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Time Out tries and tests the best apps for city living. This week: cut down your waiting time with queue-dodging app Skip the Line.
What is it?
This new London-only app is a community effort that aims to tackle out-of-control queues at no-bookings restaurants. Join the waiting masses at Bao or The Breakfast Club and you can post a guess at how long it’ll take to get a table – or more than a guess if you’ve asked the staff. Using GPS to pinpoint your location, the crowdsourced data goes live straight away so that other potential diners can decide whether to stand in line or head elsewhere. It also amalgamates past data to build up a picture of when queues are longest.
Why do I need it?
Skip the Line gives you something socially valuable to do while you wait. As well as museums it works for clubs, museums and bars, and you can add places and photos of people queueing if you fancy. But the best thing is that as more people use it, the data will be more plentiful and accurate. It’s a clever, bold crowdsourcing idea, and as it grows will include stations, airports and more. That British love of queueing? Forget it.
Free. iOS. 59MB. Download it from the iOS App Store.
There’s also a digital sommelier app for wine-loving Londoners.