After years of planning, preparing and just a little bit of complaining, the London Olympics are finally about to begin with the opening ceremony tonight.
As you'd expect with such a modern games there are literally hundreds of ways to watch the event so we've scroured the main app stores to find the best apps to help you keep fully up-to-date. We'll cover everything from news, photography, sports and helpful ways to navigate the sprawling metropolis of London.
BBC Olympics App – Free
Some of the best apps for sport come from the BBC and they've pulled out all the stops for their new Olympics App. It has Team GB-specific news, which is the easiest way to keep tabs on how the home team is performing. As well as that you'll have access to events schedules, live-text commentary and a gargantuan 24 streams of live video once the games have fully got underway.
Official Olympics App for the Olympic and Paralympic Games – Free
Obviously the London Olympics has an official app and that should probably be your first port of call - it has everything from a full programme of arts and event taking place around the country, there's a full event calendar detailing what's going on around you as well as at the Olympic park. You'll also find live photos and highlights once the event fully kicks off. Best of all it's free and available for iPhone, Android and Blackberry users - sorry Windows Phone users you're out of luck.
Official Results App – Free
iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows Phone
Not only is there a official companion app, there’s a results app that profiles all the athletes, medal tables, live scores and a 'My Game' feature allowing you cherry pick the events you want to be kept up to date with.
Reuters Olympics London – Free
News-gathering service Reuters has created a stunning photography app for iPhone and iPad. You can view photos from in and around the games from a handy timeline, and there are clever inforgraphics with fun facts and trivia about the Olympics movement. The app will be updated with new photos throughout the games, so make sure you check back regularly.
Curly’s Pocket Guide to sports – 69p
If you don't know your synchronised swimming from your shot put then you might want to check out Curly's Pocket Guide to sports. For 69p it will give you all the rules and formats for every Olympic sport. It will also supply you with a host of interesting Olympic trivia so you can impress all your friends with your wealth of insightful knowledge.
London Olympics 2012 – 50p
This handy app gives you a wealth of useful information; from weather forecasts, live traffic information, day-by-day fixture and venue lists – as well an explore section offering places to eat, stay, drink and party throughout London.
London 2012 – Official Mobile Game – Free (Premium £1.99)
It wouldn’t be the Olympics without an offical game and you'll be glad to know you can get the offical game for a host of home consoles as well as portable devices including iPhone, iPad and Android devices. You can create you own character, and win credits for achievements to boost your avatar. There's sure to be plenty here to keep you busy if you have a spare couple of minutes to kill between events.
TripAdvisor – Free
iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows Phone
Known for its sterling work on Hotel reviews, TripAdvisor has a great app for helping you to find great restaurants, bars and other forms of non-Olympic entertainment. It will, of course, direct you to your choice via GPS and you can even get reviews from other users. And if your stuck for a place to stay it will give you choice of Hotels if there's any left of course.
London Tube Deluxe – 69p
The best way to travel around the London is, of course, the tube - to help plan your journey you should check out London Tube Deluxe. For 69p you'll get digital verion of all the capitol’s rail maps (without the need an internet connection) as well as nifty route planner and most importantly live line updates, which do need a internet connection unfortunately.
London Bus Buddy – Free
If you can't face the sweaty underground then you're best bet is London's bus network. London Bus Buddy is a great free app that gives you live departures from any bus stop in the capital, route information and a clever journey planner, which handily works offline too.
