Welcome to Chimes!
You know the feeling. You hear the chimes, you grab your purse, you get to the door, and the van has gone. Chimes is a free app that makes sure that doesn’t happen again.
What Chimes does
Chimes puts ice cream vans and other mobile food vendors on a map, and tells you when one arrives near you.
Chimes is a new app. It has been trialled extensively with our partner van in the New Forest, and we’re now looking for more vans to join the trial ahead of our full launch in spring 2027.
In the meantime, more than 1,600 vans and vendors are already listed on the map across England, so you can see who serves your area and how to get in touch.
For customers
- Set your area. Enter your postcode and choose how far you’d travel for an ice cream: anywhere from 500 metres to 20 km.
- Get a chime. When a van that’s sharing its live location enters your area, your phone chimes, often before you’d hear the van.
- See who’s around. Tap a van or vendor on the map to see who they are, what they sell and how to contact them.
- Keep your favourites. Save the vans you love so they’re easy to find again.
There’s no account to set up. Chimes is free on iPhone, iPad and Android.
For vans and mobile vendors
If you run an ice cream van or a mobile food business, there are two ways to be on Chimes:
- A free listing. A pin on the map in your area, all year round, with your phone number, WhatsApp and socials. There’s no location tracking.
- Live van tracking (free trial). Share your location while you’re working. Customers watch you move on the map, and get a chime on their phone as you arrive. You choose when sharing is on.
Registering takes a couple of minutes on an iPhone or iPad: open Chimes and go to Settings → Register your business.
Why a blog?
There’s a lot going on: new features, stories from the vans on Chimes, and the odd bit of ice cream van lore (did you know chimes are only allowed between noon and 7pm?). This is where we’ll share it.