Meet the Brilliant Women Behind Your Favorite Apps
The 10 phenomenal females responsible for your iPhone addiction.
By 
Inspiring women in the tech space are no longer few and far between. Exhibit A: These ten geniuses, responsible for some of the apps you can't live without. Move over, Evan Spiegel: our favorite game-changers are girls.
Bumble
Founder: Whitney Wolfe
Why: Tinder's one-time VP of marketing made the transition to tech entrepreneur when she launched Bumble, a dating app that allows only women to send the first message. For Wolfe, the app gives women the control and helps eliminate the awkwardness (and creepiness) that online dating can bring.
Camera+
Founder: Lisa Bettany
Why: She began taking photos from her sick bed after suffering a figure skating accident at age 21. Many photographs later, she went on to co-found Camera+, an app that helps you take even better pictures on your iPhone through filters, zoom functions, and more. (Today, it has10 million downloads and counting.)
Sweat With Kayla
Founder: Kayla Itsines
Why: Itsines became an Instagram sensation—we're talking over 5 million followers— with her Bikini Body Guide and the #bbg hashtag that followers used when posting their astonishing fitness transformations. Capitalizing on her passion, Itsines launched Sweat With Kayla, an app that connects the world's biggest female fitness community and features her easy-to-follow workouts and meal plans.
ClassPass
Founder: Payal Kadakia
Why: When cult exercise classes started taking overthe fitness spaces, we became obsessed with ClassPass, the app that allows you to book an hour of fitness at a variety of different local studios each month, from yoga to boxing to spin. As a dancer, Kadakia launched the ingenious concept (inspired by OpenTable's business plan) after spending hours searching for an open ballet class.
Cast Beauty
Founder: Sian A. Morson
Why: Morson's Cast Beauty stands out from the thicket of beauty apps by providing you with a list of products personalized for your skin and hair type depending on the weather. Morson is also an artist, author, and member of the Africa Angels Network. And predictably, she has beautiful skin.
Hey! VINA
Founders: Olivia June-Poole and Jen Aprahamian
Why: If you've ever moved to a new city and didn't know a single soul, these two know exactly how you feel. The two friends discovered just how hard it was to meet like-minded women in the tech industry, so they launched Hey! VINA, which helps you find new platonic friends based on your interests, occupation, and location.
bSafe
Founder: Silje Vallestad
Why: Vallestad founded a youth initiative at age 18, and later, her determination to help young women live in a safer world led her to launch bSafe, a personal safety app that lets friends and family track your location. Jada Pinkett Smith is a fan and spokesperson.
Gratitude Journal
Founder: Carla White
Why: Research shows that when we take time to reflect on the good things in life—the things we feel grateful for—we feel happier. White realized that the iPhone makes it easy to document (and revisit) these moments, so she launched Get Gratitude, an app that lets you record five special moments a day through text, photos, or video.
Layar
Founder: Claire Boonstra
Why: This Dutch native wears many, many hats: Mother, entrepreneur, TED speaker, engineer, marketer, glider pilot, and app creator. In 2009 she co-founded Layar, a super easy-to-use program that lets users build their own augmented reality experiences.
Hitlist
Founder: Gillian Morris
Why: After traveling the world for five years, Morris founded Hitlist, an app that susses out the least expensive trip with the best route possible. Her goal? To help future travelers avoid the travel hiccups she encountered, like getting stranded in isolated locations.
