Smartphone and mobile device food delivery apps are revolutionizing the food industry by making it unnecessary for diners to leave the house and still get a restaurant cooked meal, even from restaurants who do not have delivery services.

“It’s convenient, and it doesn’t take too long,” sophomore Carlota Rubio, who uses the food delivery app Postmates, said. “I usually use them when I’m babysitting my little sister and I can’t go out and buy food because she’s sleeping.”

When purchasing food from apps such as Postmates, GrubHub or Eat24, the customer inputs her credit card number into her profile before purchasing her food and must be present to sign for the delivery.

“I like using Postmates or Eat24 because you can pay with your credit card,” Rubio said. “You don’t have to have cash to pay for your food, so that’s good when I don’t have money.”

Like an increasing number of apps, Postmates requires customers to be over 18, or else the account is terminated. Discovery of underage use is usually found with deliveries to elementary or high schools.

“I didn’t know at the beginning.” junior Paula Gutman said. “Then they canceled my sister’s account because they realized that she wasn’t 18 and that she was in high school. We just use mine, and they haven’t said anything — yet.”

Eat24 delivers to any area in San Francisco without restrictions, according to employee Rachel Walker. GrubHub the users only need to be 13.

Although some apps allow meal delivery to schools, teachers may not be understanding when a student asks to leave class to grab her meal.

“It cannot arrive during a class period, so students can’t leave class to go pick up food, you can pick it up during a free period, lunch or during a passing period,” Director of Student Life Devin DeMartini-Cooke  said. “You cannot have the front desk sign for you because you are not there to pick it up.”

Being one of the country’s major tech hubs, San Francisco has been the starting point for many food delivery apps and some have widened their delivery options by adding drug store products in addition to their “menus.”

“When the Postmates employee brings you your food, they can go to Walgreens if you need something from there or the supermarket,” Rubio said. “It doesn’t only have to be a restaurant. It can pretty much be whatever you want.”

Girls who do not have the time or permission to leave campus can utilize food delivery services as an alternative to cafeteria selections.

“Sometimes the cafeteria food isn’t good,” Gutman said. “I don’t bring lunch from home so that’s my only option.”