Edinburgh Fringe app is back

At last!

The Edinburgh Fringe has an app, for the first time in four years.

Organisers at the Fringe Society caused outrage last year by dropping the service to save money post-pandemic, without telling participants who had paid their usual fees.

However, the official EdFringe 2023 app is now live and available to download from the Apple App Store and Google Play.

It includes features familiar from previous years, such as the ability to filter listings by genre and to find shows starting soon using the ‘nearby now’ function. App users will also be able to book tickets and store e-ticket QR codes in their account area, and booked performances will be integrated into users’ daily show schedule.

Fringe-goers will also be able to enable notifications for their next show, while audiences looking for inspiration can use the ‘shake to search’ feature, providing them with a random show suggestion.

The launch comes after more than 300 extra shows have registered since the programme launched June 8.

There are currently 1,277 comedy shows listed on the app and on the Edfringe website and 3,358 overall.

Shona McCarthy, chief executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, said: ‘We’re thrilled that the app is out of development and ready to download, giving eager Fringe-goers yet another way to find new shows and discover their new favourite artists.

‘I’d like to encourage everyone to explore the various features on offer – particularly "shake to search", introducing them to entirely new and random show suggestions – and to fill their boots when it comes to booking shows.’

Research found that 71 per cent of performers said the app was ‘very important’ to them – yet it was dropped for the 2022 Fringe, with comedians and producers were not officially told of the move. Its absence only emerged in response to a festival-goers’ question on Twitter a month before the festival 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 and said as protests grew: ‘I apologise unreservedly for the distress that this has clearly caused.’

Published: 11 Jul 2023