The Just Tracks app icon: a crimson train with a clock face, standing on orange rails.

Just Tracks

Your train, tracked live on your lock screen. A glimpse is all it takes.

How it works

  1. 1 Find your trainSearch by route or by train number. Pick where you are leaving from, where you are going, and the day.
  2. 2 Add it to My TripsOne tap. Track as many trains as you like, on as many routes as you like.
  3. 3 Then stop checking on itAn hour before it leaves, a live card appears on your lock screen and follows the train the whole way — the countdown moving as it runs late or early. Nothing to open, nothing to refresh. A glimpse is all it takes.

What’s more

It follows the train Where it is now, how many stops before yours, how late it is running. The card keeps up on its own — you are never the one refreshing it.
And in the Dynamic Island The same countdown while you are using the phone, on the iPhones that have one. Glance down, carry on.
More than one train Two trains on the same route, or trips in both directions. Each one gets its own card when its hour comes.
Suggestions The next few trains on the same route, always on the board — for when you miss yours, or want to go early.
The one you always take Set the days of the week it runs on and it is planned for you, without opening the app.
Trains can be early Not every surprise is a delay. The card says so, because a train you are strolling towards may already be leaving.

Questions

The card never appeared.

Three things to check, in order. Live Activities may be off — the app shows a banner when they are, and tapping it opens the right settings page; you can also get there through Settings → Just Tracks. The train has to be tracked, not just sitting in My Trips: a trip with nothing highlighted is one you have untracked, and tapping the departure tracks it again. And the card arrives an hour before departure, not earlier.

I swiped the card away. Can I get it back?

Open the app. The trip shows a Show as Live Activity button, and tapping it raises the card again.

Why do the times differ from Amtrak’s own app?

Scheduled times come from Amtrak’s published timetable, and live times from a public Amtrak tracking feed that runs a few minutes behind reality. An estimate moves in both directions as the train runs. Treat the countdown as the best available guess rather than a promise.

Which trains does it cover?

It reads Amtrak’s national timetable, so most Amtrak stations can be picked. It was built around the Capitol Corridor in California and is used there daily; other routes work but have had far less use.

Is an account required?

No. The app gives itself an anonymous identifier on first launch and keeps it in the iOS Keychain, so there is nothing to sign into. The privacy policy sets out what that means for your trips.

How do I delete everything?

The gear beside My Trips → Reset app. That erases your trips, your repeats, your recent searches, your push tokens and the anonymous account itself. It cannot be undone. Deleting the app instead leaves the trips on the server, because iOS never tells us an app is gone — so clear them first if you want them actually gone.

Will I lose my trips if I reinstall?

No. Your identifier is kept in the iOS Keychain, which outlives the app itself, so reinstalling on the same iPhone picks up the same account with the same trips on it. Your trips live on the server rather than on the phone, and nothing about deleting or reinstalling the app disturbs them.

Which platforms are supported?

iPhone, at this point.

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