BusBuddy UK

ARK Technology Ltd

About this app

BusBuddy — the friendly way to catch your bus

Waiting for a bus shouldn't feel stressful. BusBuddy shows where your bus actually is, right now, on a clear map — so you know whether to run, walk, or wait warm indoors for a couple more minutes

Made in the UK, and designed from day one to be usable by a child getting home from school as much as an adult on the way to work.

What you can do
• See live bus positions on a clean, easy-to-read map
• Search any stop by name, code, or landmark
• Real-time departures with cancellations and delays highlighted
• Save your regular stops for one-tap access
• Save your regular trips (home → school, school → home) with next-bus previews
• Get a friendly ping when your bus is 5 minutes away (optional)
• Choose Simple, Normal, or Detailed language throughout the app
• Light and dark mode plus a warm cream

Built for families
Under-18 accounts need a parent or guardian's approval before they can be used. Parents get an email to say yes, and can help set up a first trip together. Location is off by default — the app never tracks a child's whereabouts unless they turn on the "your bus is nearly here" alert.

Privacy-first, no ads, no tracking
We never sell your information. We never share it with advertisers. There's no behavioural tracking, no profiling, and no third-party analytics anywhere. BusBuddy is built to comply with the UK Age Appropriate Design Code (Children's Code), and privacy defaults are set to the strictest option out of the box.

How the live data works
BusBuddy uses the UK government's Bus Open Data Service (BODS) — the official feed that UK operators publish live vehicle positions and timetables to. Coverage starts in Kent at launch and expands region by region as we grow.

What’s new

v2.0 is here!!
Home-screen & lock-screen widgets. See your child's live bus status at a glance. Tap "I'm on the bus 🚌" from your lock screen or notification — parents get the update in seconds. Smarter arrival detection, live delay on the pre-departure card, 30-day free trial, and many reliability fixes.