Appy days are here again!
Edinburgh Fringe unveils details of its much-missed app
Edinburgh Fringe organisers have confirmed that an app will be available at this year’s festival – having caused outrage by dropping it last year to save money.
The new software will also include new features which weren’t in the previous app – last available in 2019 – including storing electronic tickets as QR codes and the ability to book tickets for multiple shows in one transaction.
As before audiences will be able to use function to find shows starting nearby soon, one of the biggest advantages over the website.
Other new additions include the option to enable notifications for when the next booked show is about to start and a ‘Shake to Search’ function which serves up a random show suggestion.
Shona McCarthy, chief executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, pictured, said: ‘Developing an app required to support the scale and complexity of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe takes a significant period of time and resource, and we are delighted to be able to share the exciting features which will be launched within the app for this year’s festival.
‘We recognise the app is a key tool for Fringe artists, with many audiences using it to explore new ideas and performances they may not have yet experienced, and the "nearby now" functionality is particularly useful for performers who offer free shows within the programme.
‘We’ve ensured that the new app does all that and more, and while there are still a few more weeks before it’s fully ready, I can’t wait for Fringe audiences to download it and support the thousands of artists performing in Edinburgh this summer.’
Last year, a survey commissioned by the Fringe Society found that 71 per cent of performers said the app was ‘very important’ to them.
However it was dropped for the 2022 Fringe – with the Society angering comedians and producers by not officially telling them about the move. Its absence only emerged in response to a festival-goers’ question on Twitter a month before the event kicked off.
The debacle promoted performers union Equity to demand a refund of some of the registration fee paid by productions, but McCarthy said that post-Covid, there was no budget to cover the £100,000 it would have cost to develop. As protests grew, she said: ‘I apologise unreservedly for the distress that this has clearly caused.’
According to the society’s survey, 46 per cent of audience members felt an app would have improved their Fringe experience, with 66 per cent stating they would use it in the future.
The 2023 Fringe app is expected to be available for download in late July,.
Funding for its development has come from Scottish Enterprise, as wel as sponsors Playbill – the monthly magazine for American theatregoers – and German software company Synatec. It is being developed with Australian-based Equ, which also developed the software used by Perth’s Fringe World festival.
Published: 16 May 2023
