Binformation vs BinDays
BinDays was one of the first dedicated bin day reminder apps in the UK and it does the job well. If you're weighing up which one to use, here's a straightforward comparison. I built Binformation, so I'm obviously not neutral here, but I'll try to be fair about what BinDays does well and where the two apps differ.
Binformation
BinDays
BinDays
BinDays is an open-source bin day reminder app that covers over 80 UK councils. You enter your postcode, select your address, and the app fetches your collection schedule directly from the council's website on your phone. Push notifications remind you before collection day.
The app is available on both Android and iOS, which is a genuine advantage if anyone in your household uses an iPhone. It's completely free with no ads and no in-app purchases. The codebase is open source on GitHub, with four linked repositories. They also offer a Home Assistant integration, which is a nice touch if you run a smart home setup and want bin day reminders on a dashboard or through a voice assistant.
BinDays has a 4.1-star rating on Google Play. It's a well-made app and the developer clearly cares about it.
Binformation
Binformation covers 334 UK councils. You enter your postcode, pick your address, and get your schedule with evening-before notifications listing which specific bins to put out. The app is Android-only.
It's free with a single banner ad on the schedule screen. A one-off £3.99 payment removes the ad permanently (currently £1.99 during the launch offer until 30 June 2026). There's no subscription.
Binformation uses server-side data fetching, meaning your phone never contacts council websites directly. The schedule refreshes daily in the background. It includes a calendar view alongside the list view, snooze on notifications, and Doze-proof exact-time alarms so reminders actually arrive when they're supposed to.
Comparison
| Feature | Binformation | BinDays |
|---|---|---|
| Council coverage | 334 councils | 80+ councils |
| Android | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | No | Yes |
| Price | Free (ad-supported). £3.99 removes ad. | Free, no ads |
| Push notifications | Yes, evening before | Yes |
| Calendar view | Yes | No |
| Snooze | Yes (1 hour) | No |
| Doze-proof alarms | Yes (exact-time alarms) | Not specified |
| Home Assistant | No | Yes |
| Open source | No (uses open-source data) | Yes |
| Data architecture | Server-side with 6-hour cache | On-device (fetches from phone) |
Where BinDays wins
iOS support. If you need an iPhone app, BinDays has one and Binformation doesn't. That's a hard differentiator. No amount of extra features on Android changes the fact that Binformation won't run on your iPhone.
No ads, no payment. BinDays is completely free. Binformation has a banner ad unless you pay to remove it. If you don't want to see ads and don't want to pay £3.99, BinDays wins on this point.
Open source. If you care about being able to inspect the code, contribute, or self-host, BinDays offers that. Binformation doesn't.
Home Assistant integration. If your household runs Home Assistant, BinDays plugs straight in.
Where Binformation wins
Coverage. 334 councils versus 80+. If your council is supported by BinDays, this doesn't matter. If it isn't, it matters a lot. More than four times the council count means a much higher chance that your specific address is covered.
Calendar view. Binformation lets you see your collections on a monthly grid alongside the standard list view. BinDays doesn't offer this.
Snooze. If a reminder fires and you're busy, you can snooze it for an hour. Small thing, but useful.
Doze-proof reminders. Binformation uses exact-time alarms that fire through Android's Doze mode and battery saver. This means a 7pm reminder actually arrives at 7pm, not whenever Android gets around to waking the app up. For a reminder app, reliability of delivery timing is the whole point.
The coverage question
Coverage is the factor that probably decides this for most people. Both apps use the same underlying data source (the UK Bin Collection Data open-source project), but they integrate different numbers of council scrapers. Binformation wraps 334. BinDays wraps 80+.
The UK has roughly 360-370 local authorities responsible for waste collection. 334 is about 90% of them. 80 is about 22%. That's a meaningful gap. If you live in a smaller district council or a less-populated area, the odds of your council being in Binformation's list are considerably higher.
If your council is covered by both, this point is moot. If it's only covered by one, that one wins by default.
Both solve the same problem
BinDays and Binformation both exist because the UK has no national bin schedule API and every council runs its own system. Both apps aggregate that fragmented data into something usable with push notifications.
If your council is in BinDays' coverage list and you use an iPhone, or you run Home Assistant, BinDays is a solid choice. I'd recommend it without hesitation for those cases.
If your council isn't in BinDays' list, or you want the wider coverage, or you're on Android and want calendar view and Doze-proof alarms, try Binformation.
Get Binformation — Free on Google Play