With school back in session, the quiet days of summer are over in Austin and schedules are packed with new activities and meetings. While Austinites have figured out how to get around the city without Uber or Lyft, there are a host of other apps to save you time and take care of even the most mundane tasks. From personal shopping to grocery delivery services to dry cleaning, these apps are reinventing how we live.
– FOOD + SHOPPING –
- Blue Apron – Blue Apron aims to make incredible home cooking more accessible to anyone. With free delivery nationwide, you can choose a delivery day that works best for you and every ingredient needed to make the delicious, pre-selected recipes will arrive at your doorstep in a refrigerated box.
- Daily Harvest – Ready-to-blend superfood smoothies made with organic ingredients and delivered straight to you! Pick between 6 or 12 smoothies a week or 24 smoothies a month, then select your flavors and delicious smoothies will be delivered to your door.
- Deliveries – Tracks your packages across any carrier, with real-time delivery alerts.
- Favor – Favor is the easiest way to get anything you want in your city delivered to your door. Browse the menus of local stores and restaurants, order via the Favor app, and the runner will keep you posted along the way!
- Instacart – Instacart allows you to order from local grocery stores and have items delivered when you want. Perfect when there just aren’t enough hours in the day to make a grocery run.
- Operator – A personal shopping app with real shopping experts who find exactly what you’re looking for, based on your description, price range and shipping preferences – at no cost to you and with a price match guarantee. Your personal shopper will provide you options and will narrow down from there, walking you through the shipping process and checking in after delivery.
- RedLaser – Scan any barcode and get more info on the product, including where you can buy it for cheaper nearby.
- TopShelf – A streamlined way to order beer, wine, and liquor from the palm of your hand. TopShelf orders are delivered by local liquor stores in your area. This app is perfect for corporate events, tailgating, weddings, parties, and so much more.
– HEALTH + FITNESS –
- Charity Miles – Charity Miles helps you track the distance you walk, and contributes to great causes. Earn money for the charity of your choice while walking the dog, on a run, or even just grabbing coffee.
- Headspace – Headspace provides guided meditations suitable for all levels. Meditation can help improve your focus, exercise mindful awareness, relieve anxiety and reduce stress. Headspace is the perfect app for when you need about 10-15 minutes a day just for you.
- MyFitnessPal – A fast and easy calorie counting app. Track your health anywhere, anytime with helpful features like preloaded menus from popular restaurants.
- Skyfit – Skyfit delivers on-demand fitness classes. You can workout anytime, anywhere with hundreds of fitness classes in running, cycling, elliptical, treadmill, strength training and yoga. Skyfit includes race training, HIIT (high-intensity interval training) workouts, and the ability to customize workouts and track progress.
- Talkspace – Talkspace is a platform that connects users with a licensed therapist. This therapy and counseling app provides a convenient, affordable, and discreet way to deal with depression, anxiety, stress, and more so you can start feeling better and more positive anywhere and anytime.
– PRODUCTIVITY –
- Calendars 5 – Better than the built in iOS calendar, this app offers a range of views, a task center for to-dos which sync to your calendar and natural language input.
- EasilyDo – Syncs email, Facebook and calendar and recognizes tasks it can take care of – like add a recent email to your contacts, or pre-schedule a birthday note for a friend.
- Evernote Scannable – Quickly scans stacks of business cards, notes or documents.
- Next for iPhone – Expense tracking with the push of a button with clear, concise categories you can stick with.
- Pocket – Have you ever come across an article or video that you wanted to save and read later? Now you can save articles to read later offline with Pocket! Come back to them any time on any device.
- Venmo – Pay friends and associates without any fees from your mobile device or computer and instantly transfer funds to your bank account.
- Workflow – This personal automation tool lets you customize your phone to skip time-wasting tasks. Example: instruct your phone to call a car service before your next appointment. Simply drag and drop any combination of actions to create powerful workflows!
- 1Password – Securely store all passwords and login information in addition to payment info like different credit cards or Pay Pal accounts in one safe space, available on your phone or desktop.
– HOME + LIFESTYLE –
- Care.com – Perfect for those looking to hire nannies, babysitters, pet sitters, and housekeeping and those looking to be hired. Instantly access applicants, receive notifications when people apply to your job, and filter search results using your social network.
- Magic – Simply text a phone number what your request is and get it on demand with no hassle, as long as it’s legal. Request anything from groceries to booking a last minute flight, or an on-demand helicopter. Magic is the ultimate super-human assistant.
- Press Cleaners – Laundry and dry cleaning delivered at the push of a button. Press partners with local cleaners and provides free pickup and delivery of your clothes. Press picks up and delivers as scheduled for the same price as taking it yourself.
- TaskRabbit – TaskRabbit takes care of your chores and errands to make you more productive during the day. Need a last minute handyman? Need help moving? Taskers are there to help!
- Weather Underground – Clearly and beautifully displays super specific weather information on your mobile or desktop device including pollen levels, air quality and flu-levels.