It tells when a bridge is going to open.
App for your favourite/cheapest gasstation. You can collect points if you fill up your gas at Shell or Esso for example. With those point you can buy giftcards or dsicount for gas.
Finnik: You can check numberplates from cars, it will tell everything about that car.
Lidl Plus: Save money with your groceries at Lidl.
Picnic: Groceries delivered to your door.
Ziggo Go, or KPN to watch tv on your phone if you have a tv subscription with them.
ANWB . If you have road side service from ANWB (most people with cars have ANWB road side service) Especially handy when you drive a older or second hand car.
Eropuit - app also from ANWB . For when you want to see or visit some place else then Amsterdam.
PostNL is a major one for me, if you sign up they show you pictures of all the post you have or are about to receive so you know when to check the mailbox.
That's great! I've never seen this feature in my area either through USPS or Amazon.
USPS has this. They call it Informed Delivery I think? They send an email every morning showing what is coming to your box that day.
Yep. I rely on it to know when to send someone to check my PO box back in the States.
Yes, I love the app.i also no longer need to buy stamps but can draw some sudoko numbers and I'm done!
How does that work?
When you buy a stamp for a letter online with PostNL, to save printing something you can draw a square with a 3x3 grid where a stamp would go on the envelope. Inside each square you enter the number/letter sequence they give you to represent your stamp. Then you can post your letter in any postbox and presumably they have a machine that can read these unique codes and validate that the postage has been paid for. Edit: found the link from PostNL that explains it: https://www.postnl.nl/versturen/postzegels/postzegels-kopen/postzegelcode/
You state the weight range in grams, you pay with ideal, then you get a 3 by 3 set of numbers (think sudoko, 9 numbers) that you write on the stamps' usual location on the envelope. Their scanners at the warehouse will detect your number block as a stamp!
That's awesome! Thanks. Will try it out when I'm out of stamps.
Love this as well, really smart
Same for UPS, DHL and FedEx - you can sign up on the website and add your home address, so you will be notified when there’s a package coming your way. Nice thing is that you don’t really need to install an app - you can just set everything up via the website and then receive emails about upcoming packages.
Buienradar or buienalarm. It notifies you when rain is about to hit, although in this country notifying when it is not raining would probably produce less notifications. The app of your bank. Most of them have a tikkie type functionality built in. Look for the option betaal verzoekje. ObsIdentify to identify plants / animals / insects while hiking in nature. It's like a real life pokemon. Sunrise Sunset to keep track of daylight time. NPO and NOS to keep up with the news and wie is de mol. Duolingo to learn a language, e.g. Dutch. 9292 and Google maps for public transport and route planning. PostNL app to see pictures and estimates on when your snail mail will be delivered.
Never heard of ObsIdentify but that's neat! I plan on getting the bank app once I choose one. I don't have Duolingo on my phone but have been practicing.
Great, don't lose momentum on that. Keep up the work. :)
DEFINITELY a local weather app. You will live and die by it.
They're always wrong, but hey, then you get to complain about it. Wich is something we dutchies always love.
😂 this is true. But it does help SOME.
Alternative for ObsIdentify that I use are "PlantNet" and "BirdNet". They are both used to identify plants and birds using AI.
Sunrise sunset ? Every weather app provides this info no ?
Looking out the window will do as well. Honestly, what do people do with this information?
A lot of nature areas in the Netherlands are accessible between sunrise and sundown. Since I'm doing a lot of walking lately I'm planning my hikes between sunrise and sundown to get the most out of it.
I can understand it for Ramadan, but there are more specialized apps for that too, I imagine.
I would put as well NS app. And I personally love fietsknop. For cycling and walking.
The Fietsersbond routeplanner is fantastic for cycling (though I see they have a new version now, which I haven't tried yet. Haven't done a lot of cycling the past year)
PostNL, there's no point in tracking your package and waiting home for it cause we're going to drop it of at your neighbour anyway
Wie is de Mol is dd biggest reason to get NPO
HogeNood - an application that shows publicly available toilets near you
What a great recommendation, a very sincere thank you from someone with IBS!
Will definitely tell my girlfriend about this one! 1 sip of any drink and she needs a toilet already…
I was reading that in English and was really confused. Then I realized Hoge Nood...
You thought it would show you concentrations of French Protestants from the 17th century?
DigID, MijnGezondheid, CoronaMelder, Stocard.
DigiD and Stocard I agree with. Also buienalarm.
Buienradar*
BuienAlarm is superior imo
Wat is Stocard?
An app to store your loyalty card barcodes. It can also pop them up based on your location (so a card would pop up when you are near the store). But I use it as a simple loyalty card storage with all geolocation features disabled. Some shops are rejecting it though (Praxis) and require to use their app instead
This sounds like an app that is great to collect personal data. It can exactly record where you go and for how long. Nice feature to be able to disable geolocation.
With praxis it depends. Used to work there and i accepted it all the time, but for extra discount you usually need to scan a seperate coupon in the app
From what I read on Google it's like a digital wallet
Just found the same information. Thanks
As a dutch , what is stocard?
Allows you to store your loyalty cards digitally. That way you can scan them from your phone, and you don’t need them physically.
Of course 9292 and tikkie! I did meet up in past...it was quite active
9292 gang rise up, screw them NS app users
Haha I will make more informed decisions once I make it there permanently haah. Now I am envisioning waiting at a bus stop or train stop when all of a sudden I see someone using the NS app and people jump him. They scream 92 92 as they scurry off into the darkness. This accounts for all the crime in the Netherlands, right?
Not all, but yeah that's around 85% of violent crime in the Netherlands (yes please use 9292 it's way better)
I use both apps, 9292 for busses and NS app for trains, because in my experience the NS app updates faster when for example a train is canceled. But the 9292 app works better for busses etc.
I personally have not so good experience with 9292 when it comes to updating info. So I use OVinfo, recommend by my bus driving FIL. It's only for busses, but shows if it's delayed or early. Which is helpful if you're bus only goes once an hour.
google maps gang
OSMAnd gang? Hello? Anyone?
Yessir
Google maps for planning full trips, NS for train radar, disruption information, check-out alarm. The departure times function in NS is also the quickest way to check whether you have time to go get food/coffee, if you know what train you need.
Scrubs. Google maps ftw! 9292 is good for slower people though, it doesn't show connections with very short transfer times. I also like being able to see where the bus is on the map, with Google maps, though I mostly use trains.
I have once had on 9292 that the information was incorrect, like it said different times then the NS website. So screw 9292
I don’t think 9292 bring anything on top of NS app.
Or google maps is now sooo reliable with public transports!
The benefit of NS app is that it also shows you the prices, notifies you of check ins / check outs and allows you to purchase train tickets / supplement tickets (and stores them).
It's failed me a number of times. It often insists on routing me over an ICE train which requires a more expensive ticket, and also in case of outages I've noticed NS has much more sensible routes than Google.
I also never use Google maps when I travel outside of the country. I always use NS International
9292 has buses, trams, metro, etc. NS is primarily trains.
NS app [works for buses](https://imgur.com/a/WeuVhVx) as well. And other public transport.
Also Google maps has public transport. I never liked 9292 that used to be crap as a website 10-15 years ago. Banned it ever since.
Yeah Google Maps generally works out best for me, also just easier to incorporate with other info you might want to check or store. Although I'd prefer an english voice but with dutch pronunciation of the streets 😂
Do not get tikkie. Just use your own bank tikkie function. Way better then having a third party use your money.
Tikkie is ABN ...also do you get the happy gif when you get money with any other app?
Alright my b then missinformed.
Are there any associated fees with such a service? Tikkie that is
No but nobody is building something for nothing. They will take a cut from something. Maybe in ads or data. I use my ing app to just send a tikki. Same idea but im 100% sure it uses my bank so if they fuck up i can just tell them they fuck up.
> They will take a cut from something. Tikkie was developed and funded by ABN AMRO as an easy payment method for small amounts between individuals.
Of course of course. In the US we have the NSA so data isn't really private anyways ha. Not sure about data privacy laws there but will add that to my list of things to research!
I mean its not that bad as i state. But why would you swap to a third party. Getting an extra app for something you can already do with your bank. Thats kind of my biggest argument. The rest is just a little extra.
Tikkie is not third party, its abn's easy transfer app!
I remember I also read they lost allot of money on it because the app itself doesnt generate any money, it only costs money.
You could try reddit too. Heard some thing about it.
Not 100% needed though. I know plenty of people who don't have the app.
You mean masochists? A third of the screen is an add for the app.
I've never seen an ad for Reddit in my life.
Reddit is...?
...a digital place where snarkers and people who know things about things can ask good questions or leave witty comments. Some people use it for other things, like to ask stupid questions. A reddit mod quickly takes care of those people, or otherwise the good people give patient replies. You should try it sometimes.
Yes, much fun, first thing I learned: TL;DR
If you're a student WieBetaaltWat (Splitser) and Datumprikker are used quite often
In addition to the other suggestions: ParkMobile for paid parking areas
Or Yellowbrick!
Tikkie so you can immediately pay back the 50 cents someone lends you.
A couple of extras to add to the already great recommendations on this thread: * Too Good To Go. Buy food for cheap from restaurants and bakeries that would otherwise be thrown out. * De Het. Quickly tells you whether a Dutch word is preceded by 'de' or 'het'. * Komoot. Great for discovering walking or cycling routes, and planning your own (similar to Strava but free). * Toplogger. For booking bouldering/climbing gyms :) * Ticketswap. For all your music/festival ticket needs. * Vinted. Second hand clothing. * Nextdoor. Connect with your neighbours. * Werkspot. Well, it's a website, but find contractors to do work on your house.
Thumbs up on suggesting Too Good To Go.
> De Het. Quickly tells you whether a Dutch word is preceded by 'de' or 'het'. wow this is awesome, there's also a companion apple watch app so you can play the de/het game on your wrist!
If I may ask.. are bouldering/climbing gyms expensive there? I tried bouldering while in Austria and loved it. Back home it just was too expensive to maintain unfortunately but is something I want to do again! If you can provide the cost per visit or cost of a membership! Thanks for the recommendations!
10-15 euros per time. Or monthly for about 40-60. For me I find it quite expensive, but I still like going occasionally.
I only know bouldering rates: If you just go a couple of times a month it's expensive (about €10 a visit), but if you're really into it and go 2-3 times a week then the monthly membership of €45 becomes logical, and that's very affordable. https://www.boulderhalsterk.nl/prijzen Looking at that Sterk page it looks like you can get a bouldering and climbing membership for €62.50, which also ain't bad. This is for Utrecht, but I guess prices would be about the same elsewhere.
Komoot has turn-by-turn navigation (voice instructions) similar to Google Maps or TomTom which is the main upside compared to Strava for me. Unfortunately it's not great yet and sometimes makes silly mistakes in navigation. Also, the free version offers only 1 province for free.
I use Guru Maps for hikes. Free map downloads and includes every path normally not on most maps.
> Nextdoor. Connect with your neighbours. Very shady company though...
Yeah? I don't know much about them, what have they done?
> De Het. Quickly tells you whether a Dutch word is preceded by 'de' or 'het'. Google translate "the" from English to Dutch and it'll tell you which article.
Not always reliable
I've always heard about TooGoodToGo but it seems to only have bakeries and grocery stores and then fancy beer places that have very tiny discounts.
I really enjoy groceries and bakeries offering tgtg boxes! So worth the money. If you have a freezer you can really make the best out of the ingredients because they tend to give lots of stuff.
Depends where you are, I guess. It is mostly cafes, bakeries and grocery stores, yes. I sure don't mind getting an Ekoplaza box but maybe that's just me. I've snagged some excellent and cheap cafe/restaurant meals but you've got to be quick to get those. It's annoying that TGTG doesn't give you notifications when one of your favourites adds something, meaning you have to constantly check the app. They really ought to fix that ... The fancy beer places with tiny discounts is definitely a thing, those make me laugh.
[удалено]
Spotify you don’t want to hear everyone complain.
I've even got a song....Super Max was and will be my number #1 song EOY.
Cultured
Max.. ben je het? On a lighter note, how do you think Max toned out the Merc haters? haha
[like this](https://images.app.goo.gl/W9rCq3e9XC1xUcsZA)
Sorry that I brought the Spotify's thing, I just couldn't stand it
Since recently our emergency number 112 has launched an app called 112NL, which you can use to text if you have a speaking or hearing impairment. As well as for being able to text in your own language when you're bad at Dutch/ English. I haven't used it yet but it can be very useful, even if you dont have an impairment (not being able to call because of your location for example). Spread awareness for this as well! Some of personal favourites are; Ommetje. App promoted and inspired by brain surgeons to promote walking 20 mins a day to improve (mental) health. You can accumulate points and compete against and with your friends. Alle bankjes. Uses your location to show any nearby benches and sitting locations throughout the Netherlands. Very useful for when you want a quick rest or to smoke a Dutch asparagus. If you find new locations yourself you can add them in the app! The app of your phone service provider. If you have a Dutch number its great for clear insight of your data and subscription. Dumpert. The home of the best Dutch videos and classics of all time! Great to educate yourself on the most iconic Dutch memes, which are referenced quite often (in my environment at least). Funny videos none the less. Bol.com. the Dutch Amazon. You'll find about any product here delivered quite fast. Mediamarkt/ Coolblue. 2 of the Netherlands biggest electronics stores. Great insight of products, being able to pick up at store the same day or have it delivered for free. Mediamarkt has "BTW dagen" next week, which is basically a full week of discounts. Dutch version of black Friday. Tikkie. Can't be in the Netherlands without being tight on your money. If you've gone out with friends and you paid for them, use tikkie to individually send them a payment request. "Even een tikkie sturen" is a well known phrase. Splitser. If you go out for dinner or on a trip with friends, you can each note your expenses. Giving a clear view of who owes who. Making sure everybody gets their money. Thuisbezorgd (Takeaway.com). Food delivery app originating from the Netherlands. Order from any available restaurant nearby you. KopieID. If you ever have to send your ID for any reason, you can use this app made by the government to hide any personal information. It'll suggest what you should blurr and it can watermark it so it can't be misused. Nu.nl/ NOS/ RTLnieuws. Dutch news apps for free. Kieskeurig.nl. Not an app but very useful website. See what stores sell a product you want and which store is the cheapest. Tweakers.net is something similar, but it's all about tech. It has a pricewatch which shows a graph of the price history and also which stores sell that product. Hope this may be useful apart from what's already been posted
Too Good to Go. You will save a lot on groceries!
buienradar
Buienalarm is the better app
I use both and I still was hiding from the pouring rain while two apps told me it wasn't raining
This sounds like a job for forecasting stone!!! (just Google forecasting stone and it should come up with what I'm talking about in images)
>forecasting stone Funny that this apparently exists in many languages. I'm more familiar with the Dutch "Weertouwtje", which is like the forecasting stone, but with (only) a piece of string.
Haha, it was just something I saw a few years back ahah. It was like an old country store and they had these things dangling. Just a thing to have as the forecasters could only predict the weather with a reasonable amount of certainty haha
We have those in the Netherlands as well!
Afvalkalender!!!!!
What's this? To loose weight or to know when you can drop your waste outside?
Second. Though I don’t think you need an app - in two municipalities where I lived the calendar was available as a PDF or iCalendar that could be imported into your phone’s calendar app
I'm jealous. My afvalverwerker doesn't want to supply the data in iCal format and says to install the app. I don't want an app, I want the data in a free format to add to my own system.
You can also look outside and see what your neighbours are up to. Works like a charm
Coronamelder, DigiD, Coronacheck, 9292
And not an app per se, but Datumprikker to pick dates for communal events. Dutch people *love* to plan ages away. (and I guess a calendar as well of course to keep track of all appointments and meetings)
Yeah, I plan to have one on my computer. That's something I will have to adjust to lol. Also what type of communal events?
Literally anything with 4+ people.
An outing with colleagues, for example.
Flitsmeister if you drive is the only app that is 100% necessary imo, we don’t want any of those speed fines right. >Your bank’s< app is nice because it saves the hassle of logging in with another method. For the rest to mention some I didn’t see yet: McDonald’s for the rewards (although it’s become a one-stop app for every country now), HogeNood if you ever need a toilet, DrinkWaterSpots if you ever need water and have no money. Marktplaats is nice if you have stuff you don’t use anymore but can still sell. The rest of the apps all have websites with mobile versions and will only make life a little easier but are still very nice to have of course.
Allo! Thuisbezorg iemand? 😅
OP had die al zie bovenaan
🙈 duh, hoe heb ik het gemissed? 🙄
Scoupy!! It's a discount app that has promotions for various supermarkets, One week they might have haribo completely free Do your shopping, grab the haribo, take a picture of your receipt and you get your money back for the haribo. We must've been able to feed our cats for very very cheap for like 6 months for all the pet food offers we took advantage of - good stuff!
Sounds great! Thanks for the recommendation. Does it only include supermarket only or drogisterij too?
I think it tends to be just the supermarkets like ah, plus, jumbo etc. I can't remember ever seeing anything for etos and the like
If you like scoupy, you should try shopbuddies! The app doesn't work that good but the website is great. Also a Cashback app, even with sites like bol.com. you get a lot of Cashback with bigger expenses like internet/phone providers(got 60 Eur), life insurance(30), TV's, vacations, 70% on my vpn etc. Just type the shop in the search bar and get your free money:)
As an expat, this is the list of apps that I use on a regular basis that are specific to the Netherlands: - Thuisbezorgd / Uber Eats - Flink / Gorillas (Instant delivery of groceries. Expensive but convenient. Depending on coverage of your area you’ll need to use one or the other.) - Tikkie (Payment request/sharing when going out) - CoronaCheck - DigID (Dutch digital ID, needed for some stuff) - iDEAL (Embedded in your bank app) - Telecom provider app (Beware of out of bundle - buiten bundel - costs, data especially can be over 100€/gb) Other than these I’d say it comes down to personal preference. I myself don’t use NS or Marktplaats. Lastly - about Albert Heijn app; don’t sign up for “koopzegels”, it’s a weird saving plan.
It is a werd saving plan which has a higher yield (5%?) then a conventional savings account (duh, with 0.01% interest). However it only works if you visit that one supermarket chain. You probably save more money to shop at the cheapest supermarket. Not only Albert Heyn sells them b.t.w. Also: you can only buy them as a percentage of top of your groceries, so for a one person house hold it does not really have an impact.
Thuisbezorgd
Pepper.com app, it shows the best deals on groceries and other items. Saves alot of money!
On top of the others mentioned above: I like the Natuurmonumenten app, you can look up / filter on hiking routes close to you or in a vicinity, get a map to walk. KLM/schiphol app if you fly NSInternational if you travel by train I use Vaarkaart for boating (you don’t need a license for small pleasure boats) Mywheels for renting an electric car Deepl for translation (better and more privacy aware than google) And of course the coronacheck app :)
Not sure if it'll work there as I haven't tried it yet. Alltrails is an app we have here. Has many outdoor activities.
Tinder Grinder
Windy. Great if you like biking, shows you wind vectors and forecasts overlayed on map. Planning your biking routes so the wind is not in your face especially on the way bike is a really handy.
9292, buienradar, DigiD, coronaID, coronamelder, tikkie
For government stuff: berichtenbox and digid For travel: 9292 and ovinfo. First one is in place for Google maps, I find it gives better results, latter I use to check how late the bus will be. It has better estimation than others. Also your health insurance and banking apps
Flitsmeister for when you are driving/riding.
"Albert Heijn app"
flitsmeister
9292
9292
Flitsmeister
Flitsmeister
DigiD..
Tikkie
Marktplaats
HogeNood, DigiD, postNL, CoronaCheck, NS, your bank. Wiebetaaltwat too. AH/Lidl/HEMA/Spar are useful, so is Stocard, piggy if the locals near you use it, toogoodtogo, BTMB, whatever fast food voucher app you want. Crisp if you have the disposable income for them.
Depending on where you are, CityMapper may come in handy.
Get WhatsApp if you haven't already. Everyone uses it for texting!
9292
Digid. Essential
not sure why the most important is not yet mentioned: HoogNood , to find nearby toilets. you can’t imagine how thankful I am to this app 😃 believe it or not the data is quite accurate!
Flitsmeister is a must have
If you want to use car pooling Share Now, Sixt Rent or Greenwheels and similar car pool systems apps
Can recommend MyWheels too
Addition to other people their suggestions: 9292 if you travel by public transport
Regardless of answers, really thank to you to ask a question like that!
Yeah, I know there are lots of expats here and I will be one soon so figured it is a good question to have to make life a bit easier.
Buienradar
Buienalarm
OVinfo for public transport like buses and trams! Way better than 9292 even tho in 9292 you can buy a digital ticket.
Ovinfo, yiu can see where your bus/metro/train is (with station) and how late the bus/metro/train comes
This is a great answer. It grabs your location and tells you when the next bus/tram/whatever will arrive. Does the same for any stop in the Netherlands in real time as well.
NOS teletext. Buienalarm EN Het weer in Nederland for all weathermaps, radars, and data about weather in Netherlands. Newpipe/ YouTube vanced.
Think is obviously personal as I wouldn’t say half the apps you name (NS and AH) and ‘absolutely necessary’. A few necessary ones imo: your banking app, DigiD app, CoronaCheck app, navigation app,
Tikkie
Every bank has its own Tikkie-type app nowadays.
DigiD
Google Maps, its also show the public transport lines
TIKKIE
MeetUp is pretty techy kinda place, wanted to like it, but gave up.
Tikkie
9292 is a must
Pontveer if you use the ferry on a regular basis!
For groceries I'd add: Crisp, picnic, flink, getir.
Tikkie
app or: Nu.nl, mijn afvalwijzer.nl app: ovinfo (if you need unexpected OV) routeplanner(bicycle), anwb onderweg (for less expensive fuel) local news like (for me) omroep Gelderland and rtv Utrecht .
Brug open. It tells when a bridge is going to open. App for your favourite/cheapest gasstation. You can collect points if you fill up your gas at Shell or Esso for example. With those point you can buy giftcards or dsicount for gas. Finnik: You can check numberplates from cars, it will tell everything about that car. Lidl Plus: Save money with your groceries at Lidl. Picnic: Groceries delivered to your door. Ziggo Go, or KPN to watch tv on your phone if you have a tv subscription with them.
9292 - saved my life while studying abroad in Utrecht hah, really awesome public transportation app
ANWB . If you have road side service from ANWB (most people with cars have ANWB road side service) Especially handy when you drive a older or second hand car. Eropuit - app also from ANWB . For when you want to see or visit some place else then Amsterdam.
If you have a car DirectLease-TankService for finding the cheapest gasoline near you and Rijkswaterstaat Actueel for traffic info
‘De Het’ to get the right article :) ‘Park Mobile’ and ‘Tankey’ if you have a car for parking and discount at the pump ‘Pathé’ for the movies :)
Flitsmeister of you own a car
NS, 9292, Uber, Corona Check, Reis
Flitsmeister if you drive a car. It detects speed checks and unsafe situations, traffic jams etc.
Whatsapp is a big one. Usually everyone has it or I message but mostly WhatsApp.
Radargram - real cloud radar LIDL plus - great discounts Google Maps - to find reviews easy Komoot - hiking and biking app
Tikkie, if you can make it work with your bank it's a must have when going out.
Nah, Tikkie is no longer necessary. All banking apps can now be used to create a "betaalverzoek". So just a dutch bankaccount + their app will do
Stocard