Essential apps for daily life in France

Moving to a new country also means changing your apps. Overnight, you have to find a doctor, figure out transport, look for a flat, or get a meal delivered, all in a language and a system you are only just discovering.

The good news: in France, a handful of well-chosen apps cover almost all of your daily needs. Here are the ones locals actually use, grouped by purpose, with the pitfalls to know when you arrive.

Health: booking appointments and tracking reimbursements

Doctolib has become the go-to app for booking a medical appointment in France. Whether you need a GP, a dentist, an eye doctor, or a psychologist, you see their open slots and book in seconds. You can filter by language spoken: many practitioners list English. The app also sends a reminder before each appointment.

Once you are registered with French social security, the Ameli app (the public health-insurance website) becomes your health dashboard. You track your reimbursements, download your certificates, and manage your Carte Vitale (the health insurance card). It is also where you declare your regular doctor.

Getting around: metro, train, and carpooling

Citymapper shines in big cities. It combines metro, bus, tram, bikes, and scooters into a single route, with real-time schedules and disruptions. In Paris, Bonjour RATP does the same job and lets you buy tickets straight from your phone.

For longer distances, SNCF Connect is the official train app: schedules, tickets, and live tracking of your train. And if you want to travel between cities more cheaply, BlaBlaCar connects drivers and passengers to share the road and the cost. It is a French invention, very popular for heading home on the weekend.

Finding a place to live

Most flat hunting happens through three apps. Leboncoin is the country's leading classifieds site, and also one of the top sites for real estate: individuals and agencies post thousands of listings. SeLoger focuses mainly on agency listings, and PAP (short for "de particulier a particulier", owner to owner) lists only offers without an agency, so without agency fees.

Find housing in France

Xenaflow guides you step by step: where to search, which documents to prepare, and how to build a strong application file.

View procedure

Food: delivery, restaurants, and anti-waste

Fridge empty on a Sunday night? Uber Eats and Deliveroo deliver meals from thousands of restaurants in most cities. To eat out, TheFork (formerly LaFourchette) lets you book a table and often offers discounts, sometimes up to -50 % off the bill, plus a loyalty points program.

Want to cut waste and spending? Too Good To Go sells unsold food from bakeries, supermarkets, and restaurants at a low price, as "surprise bags" to pick up at the end of the day. For groceries, most supermarkets (Carrefour, Auchan, Leclerc...) have their own app for home delivery or in-store pickup.

Buying and reselling: the second-hand reflex

Furnishing a place is expensive when you arrive. In France, buying second-hand is a real way of life. Leboncoin is full of furniture, appliances, and used bikes, often to collect near you. For clothes, Vinted is the go-to app: you buy and resell easily, all across Europe. A great way to equip yourself without overspending, and to sell what you no longer need before a move.

Staying connected and meeting people

In France, WhatsApp is the default messaging app: flatmates, colleagues, parents, and groups of friends all organize there. To widen your circle, Meetup gathers events by interest: expat groups, language exchanges, sports, or cultural outings. It is a simple way to meet people when you land in a new city.

And the paperwork? The Xenaflow app

All these apps handle your daily life. But the real headache, when you settle in France, is the admin: the titre de séjour (residence permit), health coverage, the CAF (the family-benefits office that pays housing and family allowances), taxes. Official websites give you the information, but rarely the path.

That is exactly what Xenaflow is for. You answer a few questions about your situation, and the app builds your personalized roadmap: only the procedures that apply to you, in the right order. Each procedure is broken into simple steps, with the list of documents to prepare and a reminder before every deadline.

Xenaflow covers 58 procedures, 9 life events, and more than 300 detailed steps, from studying to renewing your residence permit, through work or nationality. As our homepage puts it: "Official websites give you the information. Xenaflow gives you the path." It is free, private, hosted in France, and an account takes about 30 seconds to create.

In short: the cheat sheet

Need	Apps	Good to know
Health	Doctolib, Ameli	Filter doctors by language spoken
Transport	Citymapper, Bonjour RATP, SNCF Connect, BlaBlaCar	Buy tickets inside the app
Housing	Leboncoin, SeLoger, PAP	Never pay before a visit
Food	Uber Eats, Deliveroo, TheFork, Too Good To Go	Too Good To Go for cheap unsold food
Second-hand	Leboncoin, Vinted	Ideal to equip yourself on arrival
Social	WhatsApp, Meetup	The default messaging app in France
Paperwork	Xenaflow	Your admin roadmap

Install these few apps as soon as you arrive, and daily life in France gets much simpler right away. All that is left is to move forward, calmly, on your administrative procedures.

Get a French SIM card

First things first, a French number: Xenaflow guides you to pick a plan and activate your line.

View procedure