There's an app that tells you how long you'll have to queue at supermarkets near you

Heading to the supermarket may have felt like a chore before lockdown, but now it can feel like heading to a battle field.

Shoppers are faced with long queues, low stock levels, and are often limited to one shopper per household in many stores - something which has proven difficult for many.

But now an app has been created to help shoppers have the most stress-free experience possible, by checking queue lengths and stock levels before leaving the house.

According to the Mirror, Supermarket Check-In was built by Paul Hulatt, a web developer, after he was placed on furlough back in March.

Paul used his own software to build the supermarket app from his home, with the aim of "relieving the headache" caused by visiting food stores during the covid-19 pandemic. 

The app ranks supermarkets by length of queue and stock availability.

The app uses data supplied by its users to show which shops are quietest, in an attempt to prevent from others having to travel to multiple stores to pick up essentials during the lockdown period.

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Users are then able to check-in after they have completed their shopping trip to alert others on queues and stock levels in store.

The app's creator said: "Given all the issues there have been with supermarket queues and stock availability, I wanted to help.

"After being placed on furlough, I decided to use my free time to keep my development skills up to date - and 'Supermarket Check-In' is the result!"

He added: "None of this information is publicly available elsewhere so I came up with the idea of creating a way for people to easily 'check-in' to their local supermarket after doing a shop so that others in their local community could benefit.

"This kind of socially-generated content is a really great way of communities coming together and helping each other get through this crisis.

"This will not only help you shop at a quieter time, but also minimise the time spent shopping by helping you choose a time when the products you need are most likely to be in stock."

The Supermarket Check-In app is available on Apple's App Store or Google Play for android.