The Israel Train Authority application is probably one of my most-used apps. Though I pretty much know the train schedule for the routes I travel, there are times when I'll want to know whether I can allow myself a leisurely stroll to a train I want to catch or whether I have to make a run for it. It fulfills that function very well, including knowing via GPS which train station I'm closest to. But what at least should be one of the best features of this app is the alarm that promises to wake me when the train approaches the station where I want to depart.

I'm very adept at catching a nap on the way home, and over the past couple of months I've consistently clicked on the clock within the app to ask that I be awakened upon arrival at my destination. The alarm works, but perhaps a bit too literally. Luckily I've awakened before the ring because it consistently goes off after I've already gotten off the train. Yes, it lets me know that I've arrived, which is what I asked for, but I'd expect it to be a bit less literal and let me know a minute or two earlier that the train is about to arrive at my destination. Were I to fully rely on the alarm chances are good that at least once or twice over the past couple of months I wouldn't have gotten out the door before the train took off again.