The last few weeks have been a strange experience for shoppers across Edinburgh, with current lockdown measures meaning that supermarkets and convenience stores have been running with new regulations and restrictions.
Stores have been organised in one way systems, cleaning stations have been introduced and policies have been enforced to only allow a certain number of people in at one time.
Measures such as these, although all introduced for the right reasons, have been seen to cause large and lengthy queues across Edinburgh, with no way of knowing how long you will have to wait before you arrive.
However, according to Essex Live a new app is now available which shows how long you'll have to wait outside each supermarket - so you can check before you've even left the house.
The app includes most major supermarkets such as Sainsbury's, Morrisons, Asda and Tesco.
The Supermarket Check In app relies on users to input how long they waited at supermarkets across the UK.
Using the phone's location setting, the app will display in minutes how long other users waited at the supermarket, and when the most recent input was.
This theoretically means you're able to accurately know when you should leave to go shopping.
The app is available on both Google Play and the Apple App Store, and has been downloaded tens of thousands of times.
You must enable your location settings for the app to work.
However as the app is only a few weeks, it may take time for more user input and locations before it becomes more accurate.
One reviewer on the Google Play store said: "Don't one star this app yet; it's only a few weeks old and is based on information from its users.
"Let the user base build before submitting a review as its under heavy development.
"This app could be very important for us for many years to come."
