MetrO is your free smartphone guide for navigating public transport worldwide. The app covers more than 400 cities — metros, trams, suburban rail, buses, VAL, funiculars — and calculates your routes entirely offline, without an Internet connection, directly on your iPhone.

Available on the App Store, MetrO has been developed by Patrice Bernard & Frank Van Caenegem (Kinevia) since 1997.

MetrO is free. In return, we count on your help to report changes in your transport network via the Send Comments feature.

This guide describes the features of the iPhone version and the Apple Watch companion app.

Interface — The main screen includes:

• Two input fields: departure and arrival
• A toolbar for refining the calculation: Calculate · Reverse · Clear · My location · Schedule
• A tab bar at the bottom: Stations · Lines · POI · Share · Preferences

Before planning a route, select the city you want to travel in. Tap the icon at the top left to open the list of available cities.

• Installed cities show a trash icon
• Cities whose location is near your phone (≈ 50 km) appear in blue
• Cities available for download show a
• An alphabetical search bar on the right side provides quick access
• Tap "Get Cities" to download new data (connection required)

Once a city is selected, all searches apply exclusively to its transport network.

City colour coding

Display	Meaning
Name in blue	City whose GPS location is near your current position — MetrO suggests it first
Name in grey	Data is too old — update recommended
	City installed locally — can be deleted to free up space
	Update available for an already installed city
	City available to download (not yet installed)

1. Enter departure and arrival

Tap the departure field and type the first letters. MetrO instantly shows matching suggestions. Do the same for the arrival field.

• Search covers station names, addresses and points of interest
• The microphone allows voice input
• The button swaps departure and arrival and recalculates in the opposite direction
• The button clears the active field
• The button opens the detail sheet of the selected station

Tap to start the calculation.

City Info page

The City Info page shows:

• City name and last update date
• Statistics: number of lines, stops, favourites
• Release notes, fare conditions and works warnings

2. Reading the results

MetrO calculates and displays several routes simultaneously:

• Dark blue banner — summary: number of stops, transfers and estimated duration
• Walking steps
• Line to take with coloured icon, direction and number of stations
• Transfer
• Get off at

3. View stops on a line

Tap a line in the results to display the full list of its stops in the direction taken.

When MetrO has the GPS coordinates of the destination and an Internet connection, a weather button appears automatically next to the timetable button in the toolbar. It shows the current temperature at the destination along with a condition icon (sun, clouds, rain…).

Tapping this button opens an hourly forecast panel for the coming days. Each hour shows:

• 🌡 Temperature — in degrees Celsius
• ☀ Sunshine — solar irradiation intensity
• 🍃 AQI (Air Quality Index, US scale) — air quality: 0–50 good, 51–100 moderate, 101–150 unhealthy for sensitive groups, >150 unhealthy
• 🌿 Pollen — pollen level (grass)
• ☀ UV — ultraviolet index
• Weather condition icon — clear, cloudy, rain, snow…

The hour matching your departure time is highlighted in the panel. Data is provided by Apple Weather or Open-Meteo depending on availability.

Tap a step → Station detail

In the results, tapping any step (board a line, transfer, walk, alight) opens the station detail sheet:

• Location map
• Nearby stops
• All lines serving this stop
• From the sheet, use the station as a new departure or arrival

Tap the summary banner → Route map

The blue banner at the top of each route is tappable. A tap shows the full route on a map:

Tap a stop in a line's list

From the list of stops on a line (obtained by tapping a line segment in the results), tapping a stop places it directly in the active input field ( departure or arrival).

The Lines tab (bottom bar) lists all transport groups in the active city. Navigation works on two levels:

1. Tap a group (Metro, Suburban Rail, Bus…) to see all its lines
2. Tap a line to display all its stops in order, with transfers

A map button at the top of the stop list shows the geographical route of the line.

Tap the map button from a line's stop list to see its full route.

Filter transport modes

Uncheck an item to exclude it from the calculation.

Example uses:

• Exclude lines under maintenance
• Avoid certain modes for reduced mobility reasons
• Force a route using metro only

Tap a group to expand it and check/uncheck lines individually. The calculation restarts automatically with the new filters when you return to the main screen.

Station detail sheet

Accessible via the ⓘ button next to an input field, or by long-pressing a station. Contains:

• Map — location on a plan
• Nearby stops — stations in the vicinity
• Available lines — with official icon and colour

Tap a line in the sheet to access the full list of its stops.

Map icons in the station sheet

Marker	Meaning
MetrO	Station or POI being viewed — the place whose sheet you are reading
Light green MetrO icon	Nearby stop — station in the vicinity, tap it to see its sheet
Dark green MetrO icon	Transport point of interest associated with the sheet (stops or POIs linked to the viewed location)

Point of interest sheet

POI sheets (museums, stations, airports, hotels…) also display practical information: address, phone, website, opening hours, access. Nearby stops and available lines allow you to reach the location directly from your route.

The Preferences tab (bottom tab bar, far right) contains all app settings:

MetrO automatically adapts to landscape orientation: the input fields move side by side and the tab bar shifts to the edge of the screen to maximise the space available for results.

Right-to-left writing scripts (Arabic, Hebrew…) are natively supported: the entire interface mirrors when you select the corresponding language in Preferences → Language. Both modes can be combined.

Lock screen notification

MetrO can display a persistent notification on your lock screen during navigation. It shows:

• The next step to take (walk or board a line)
• The estimated remaining time
• The direction and number of stations

Tap the notification to return directly to the current route.

Spotlight search

MetrO integrates with iOS Spotlight search. From the home screen, swipe down and type the name of a station or place: MetrO directly suggests matching results. Tap a result to open the app with the station pre-filled.

Icon shortcuts

A long press on the MetrO icon shows quick shortcuts:

• Go home — places your home address (from your contact card) directly in the arrival field
• Go to work — places your work address in the arrival field

MetrO includes an Apple Watch companion app that displays your current route directly on your wrist.

As soon as a route is calculated on iPhone, it is automatically transmitted to the Watch:

• Lines to take — with coloured icon and number of stations
• Transfers and alighting stops
• Walking transfers with estimated duration
• Line direction shown as subtitle

If the Watch has not yet received the data, it automatically requests it from the iPhone as soon as the Bluetooth connection is available. Open MetrO on your Watch: the route appears within seconds.

Complication — MetrO can display the current route summary directly on your watch face.