Mobile phones are a great help when it comes to carrying out tedious tasks such as buying train tickets . We all know that the Renfe website does not work correctly on many occasions, but the reality is that the company’s app is quite useful in this regard, as it facilitates and improves the user experience in the ticket purchase process.
But it is that, in addition to buying these tickets, we can find in the same information about our trips, carry the tickets stored in it, manage our personal data and access credentials and keep track of the Renfe Points and much more. Similarly, it shows information on the company’s trains such as their departure and arrival times or if they are delayed in any way.
And speaking of the management of our trips, the application, available on the two main mobile platforms of the moment, has a reader that allows not only to store the passes purchased from the app, but also to scan a ticket purchased in another sales channel through the camera to store it on the smartphone and not lose it.
How to buy tickets in the Renfe app
The process is very simple. The first thing you have to do, logically, is download the Renfe app from the app market, whether your device is an iPhone with iOS or Android.
After installing it and granting it the necessary permissions, you must access it and, in the lower menu, go to the Buy option. Next, you must enter a destination , but first you have to select if you want to make a one -way or round trip . Also select the origin, as well as the date you want to travel and the number (and type) of passengers. Choose the desired options and enter a promotional code if you have one and click on the ‘ Search for trains’ button.
Then you will be shown the available trains and their prices, as well as the options to return if you have chosen a return ticket. Finally, click on Select, bearing in mind that in some cases the app itself warns that the purchase can only be made from the web.
Now is the time to enter your email and Renfe card number and password. If you have not done so previously, you have the opportunity to register in the system from this same screen. When you enter the system, you will have to select a payment method and confirm the purchase from your banking app.
Finally, you will receive an email with the tickets ready to download , although you will also find them stored in the ‘My Tickets’ option that appears in this same railway company application.
Reasons why it doesn’t work
As you have seen, buying our tickets to travel on the state railway network is not complicated at all. The process is really simple and you only need access credentials and have a means of payment associated with the system. However, there are many things that can happen in the process and make it impossible for us to buy Renfe tickets from the company’s app. The most likely reasons for this to happen are:
- Incorrect app : Remember that the app that allows us to do all this is the Renfe app, not the Renfe Tickets app or Renfe timetables, whose objective is totally different from buying tickets.
- Two-Factor Verification : The system employs a two-factor verification tool to process the purchase. If you do not have coverage, it is likely that you will not receive the verification SMS on your smartphone that will allow you to complete the process.
- The system does not work: If you cannot complete the purchase of tickets, it is most likely not your fault. Renfe’s servers are not known for their reliability and, just as the website often fails, the app may not work correctly due to saturation of the service or another type of specific problem. In these cases, it is best to go to Twitter to confirm if this is the case.
- The app does not work: Of course, it is also possible that the downloaded application is corrupted, has not been installed correctly or is out of date, preventing you from using its functions normally.
- You do not have Internet: If you do not have Internet, you have activated airplane mode, or you have problems with data or Wi-Fi connectivity, you will not be able to use this or any other application that requires access to the web to work properly .
- The payment method : The final step in buying tickets through the Renfe app is to pay for them. If the payment method entered is wrong, or you do not have enough balance to complete the transaction, you will never be able to finalize the purchase of your train tickets.
Solutions when the app does not let you buy tickets
From here on, we are going to think that the problem of not being able to buy train tickets in the Renfe app is solely ours. The system works well, the means of payment is correct, we have internet and coverage… It seems that the fault is, either with the mobile, or with the application itself.
Don’t worry, there’s still a lot we can do to fix the problem.
Restart the phone
The perfect solution for when we find a malfunction in the smartphone. That the fault is only found in one application does not mean that a timely restart does not help us to put an end to our headaches with, in this case, the Renfe application .
Whenever we cannot use an application normally, the first thing we should do is turn off the phone for a couple of minutes to give the motherboard time to eliminate all the accumulated static charge that can cause things not to work as we think. After that, turn on the smartphone and check if now the transport network service is working fine.
Restart the app
Most likely, the Renfe application has some operating problem that prevents you from buying tickets or consulting other types of information. In these cases, we must go to the configuration of the smartphone to leave it as newly installed.
- Open the mobile Settings app
- Select the applications menu
- Locate the Renfe app
- Click on Force Stop
- Next, go to the Storage menu
- Click on Clear data and Clear cache.
After this, open the app again and try to buy tickets as we have indicated a few lines above.
In the case of iPhones that work with iOS, we can only force close the app to restart it and try to make the purchase again. Do it like this:
- Swipe up from the bottom of the home screen and hold your finger on the middle of the panel
- Search for the Renfe app by sliding your finger from left to right.
- Swipe up on the app
Update the app
Android and iOS apps usually add new features via update. If you have an old version of the Renfe app, you may not have the purchase function enabled or one of the steps that we have indicated is not the same.
Therefore, the best thing you can do is go to the Play Store or the App Store and use the search engine to locate the railway app . It will appear directly on the screen if there is any update pending to be installed on the computer or not. If you have it, apply it immediately and run the app again to see if you can now complete the process normally.
Install an older version
Just as an update can be the solution to your problems, we cannot rule out that it is the source of the failure. Each new version of an app is born with the intention of adding features and fixing bugs from previous versions, but sometimes just the opposite happens. What used to work fine starts to work badly after updating the app .
If the Renfe app doesn’t let you buy tickets after installing a new version, we encourage you to download the APK of an older version, when everything worked fine. In this case, we can go to the different APKs of the company from APKPure and install a version prior to the one we currently have installed. Remember that, for this, you must have the option to allow the download and installation of unknown files from Google Chrome, something you can do from the security settings of your smartphone.
The alternatives
If you’re tired of trying solutions that the app doesn’t quite fix, there are two alternatives that you can continue using on your phone to buy train tickets wherever you are.
Renfe’s website
As long as the error does not come from the company’s servers, you can use your smartphone’s browser to enter the Renfe website . As we have done with the app, you will have to search for a station of origin and another of arrival to see all the available trains.
Then you must follow the instructions on the screen, which are not different from those we have seen with the app, and complete the payment of your tickets by Mastercard, Visa, or American Express credit card; PayPal, Bizum or Renfe points.
Use Trainline
In the Apple and Google application market there is a second way to buy train tickets, also cheaper, since it is a travel search system at the best price. In this case, Trainline allows you to buy prices and book your tickets to travel, not only with Renfe , but also with OUIGO , and more than 200 other transport companies.
When you enter your trip data, all possible transport options will be displayed, both on the service’s website and app, clearly and concisely, so that you can book your ticket immediately with just a few taps.
As we can do with the app of the railway company, we can download the tickets in the app in electronic format, which does not require printing or queuing at the station to collect our tickets. In addition, it allows you to pay for purchases through secure payment systems such as PayPal, Google Pay and Apple Pay .
