It is not always easy to find a suitable, affordable space for a car park in the UK. In fact, during busy hours, searching for a perfect parking space and navigating to the spot could be stressful. Things get quite challenging if you are driving to a new, unfamiliar region and seek help.
Moreover, keeping change money in your wallet is a bit of a headache, too, when it comes to paying at pay stations that don’t process cards. This is where great smartphone apps for parking in the UK become of great value.
These best parking apps in the UK are built to give information on car park options, real-time space availability and easy payment methods on its user-friendly interface.
Here we have handpicked the 10 best parking apps in the UK that stood out to our expectations:
| NCP Parking App | PayByPhone |
| YourParkingSpace | RingGO |
| JustPark | Parkmobile |
| Parkopedia | ParkRight |
| AppyParking | ParkMe |
1) NCP Parking App
NCP Parking is the car park app released by National Car Parks in 2011 to help drivers locate suitable parking spaces in their nearest parking centers. Since it is developed by UK’s ace car park provider, it helps best if you are looking for paid commercial car parks with many options to choose from.
The app aids in navigational directions to the nearest car park along with price and availability. An interesting feature of the NCP parking app is that it allows you to record your car’s location after parking it so that it is easy to locate and walk back to your car when you return.
It may not be the cheapest bet, but the app still works best for newbies looking for the nearest car park in their neighborhood without a hassle.
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2) PayByPhone
PayByPhone literally provides smooth payment options for parking sessions using your phone and has limited but great features. It is the high-ranked parking app in the world with its service available in over 400 cities and 8 countries. Like other apps, it reads the unique code you enter for a car park to display its availability and location.
It has an image-recognition system to sign up and add payment cards. You can also choose to pay via Apple/Android Pay. Making Payment for parking sessions with PayByPhone is easy and smooth.
You can even set up the stay for one minute and stretch it longer with minimum charges. Here also you have session expiry reminders in text messages and options to extend the time.
3) YourParkingSpace
Available for both iOS and Android, YourParkingSpace holds 4 stars and is a pretty great car park app. While it might not be suitable for all types of car park options, the app primarily features an option to allow people to rent out their free parking spaces and private driveways.
This kind of arrangement comes handy when you are running out of options with conventional car park choices with other apps. YourParkingSpace solution lets you park your car for a little longer than usually expected which is a big deal to many parkers.
You are allowed to extend the length of stay often in addition to your current session. The app is a great alternative to other parking spots that might be too busy or rigorous or seem like a thumb down.
4) RingGO
Completely free, RingGo is another largest and high-quality mobile parking app offering its service in over 40 towns and cities all over the UK. Due to its simple and handy payment system, scores of parking providers in the country rely on RingGo app system so that drivers can pay for parking without involving hard coins.
Once you sign up with your vehicle registration and payment details, the easy-to-use RingGo needs a unique car park code for respective pay stations. Enter the code into the app to recognize the parking location.
You can then use its color-coded map to confirm space availability, navigate to the car park and also make payment for the session in advance. It also features an option to extend the session or send reminders in case your session is to expire.
5) JustPark
JustPark is a popularly used and high-rated free parking app that covers up to 1.4 million spaces across the UK. Its service includes off-street and on-street car parks, free parking zones, private spaces, and driveways.
The outstanding part about the app is that users can land their unused parking space to others on rent including their private space, garage or driveway. The marketplace kind of app also allows you to pick the time for space availability.
The end users can view space availability in real-time, price and associated conditions. The app integrates with other map apps installed on your smartphone for navigation purposes.
Options like the reservation for parking space are available for over 45,000 locations along with the ability to pay for the sessions using PayPal, card or Apple or GPay. You can even set session expiry reminders and extend the session swiftly.
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6) Parkmobile
ParkMobile is a great parking app, too, except that it has a tedious registration process as experienced by other app users. Also, navigation is another part where the app seems to discourage.
However, once the process is completed, things get better and you come across a good range of parking suggestions in London. You can select from on-street and off-street park spaces along with availability, space quality, and price.
You can easily track down to pay for car park space and initiate the timer for the parking period.
7) Parkopedia
Founded in 2007, Parkopedia is one of the freemium parking apps in UK that provides superior, detailed parking service for more than 70 million parking spaces. This app is used for car parking, parking at streets and private places and is active in 89 countries including the UK.
The app color-codes each parking spot based on its price and available space to know the cheap deals. It lets you connect with navigation apps on your phone to enable navigation.
You would pay £4.99 for its premium version that unlocks additional features such as compatible car parking spaces and their real-time availability, advanced parking space reservation and payment ability for the service via the app.
8) ParkRight
ParkRight is a good considerable car park app for the UK dwellers with perfect-looking options. However, a limit with using the ParkRight app is that it is only available to the London area for now.
It is so good its availability to other UK locations can make it a hot favorite. Although its London-restricted park service could dismay you a little, people living in or driving across the capital city will find ease and comfort in its search results for on-street and off-street park spaces.
They all indicate clear information about space availability and fees. It integrates one of the navigation apps installed on your phone and lets you pay via RingGo.
9) AppyParking
Glorious with five-star ratings, AppyParking is an excellent, full-fledged free parking app in the UK market, covering all-round solutions for on-street and off-street parking.
It is easy to save money with AppyParking as it helps you find free off-street options or cheap parking spaces with real-time availability. The app also comes with options for disabled motorcyclists and electric charging points.
Its slick and simple interface lets you easily access Google Streetview once you have found suitable space and picture what the car parking space exactly looks like. The app also comes handy while navigating to the precise parking spot right in the car.
You can pay for parking via card or phone at various UK-wide locations. Also, it is easy to locate your car with its walking route feature when you are leaving.
10) ParkMe
Developed by INRIX known for automotive and transportation solutions, ParkMe is a fantastic parking app available in 15,000 cities. Although primarily serving the American market, the ParkMe app also covers the UK market and stands out with its unobvious well-designed, slick and easy-to-use interface.
The app displays space availability, price, distance from your current location and a Google StreetView image as soon as you find a space.
It also allows you to mark the car location and set up a timer in case the session is to expire. Since it is more exclusive to US users, the UK version doesn’t offer yet the option to pay for parking sessions via the app.
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Conclusion
Even though there are several more parking apps you could try, these 10 best parking apps in the UK are the effortless way to find parking space, commercial, free or rented.
No matter how busy your day looks, you can always find betters deals for car parks using these phenomenal parking apps. hopefully, you will install and try a few of them to check out whether they suit your parking requirements.