Convenience, ease and accessibility. We want it all.

Raised by technology, we pride ourselves on being able to function efficiently at the click of a button. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Smart technology is the answer to our relentless pursuit for ease and efficiency. Here are some examples of tech that are destined to make our lives much easier.

Keep this app in your purse at all times.Source:Supplied

Spa day, anyone?Source:Supplied

1. Vaniday

Much like Rihanna’s hit, our lives are all about, ‘work, work, work’. Can’t find time to book in your wax? Or perhaps you’re on a work trip and all you want is to wrap up your busy day with a visit to the nail salon. But who has the time to find a salon close by?

Introducing, Vaniday. It’s Australia’s largest beauty and wellness booking app. If you're in need of an urgent pamper, bookings can be made, paid for and completed within two hours.

From facials, blow-dries and waxes, Vaniday hosts a collection of hundreds of salons. Just sort by location and find a salon closest to you.

The digital beauty platform enables salons to develop better online presence and for customers to host feedback all in one hub. Rate your experience and view price levels in one place. Once you select a salon, you can flick through their gallery, check out any special offers and book.

This is the ultimate, ‘beauty at the touch of a button’ experience.

2. IFTTT

When you’re in over your head with apps and websites it’s sometimes hard to manage them all simultaneously — particularly if you’re career revolves around being online constantly.

IFTTT literally means, ‘If This, Then That’. It’s a web tool that acts as an automation service for all your digital platforms. It aggregates all your apps into one hub, then performs actions based on conditional logic. Don’t freak out, it’s actually much more simple than it sounds. The keywords to keep in mind are:

Channels: these are apps, or services that IFTTT supports. Like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Flickr, etc.

So many Channels to choose from.Source:Supplied

Recipes: These are connections the IFTTT community creates between the applications. There are two types. ‘DO’ Recipes run with a tap of a button; like upload photos straight to Facebook, or change the temperature in the room.

‘IF’ recipes create connections in one simple statement. For example, if you post a picture on Instagram, it will save the photo to you Dropbox account.

3. Skip

While it’s not quite a food delivery service, this app is revolutionising the way you order your morning coffee, breakfast or lunch.

Known as Skip, the app gives you the freedom to place an order for food to be picked up at a prearranged time.

So if your lunch break is tight, you can select one of the local cafes listed on the app, pay for your order and then jump to the front of the queue to collect your pre-made food or coffee.

As Skip is fairly new, the participating establishments are slightly limiting, but if saving time is your biggest concern, this is the perfect app.

The added benefit of using the service is many of the participating cafes offer discounts for new users.

4. Canva

A wannabe graphic designer’s dream, Canva’s effective ‘drag and drop’ feature enables the easy creation of documents, presentations and social media graphics. Insta-lovers eat your heart out.

The Sydney-based start-up has over five million users with access to a library of images and free design tools.

Search thousands of images suited to your design.Source:Supplied

Conceptualised through co-founder Melanie Perkins’ experience teaching graphic design at university, the software aims to help users create basic designs. Now a vibrant designer community, Canva allows users to showcase and sell their work to other users.

5. Foodswitch

Foodswitch takes the stress out of grocery shopping. You’re standing in the aisle and the choice of food is overwhelming — do you go for low sugar, or low fat? Low GI, or high fibre? The app, developed by Bupa and The George Institute helps you to find out the content of food and offers simple and healthy food swaps.

The app comes with a range of filters: SaltSwitch, GlutenSwitch, SugarSwitch etc, which all help to offer alternatives according to your health needs. Simply scan the barcode of the food and view the results. The nutritional information is easy to understand helps you to make the decision to switch your food option.

@caitlinchander