HANDY APPS FOR LISBON (& Portugal)
Every day life in new city is easier when you have the right apps. Knowing when the bus is coming, getting food delivered, seeing what events are on and using the facebook marketplace alternative will have you feeling like a local bestie in no time.
I’ve provided direct links to download the apps. As usual, I have no affiliations nor do I make any profit for these recommendations. Contact me if you have any suggestions!
Getting Around
We’ll start with the boring-yet-important ones first. I have a whole Public Transport page with alllll the apps for alllll the variations of transport, but here are the most vital.
I am sure you already have uber. This is their rival company and more popular among locals, though most people use both and toggle between the two.
For info on buses and trams, including real time tracking and topping up your navigante card.
For info on Urban Trains and long-distance Combois lines (e.g Porto), timetables, planning, pre-buying tickets and strike info (happens more than it should).
Medical
I have a page for General Medical information here.
You’re virtual SNS card, once you have your number. Book appointments in the public health system and see your prescriptions.
Your customer profile for Hopital CUF Tejo, where you can book GP or specialist appointments, see your results and pay bills.
Your customer profile for Hopital Da Luz, where you can book GP or specialist appointments, see your results and pay bills.
Boring Gov Stuff
Segurança Social - Android | iOS
The government social security app that lets you check your benefits, payments, and contributions, and handle social security tasks online. It’s mainly used for things like unemployment support, sick pay, pensions, and freelancer contributions.
Lets you take a ticket and book appointments for government services from your phone instead of waiting in line. And there is ALWAYS a line.
Socialising
I’m just gonna be straight up, everything in Lisbon happens via whatsap. All the groups, all the clicks, all the offshoots and subgroups, in each neighborhood for every interest. There are LOADS of them. There’s no way to share them all but when you get here you will hear about the ones you need, trust me. There are also lots of community groups on intsagram. And if you’re wondering, dating apps are pretty dead.
Local community events you can join. Usually smaller, like a games night or a picnic.
Find and buy tickets for bigger ticket concerts & festivals. Also touristy things like boat parties and fado shows.
Nightlife focused, for finding and getting tickets to smaller music venues, DJs, and dance parties across all genres.
Eating Out & Eating In
Second only to Google Maps for dinner reservations. Often has discounts and promos.
Probably the most popular for fast food delivery. Biggest range of restaurants, but also kind of deliver “anything”. A friend once got bottles of wine delivered to a park when our picnic needed more booze.
Same app as the car service, there’s a button up top for fast fod delivery. In the same vein as Uber eats which is also used here.
Get your grocery shopping from Continente supermarket home delivered here. You can save your regularly purchased items and filter by discount. As mentioned on my Grocery Shopping page, you can also do it via their website.
The Best Of The Rest
The real estate app in Portugal. Find (or at least get an idea of) what’s available, both renting and buying, in whatever region you want. You can filter by price, amount of rooms etc and save your preferences.
My personal favourite of the language apps for European portuguese. I have more apps on the Learning Portuguese page.
Portugal’s answer to facebook marketplace. Clunky but it works and is oddly more popular than FB.
You’ll probably be drinking wines you haven’t tried before, simply scanning the lable will give yiu info on what you’re quaffing and you can keep track of the ones you like.
For tracking wildfires across the country in real time.