25+ must-have apps for life in Norway (2025)
Whether you’ve just arrived in Norway or have been here for a while, there’s one thing that will make your everyday life easier: knowing which apps and websites are actually useful for life here!
From public transport and secondhand shopping to paying your friends back with a single swipe, these tools help you navigate the systems, culture, and quirks of Norwegian daily life. Here's your ultimate guide, organized by category, to the most useful apps and platforms for internationals living in Norway.
Transport and travel apps
RuterBillett (Oslo + Viken): Plan routes, buy tickets, and check timetables for metro, trams, buses, and ferries in the Oslo region.
Skyss (Bergen), Kolumbus (Stavanger), AtB (Trondheim), Troms Billett (Tromsø): Each region in Norway has its own public transport system. These are the apps to download based on where you live or travel.
Vy: For booking trains and some long-distance buses across Norway. You can also use Google Maps for basic travel planning.
Entur: National journey planner that includes most transport options (useful if you're traveling between regions).
Hyre / Getaround: Car-sharing apps that allow you to rent cars by the hour or day. Perfect if you don’t own a car but need one occasionally.
A digital society
In Norway, many companies and even government services relying on digital solutions and apps. It’s quite common to pay for things with card or Vipps, and some businesses don’t take cash.
Payments and banking apps
Vipps: Norway’s go-to app for mobile payments. You can pay friends, split bills, donate to organizations, or pay in shops all with just one app. Requires a Norwegian mobile phone number and BankID.
Your bank's mobile app (e.g. DNB, Sbanken, Nordea): These are essential for viewing your accounts, sending money, and logging in to official websites using BankID.
BankID (or similar): In order to sign in with BankID to other websites and apps, you’ll be required to use the BankID app to verify your login. You may use a different version depending on your bank, e.g. NordeaID.
Healthcare and bureaucracy apps
Helsenorge: Norway’s national health portal. Book GP appointments, check test results, view prescriptions, and apply to change your fastlege (primary doctor). Requires BankID.
Digipost / e-Boks: Secure digital mailboxes where you receive official letters from the government, like tax info or health documents.
Altinn: Used for taxes, reporting income, running a business in Norway, and many interactions with the state. You’ll receive login links via SMS or email during tax season.
Shopping and food apps
Mattilbud: Compares weekly grocery deals across chains like Rema 1000, Kiwi, Meny, and Coop. Great for saving money.
Too Good To Go: Helps reduce food waste by letting you buy unsold food from restaurants and stores at a discount. You never know what you’ll get—but that’s half the fun.
Wolt / Foodora: The two main food delivery apps in Norway. Both offer options for takeaway or delivery, and both now offer groceries in some cities.
Trumf: Norway’s most used grocery loyalty program. Collect points when you shop at affiliated stores (Kiwi, Meny, etc.) and redeem them for cash back.
Store apps: Most grocery chains like Coop, Rema 1000, and Meny also have their own apps with digital coupons, member deals, and shopping lists. Consider becoming a member of their own apps to save money on the groceries you buy most often!
Money-saving tip
Trumf is a popular loyalty program in Norway. You collect points by shopping at various stores, including Kiwi and Joker, which you can transfer to your bank account whenever you want.
Shopping and secondhand
Finn.no: Norway’s largest classified ads site. Use it to find everything including apartments, jobs, furniture, used electronics, and cars. You’ll also find free items labeled under “Gis bort.” The website works better with Google Translate than the app, which is currently Norwegian-only.
Tise: A more ‘trendy’ secondhand app mostly used for clothing, accessories, and home items—especially popular among younger Norwegians.
Facebook: Though Facebook may be declining in popularity elsewhere, it’s still alive and well in Norway. You can find a lot of secondhand items for sale in local Facebook groups. Search for “Gis bort + [your city]” or “Kjøp og salg + [your area]” to find local giveaways and secondhand finds.
Language learning
Duolingo, Babbel, Memrise: Popular language learning apps that cover beginner to intermediate Norwegian.
Norwegian on the Web (NTNU): A free online Norwegian course developed by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). Great for A1–B1 level learners.
Spotify / Apple Podcasts / etc: You can find great Norwegian language resources available wherever you get your podcast, for example Lær Norsk Nå, which is a favorite of ours for learning grammar, listening practice, and vocabulary.
Daily life and utilities
Yr: Norway’s most trusted weather app, developed by the national meteorological institute and NRK. Local, accurate, and constantly updated.
Strømtest: Compare electricity prices and providers like Tibber, Fjordkraft, and Ishavskraft. Useful if you’re renting and paying for your own electricity, especially during high-cost winter months.
Tibber, Mitt Fortum, Fjordkraft: Electricity provider apps with notifications for low-cost periods—ideal if you want to time your dishwasher, heating, or EV charging.
Making friends and socializing
Bumble BFF: Friendship-based versions of dating apps—great for meeting people in a new city.
Meetup: Find and join local meetups for hiking, language exchange, board games, or professional networking.
Facebook groups: There are Facebook groups for everything in Norway—jobs, events, language exchange, flatshares, and more. Just search for your city + topic.
Speedfriending: An event-based social app that matches you with people in your area for casual meetups—designed for expats, students, and young professionals.
Tinder / Hinge / Bumble: Some of the dating apps that are used in Norway.
Snapchat: A surprisingly popular app in Norway. People use Snapchat to stay in touch with friends and family.
There’s an app for everything!
As a quite digital society, knowing which apps to use for everything from budgeting and finding things for free, to booking a train or chatting with new friends can make life in Norway easier and more convenient.
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