This Friday, June 27, London Olympics 2012 begins. The mammoth event has taken years of planning, toil, and money. This summer, England beckons and for people unfamiliar with London there's a lifeline: iOS and its apps. Apps are available with directions around London, so there's no reason to be lost.

Citymapper London

To find out what's happening in London, or the quickest way to get to the next event, Citymapper London is ideal. Key in a destination and the app will show the route and estimated time for the journey. Options for walking are also available.

London Tube

London Tube, or another app collecting times for the London underground, is essential (just search "tube" in the App Store). Outside of the Olympics, the tube can be intimidating to anyone as its super busy and - for laymen - super complicated (look at map with all the lines to get a better idea).

London Tube will provide the required information about disrupted or closed train lines. The app also shows the connections and relevant lines for a journey. The only difficulty is that London is changing its line names to Olympians, so don't get Michael Phelps confused with Usain Bolt.

Hailo

No, it's not Halo but Hailo. The app makes life easier by allowing cabs to be called without standing around, waving arms furiously. Hailo packs the ability to book and track cabs. Options to tip and pay via the app are also available.

BBC Olympics App

Unsurprisingly, the BBC has an app for the Olympics (UK only, it seems). The app will collect the latest news and results, along with providing a 24-hour live streaming of the BBC over Wi-Fi or 3G. The Olympics will be telecast live across the BBC, exclusively, so watching the events when out is best done through the BBC's app.

XE Currency Converter

Not from the UK? No problem. Neither is converting money as the XE app will give users a precise conversion, to three decimal points. Enter an amount in the native currency and the converted figure will appear.

Urbanspoon

There's is no dearth of restaurants in London, so download UrbanSpoon and see which restaurants are local. It's probably a good idea to check user reviews, with services such as Yelp, or just go with the crowd. Though the "crowd" will probably be London itself.