The Edinburgh Festival Fringe has launched a free iPhone app to help festival-goers navigate the Fringe in August

Launched in partnership with Loc8 Solutions, the application will allow visitors to browse shows, plot routes and share festival diaries with friends.

The brainchild of Gavin Dutch, founder of Loc8, the app “will take some of the pressure off, by allowing users to find out what's going on down the road, what bargains they can get at the Half Price Hut and coordinate their schedules with their friends", according to Dutch.

Allowing users to search listings based on a number of criteria including shows starting soon and venues nearest to them, the app uses GPS mapping to display the festival’s 2,453 shows on a map.

Kath M Mainland, chief executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, said of the iPhone app: “This is an exciting digital listings service for our visitors, performers and venues on the iPhone. This application gives allows us to broaden the delivery of our Festival listings services and engage with new audiences.”