Unlike the , the Join In app offers information on all kinds of Olympic-themed activities, including exhibitions, concerts, participatory sporting events, and the Games themselves. It will help you get more from the Games if you are attending the Olympics or watching the action on TV, yes, but perhaps more importantly it will assist those for whom the sport holds little interest. And that's the case regardless of where you are in the country: a critical factor for those who oppose the London-centric nature of London 2012. See also: .
There's a lot going on this summer, and a lot of information in the London 2012 Join In app, but it is well laid out, and the interface is intuitive, so it's pretty simple to find things in which you are interested. By default the app opens on a listing page for today, and you can scroll through to future days to find information about them. At the top of the page are filters for 'All', 'Sport', 'See & Do', and 'Torch'. .
Clearly, the Torch information is going to be much less useful once the games start, but the Sport section will come into its own, even if you are glued to the couch for the duration. A Calendar option lets you jump to a day of your choosing, and there are filters letting you select to see only events at certain times of the day, or within a mile, 10 miles, or 50 miles of your location. A map view lets you browse events that way too.
And there is a lot going on. You could consider London 2012 Join In a guide to what to do this summer, whatever you are into, and wherever you are. We tested London 2012 Join In on our Android , and . It looks pretty good, and very 'London 2012' on both, although it is clearly designed for rather than . On both devices - neither new - it was a very stable app.
Each event is stuffed with information about what is going on and when, as well as a map to take care of the where. Each category of event has its own symbol, via which you can see other similar events. Within the app you can find all the London 2012 social feeds, as well as travel and accessibility guides, and ticketing news (although that ship has well and truly sailed). You can upload photos of yourself at events, check in, and so on. There are also augmented reality features, for those phones and tablets that can handle such things.
Downsides? Well, we could have lived without the constant interference of adverts for/'useful' links to London2012.com. And London 2012 Join In does require regular web and GPS connectivity to work properly. The first time we opened it London 2012 Join In downloaded just shy of 30MB of data, and it needs to suck up updated info every time you open it, as well as making use of your GPS, of course. (You are warned about this before you install.)
Our verdict:
London 2012 Join In is a comprehensive source of information, easy to use, and nice to look at. If you want to get something more out of this special summer, install this free app.