This was not an easy list to make, and not because there were too many apps to choose from — precisely the opposite. Being completely honest, “apps created by women” was one of the more depressingly fruitless searches that I have ever Googled. Gender inequality in the computer sciences is still alive and well, due to an unfortunate variety of patriarchal factors. That being said, the five apps we did find are amazing — as are, naturally, the women who created them. Here’s to shattering that stupid glass ceiling.
On Second Thought
Nothing triggers a rush of adrenaline like realizing you just sent a text to the wrong person — and that text is never innocuous, is it? Then there’s the slow burn of a text that appears exponentially more ill-advised with the passage of time, and, of course, there are autocorrect fails. Created by 28-year-old entrepreneur Maci Peterson, On Second Thought ingeniously provides users with a brief window of time in which to take back an offending text, similar to Gmail’s “undo” option. Peterson, a former brand manager, first pitched the idea at a SXSW competition last year — it won first place, and 30,000 users later, the rest is history.
SheRide & SheTaxis
The Wall Street Journal reports that only 1% of the city’s yellow cabs are driven by women, and as much as feminism has accomplished over the last century, there’s still something a little frightening about having to put complete faith in a male cab/Uber/Lyft/Gett driver. (Consider these cases of sexual harassment by Uber drivers.) Fortunately, Stella Mateo, wife of the founder of the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers, has created SheTaxis (called SheRide in NYC), a taxi service run by women, for women. All drivers are female, and will only chauffeur women or groups including at least one woman. If not, the app will politely recommend other — less exclusive — taxi services in the area.
Hopscotch
The future of technology can thank Jocelyn Leavitt, who created this kid-friendly app that teaches users how to program. “No typing. No syntax errors. Just drag and drop blocks,” reads Hopscotch’s website. We’ve heard all about wannabe Zuckerbergs learning C++ and Perl at their mothers’ knees, but Hopscotch is a friendlier, much less daunting approach for later bloomers. The ability to code is quickly becoming a requisite skill, and Hopscotch provides an “intuitive, friendly programming interface designed for everyone.”
uBeam
Much like On Second Thought’s Maci Peterson, uBeam founder Meredith Perry has given the world a technological supplement that it didn’t even know it needed. According to an article in TechCrunch, uBeam has “traditional venture capitalists foaming at the mouth,” as well as potential investors like Starbucks, Virgin Airlines, Apple and Samsung. Perry, a UPenn grad and former NASA researcher, has devised a way to wirelessly charge your phone with ultrasound via a $50 receiver, from a distance of up to 15 feet. While not technically an app, this innovation ensures a future untethered to the nearest electrical outlet, and was therefore too good to leave off the list.
Bumble
Created by Tinder co-founder Whitney Wolfe, Bumble is a dating app programmed, in Wolfe’s words, by a “badass team of women.” Each dating app has its own rules, and Bumble is no different: after a familiar swipe-right setup, users have only 24 hours to initiate conversation once they’re matched. Referred to as “feminist Tinder,” Bumble is much more of a female-friendly space than its male-dominated rival app, from which Wolfe resigned after filing a sexual harassment suit that she later won. It’s a depressing story with a happy ending — no longer will wading through countless mirror selfies and dick pics be an unavoidable part of online dating.
Credits
Text Hannah Ghorashi
Photography via @wlwolfe