Technologies

Best Food Delivery Services of 2023

Use your phone to order delivery from nearby restaurants with these apps.

We’re past the days when pizza was the primary food delivery option. You can now get almost any food imaginable delivered to your door without getting out of your pajamas.

Food delivery services, such as Postmates, GrubHub and DoorDash, can bring you meals from your favorite chain restaurant or the local diner. With so many food delivery service apps, figuring out the best one can be hard. We’ve evaluated how easy it is to use these apps, how many restaurants each app works with, how steep the delivery and service fees are and how long the estimated delivery time is for each.

We selected restaurants near each other and about 5 miles from a suburban location. We also examined how delivery to an urban area influenced time and costs. We ordered similarly priced items from all locations in each app to help determine additional fees, and we looked at these services around midday during the week in February.

Here’s a roundup of our favorite food delivery service apps that you can download from the Apple App Store or the Google Play store.

Note: Your experience will likely vary depending on your location, dietary restrictions, the time of day you order and any available promotions.

Angela Lang/CNET

Uber Eats/Postmates

Most restaurant options

Uber Eats and Postmates are great options for people who want the most food options and the fastest delivery and don’t mind paying for it. Uber bought Postmates in 2020, so both apps are very similar. The main difference is that you can order an Uber in Uber Eats, not Postmates. But you can order food, groceries and even pharmacy items through both apps. Each app also has over 80 food categories you can choose from, including halal and gluten-free.

Uber Eats and Postmates make navigating and ordering from your restaurant easy. When you open the app, there’s a search bar near the top of the home screen. You can search for a type of food or a specific restaurant. Menus are also searchable, so you don’t have to scroll through the menu, potentially miss what you want and have to scroll through the menu again.

The restaurant cards also show you information, like delivery fees and estimated delivery times, before you checkout, making it easy to see which restaurants will get your food quickly without breaking the bank. Both apps work with over 825,000 restaurants across, according to Business of Apps, which is the most number of restaurants a food delivery service on this list works with.

When we ordered from a suburban area, our expected delivery time for both apps was faster than any of the other apps on this list, at 25 to 40 minutes. However, the apps also charged a combined $9.49 for delivery and service fees for my order, the highest of any other apps on this list.

When we ordered from an urban area, our expected delivery time was between 10 to 15 minutes for a restaurant nearby or 35 to 50 minutes for a restaurant about 25 minutes away. The service fees were $3.75 across the board, making these orders cheaper than orders to our suburban location.

With Uber Eats/Postmates you’ll have a wider array of food options that will likely be delivered quicker, but you might have to pay more if you live in a suburban area.

See at Uber Eats

GrubHub

Grubhub

Best to find deals and promotions

Out of all the food delivery service apps on this list, Grubhub is the easiest to find restaurants that offer deals and rewards. Other apps might display a deal over a restaurant’s title card, but Grubhub has a tab near the bottom of your screen called Rewards. This tab shows you all the nearby and national restaurant deals, and it shows you rewards for certain restaurants, like if you order three times from a specific restaurant, you can earn a $15 credit.

The app is easy to navigate and order with, and there’s a search bar over each restaurant’s menu if you’re searching for something in particular. There’s also a helpful «Orders» tab at the bottom of your screen that shows you your past orders. If you really liked your last order from a restaurant, but you forget what exactly it was, you can quickly navigate back to your old orders and have it delivered again. The app says it partners with over 365,000 restaurants.

Delivery and service fees for our order to a suburban area totalled $6.99. Grubhub’s estimated delivery window was between 35 and 45 minutes — only a few minutes longer than Uber Eats/Postmates.

When using this app in an urban area, our service fees were between $5.39 and $6.99, and our estimated delivery time was between 25 to 35 minutes for a restaurant 15 minutes away and 35 to 45 minutes for a restaurant 25 minutes away. Grubhub’s service fees for delivery to an urban location are noticeably higher than service fees for the same order on Uber Eats/Postmates.

Overall, Grubhub makes it easy to find deals on orders to help save you money. You might have to wait a few minutes longer for your delivery in suburban areas, though.

See at Grubhub

CNET

DoorDash

Best for ordering everything plus food

DoorDash lets you order things like beauty products, pet supplies and alcohol, in addition to food and groceries, through the app. There’s also a Shipping option on the home screen that lets you order food from partnered restaurants nationwide. So if you live in California and crave Chicago-style pizza, you can order an actual pizza from Chicago — just don’t expect your pizza for a few days.

DoorDash is easy to use and navigate, thanks to home screen carousels, like Wallet Friendly and Try Something New, that make it easy to find what you want to eat. DoorDash also has an Orders tab on the home screen that shows your past orders, just like GrubHub. DoorDash partners with over 390,000 restaurants, according to Business of Apps.

Delivery and service fees for our order from a suburban location were $8.99, which puts it just below Uber Eats/Postmates. Our order’s estimated delivery time was 40 minutes, which isn’t bad, but there are quicker options.

In urban areas, service fees were between $3 for restaurants across the street and $3.99 for restaurants 25 minutes away, sometimes without any delivery fees. Estimated delivery times were between 16 minutes for restaurants nearby and 36 minutes for further out restaurants, which means if you live in an urban area, you would save more money with DoorDash than with Grubhub.

With DoorDash, you can order more from the service, like laundry detergent and makeup, but some orders might take a few minutes longer to reach you.

See at DoorDash

Toast Takeout

Best for supporting local restaurants

Toast Takeout can help you support the local restaurants you know and love. Food delivery services usually charge commission fees that some restaurant owners have said hurt their businesses. Toast Takeout, however, doesn’t charge these commission fees. That means if you order food from a local restaurant featured on the app, more of your money goes towards supporting the restaurant.

Toast Takeout isn’t as robust as other apps on this list. The home screen, for example, doesn’t have carousels or sections to dive into quickly, but rather shows you restaurants the app partners with. The app is also automatically set to Pickup instead of Delivery, which might influence which restaurant you order from. And some restaurants on the app only allow Pickup, which means you may need to filter through results to find what you’re looking for. Toast Takeout partners with about 74,000 restaurants, which means you might have limited delivery options depending on where you are.

In a suburban location, our order’s delivery fee was $7 despite having no commission fees. Our order’s estimated delivery time was 44 minutes, which was higher than the average for other services on this list.

However, Toast Takeout didn’t have many ASAP delivery options available in our urban location. One option also had a $7 delivery fee, and the estimated delivery time was 55 minutes, longer than using this app in a suburban area and longer than any other in-city delivery times.

You might have fewer options to choose from with Toast Takeout — and some delivery options might not be available at all — but if you use this app, you know more of your money will support families and businesses in your community.

See at Toast Takeout

Food delivery tips

Mix and match delivery apps

These might be our favorite food delivery services, but that doesn’t mean you have to pick just one. Unless you sign up for a rewards program, these services are free, so you can download and use each of these apps. You can check which service is cheapest and fastest for you in your area by downloading each. You can also download apps that compare these food delivery services for you so you aren’t switching back and forth between apps.

Order straight from the restaurant to save on fees

Many restaurants also have their own apps or websites you can order from directly, which could save you money on service fees. If you choose to pick up your food from these restaurants, that could save you money on delivery fees, too, but that also applies to each of the above food delivery apps. You could also get your food quicker if you choose pickup rather than delivery, as pickup times are usually about 15 minutes.

For more, check out the best meal kit delivery services, the best cheap meal delivery services and the best healthy meal delivery services.

Technologies

iOS 17 Cheat Sheet: Your Questions on the iPhone Update Answered

Here’s what you need to know about new features and upcoming updates for your iPhone.

Apple’s iOS 17 was released in September, shortly after the company held its Wonderlust event, where the tech giant announced the new iPhone 15 lineup, the Apple Watch Series 9 and the Apple Watch Ultra 2. We put together this cheat sheet to help you learn about and use the new features in iOS 17. It’ll also help you keep track of the subsequent iOS 17 updates.

iOS 17 updates

Using iOS 17

Getting started with iOS 17

Make sure to check back periodically for more iOS 17 tips and how to use new features as Apple releases more updates.

17 Hidden iOS 17 Features You Should Definitely Know About

+15 More

See all photos

Technologies

Get Ready for a Striking Aurora That Could Also Disrupt Radio Communications

Don’t expect the storm to cause a lingering problem, though.

A geomagnetic storm is threatening radio communications Monday night, but that doesn’t mean you should be concerned. In fact, it may be an opportunity to see a colorful aurora in the night sky.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has issued a geomagnetic storm watch after witnessing a coronal mass ejection from the sun on Saturday. The watch, which was issued over the weekend and will expire after Monday, said the onset of the storm passing over Earth on Sunday night represented a «moderate» threat to communications. As the storm continues to pass through, it could deliver a «strong» threat on Monday night that could cause radio communications to be temporarily disrupted during the worst of it.

Even so, NOAA said, «the general public should not be concerned.»

A coronal mass ejection occurs when magnetic field and plasma mass are violently expelled from the sun’s corona, or the outermost portion of the sun’s atmosphere. In the vast majority of cases, the ejection occurs with no real threat to Earth. However, in the event the ejection happens in the planet’s direction, a geomagnetic storm occurs, and the Earth’s magnetic field is temporarily affected.

In most cases, geomagnetic storms cause little to no disruption on Earth, with radio communications and satellites affected most often. In extreme cases, a geomagnetic storm can cause significant and potentially life-threatening power outages — a prospect that, luckily, the planet hasn’t faced.

Switching poles

Every 11 years, the sun’s magnetic poles switch, with the north pole and south pole swapping positions. During those cycles, the sun’s activity ramps up as it gets closer to pole-switching time. The height of its activity is called solar maximum, and scientists believe we either may be entering the solar maximum or may be already in it.

During periods of heightened solar activity, sunspots increase on the sun and there’s an increase in coronal mass ejections, among other phenomena. According to NOAA, solar maximum could extend into October of this year before the sun’s activity calms and it works towards its less-active phase, solar minimum.

Even when geomagnetic storms hit Earth and disrupt communications, the effects are usually short-lived. Those most affected, including power grid operators and pilots and air traffic controllers communicating over long distances, have fail-safe technologies and backup communications to ensure operational continuity.

But geomagnetic storms aren’t only about radios. In most cases, they also present unique opportunities to see auroras in the night sky. When the storms hit, the plasma they carry creates a jaw-dropping aurora, illuminating the night sky with brilliant colors. Those auroras can be especially pronounced during the most intense phases of the storm, making for nice stargazing.

If you’re interested in seeing the aurora, you’ll need to be ready. The NOAA said the «brunt of the storm has passed» and even if it lingers into Tuesday, there won’t be much to see after Monday night.

Technologies

Last Total Solar Eclipse for 20 Years Is Coming: How to See and Photograph It

It’s your last chance until 2044.

Get your eclipse glasses ready, Skygazers: the Great American Eclipse is on its way. On April 8, there’ll be a total eclipse over North America, the last one until 2044.

A total solar eclipse happens when the moon passes between the Earth and the sun, blocking the sun and turning an otherwise sunny day to darkness for a short period of time. Depending on the angle at which you’re viewing the eclipse, you may see the sun completely shrouded by the moon (called totality) or some variation of it. The more off-angle you are and the further you are from the path of the eclipse, the less likely you’ll be to see the totality.

The 2024 total solar eclipse will happen on Monday, April 8. The Great American Eclipse will reach the Mexican Pacific coast at 11:07 a.m. PT (2:07 p.m. ET), and then traverse the US in a northeasterly direction from Texas to Maine, and on into easternmost Canada. If you want a good look at it, but don’t live in the path of totality, you shouldn’t wait much longer to book accommodation and travel to a spot on the path.

Or how about booking a seat in the sky? Delta Airlines made headlines for offering a flight that allows you to see the entire path of totality. Its first eclipse flight, from Austin, Texas, to Detroit sold out quickly. But as of Monday, Delta has added a second flight from Dallas to Detroit, which also covers the path of totality. The airline also has five flights that will offer prime eclipse viewing.

Not everyone can get on one of those elusive eclipse-viewing flights. Here’s a look at other options to nab a chance to see this rare sight and what to know about it.

Total solar eclipse path

The eclipse will cross over the Pacific coast of Mexico and head northeast over mainland Mexico. The eclipse will then make its way over San Antonio at approximately 2:30 p.m. ET on April 8 and move through Texas, over the southeastern part of Oklahoma and northern Arkansas by 2:50 p.m. ET.

By 3 p.m. ET, the eclipse will be over southern Illinois, and just 5 minutes later, will be traveling over Indianapolis. Folks in northwestern Ohio will be treated to the eclipse by 3:15 p.m. ET, and it will then travel over Lake Erie and Buffalo, New York, by 3:20 p.m. ET. Over the next 10 minutes, the eclipse will be seen over northern New York state, then over Vermont. By 3:35 p.m. ET, the eclipse will work its way into Canada and off the Eastern coast of North America.

Best places to watch the Great American Eclipse

When evaluating the best places to watch this year’s total eclipse, you’ll first want to determine where you’ll have the best angle to see the totality. The farther off-angle you are — in other words, the farther north or south of the eclipse’s path — the less of an impact you can expect.

Therefore, if you want to have the best chance of experiencing the eclipse, you’ll want to be in its path. As of this writing, most of the cities in the eclipse’s path have some hotel availability, but recent reports have suggested that rooms are booking up. And as more rooms are booked, prices are going up.

So if you want to be in the eclipse’s path, and need a hotel to do it, move fast. And Delta’s eclipse-viewing flight from Dallas to Detroit has just four seats left at the time of publication.

Eclipse eye safety and photography

As with any solar eclipse, it’s critical you keep eye safety in mind.

During the eclipse, and especially during the periods before and after totality, don’t look directly at the sun without special eye protection. Also, be sure not to look at the sun through a camera (including the camera on your phone), binoculars, a telescope or any other viewing device. This could cause serious eye injury. Sunglasses aren’t enough to protect your eyes from damage.

If you want to view the eclipse, you’ll instead need solar viewing glasses that comply with the ISO 12312-2 safety standard. Anything that doesn’t meet that standard or greater won’t be dark enough to protect your eyes. Want to get them for free? If you’ve got a Warby Parker eyeglasses store nearby, the company is giving away free, ISO-certified solar eclipse glasses at all of its stores from April 1 until the eclipse, while supplies last.

If you don’t have eclipse viewing glasses handy, you can instead use indirect methods for viewing the eclipse, like a pinhole projector.

Read more: A Photographer’s Adventure With the Eclipse

In the event you want to take pictures of the eclipse, attach a certified solar filter to your camera. Doing so will protect your eyes and allow you to take photos while you view the eclipse through your lens.

There’s also a new app to help you both protect your eyes and take better photos of the eclipse on your phone. Solar Snap, designed by a former Hubble Space Telescope astronomer, comes with a Solar Snap camera filter that attaches to the back of an iPhone or Android phone, along with solar eclipse glasses for protecting your eyesight during the event. After you attach the filter to your phone, you can use the free Solar Snap Eclipse app to zoom in on the eclipse, adjust exposure and other camera settings, and ultimately take better shots of the eclipse.

2024 eclipse compared to 2017

The last total solar eclipse occurred in 2017, and many Americans had a great view. Although there are plenty of similarities between the 2017 total solar eclipse and the one coming April 8, there are a handful of differences. Mainly, the 2024 eclipse is going to cover more land and last longer.

The 2017 eclipse started over the northwest US and moved southeast. Additionally, that eclipse’s path was up to 71 miles wide, compared with a maximum width of 122 miles for this year’s eclipse. Perhaps most importantly, the moon completely covered the sun for just 2 minutes, 40 seconds in 2017. This year, maximum totality will last for nearly four-and-a-half minutes.