Londoners won’t have failed to notice the thousands of heavy-duty grey and blue bikes that have sprung up around the capital as part of the Barclays Cycle Hire project. The scheme, dreamt up by London major Boris Johnson, has its fair share of fans and critics, but there’s little to complain about with our Android App of the Week.

Cycle Hire Widget is free, developed by the oddly-named Little Fluffy Toys Ltd, and has everything you need to get the most out of the so-called Boris Bikes.

The unobtrusive widget takes up only one icon on your home screen, and a tap sets your GPS to work finding the three nearest cycle banks. The icon expands, displaying their distance away and direction, which is constantly updated by your phone’s GPS unit.

Tap the icon and Cycle Hire Widget really begins to flex its muscles. Instead of showing the three nearest cycle banks, it lists every bank in the surrounding kilometre, with precise distances and an arrow to point you in the right direction. Select a particular location, and you can load it in Google Maps, find directions, and add that bank to your favourites for easy future access.

The real ace up this app’s sleeve, though, is TfL’s data, which is used to provide status updates: the number of free bikes and empty storage slots at each location is listed and updated every few minutes, so you should always be able to find a spare bike or an empty slot.

The home screen widget is useful enough, and the full app serves up plenty of important info in a slick interface. Several apps have already appeared that promise to make the Cycle Hire Scheme easier to navigate, but this is the best we’ve found. If you’re already using the bikes, it’s an essential download.

Want more great Android apps? Then check out our previous Apps of the Week or read our 36 best Android apps feature.