These days almost everyone has a smartphone. Twenty years ago such a device would have been a considered a minor miracle — one can text, email, surf the Internet, map out their destination and still get phone calls. Today, however, the amazing capabilities of even the most basic smartphone are considered humdrum.

And that’s without all the apps.

There’s an app for everything: for photos, for videos, to access personal social media accounts Facebook and Instagram and Twitter. There’re apps to check stocks and apps to check weather. There are apps for maps and apps to video chat with someone halfway across the world. There are flashlight apps and Internet radio apps. Apps are a way of life now.

But there’s one app that far surpasses others in its usefulness right now. That’s the Girl Scout Cookie Finder app.

Yes, it does exist. And yes, it does work.

This little gem of an app is invaluable. It used to be Girl Scouts went door to door selling their Thin Mints, Samoas, Peanut Butter Patties. Order forms were once thick on the ground for Trefoils and Do-si-dos. But the fiscal dynamic of the American family has changed over the years — both moms and dads work fulltime now — and during those hours when Girl Scouts would have gone trooping around the neighborhood selling their wares, chances are no one’s going to be home.

Enter the advent of sales outside major retail centers — which for the Girl Scout cookie hunter, can be hit or miss. And the solution for that came in the form of the Girl Scout Cookie Finder app.

It’s free. Once it’s downloaded on a smartphone all it takes is a tap on the “Find Cookies Now!” link and there they are, the dates and times where the local Girl Scouts will be setting up shop. Plug in a zip code and the app will turn up cookie sales in any give town and state.

For Girl Scout cookie lovers everywhere this is a shining example of the miracle of modern technology.

And for those of you without the app, local Girl Scouts will be selling cookies in front of Food Lion (Cherry Run Center), Lowes and O’Reilly’s Auto Parts in Washington on Saturday, and Walmart on Sunday.