Gone are the days when networking meant intimidating, time-consuming legwork. Thankfully, web and mobile apps now provide more opportunities to establish valuable connections and also make it possible to master this art. To get you started, here are some of our favorite networking apps.

The basics: LinkedIn. LinkedIn is the gold standard in professional networking. Once you create an online profile with your resume and other details, you’ll start receiving job notifications that match your skills, newsfeeds and information about potential prospects if you plan to hire new employees. This free site has apps available for iPhone, iPad, Android and Blackberry. For more features, a premium subscription is available for purchase. LinkedIn can work wonders with job hunting: I’ve made important third-party connections and got my foot in the door where I wouldn’t have otherwise. It still surprises me that prospective employers reach out to me with no effort on my part. Recently, LinkedIn even helped me reconnect with an old friend. We studied abroad together in college, but after losing touch for six years, I came across her name on LinkedIn and discovered that she now works right across the street from me! We met for coffee and definitely plan to keep in touch this time.

Mile-high connections: Planely. Most people don’t associate flights with networking, but the Planely app from TripIt may change your mind. Log in with your LinkedIn or Facebook profile, enter your itinerary and discover who’s on your plane and if they are headed to the same conference or hotel. The app also lets you see if you have common interests with your fellow passengers. With this app, you might end up sharing a cab, a conversation or long-term professional connection. Planely is free and works on a computer or mobile devices.

Connect locally: Meetup. Sometimes it’s hard to find local professionals in your field, especially if you’ve recently relocated. That’s where Meetup comes in. Its international platform lets you find local and online communities with interests, hobbies and topics ranging from technology and entrepreneurship to women in business. By entering your interest and location, Meetup gives you a list of meetings and events in your area. The app works with iOS and Android devices and it is free to download.

Browser networking: Google Hangout and Google Voice. You don’t have to look any farther than your browser to find an easy-to-use and versatile networking tool. Try Google Hangouts for group and video chats and sharing media via the web on a number of platforms including iOS and Android. This app is one of my favorites for staying connected with professional and personal networks. Since moving to the West Coast for work, I can now keep in touch with my family on the opposite coast.

To help manage correspondence on mobile, home and work phones, I turn to Google Voice. It gives you one number that’s linked to you — not a device or location — and lets you decide which devices will receive calls. You’ll also be able to set up conference calls, have voicemail transcribed into text and reply via text message. Google Voice is free and works with Windows, Apple’s OS X and Linux systems.

High-tech business cards: CardMunch. A friend of mine once made an exciting connection at a startup mixer. He offered to introduce her to some valuable contacts and gave her his business card, so she could contact him later. But when she got home, that card was gone and the opportunity was lost. With the free CardMunch app, lost business card worries are a thing of the past. Upload a business card image to your iPhone, then real humans transcribe it and add the contact to your address book and your LinkedIn profile.

Thanks to the rise of apps, networking has become easier, more efficient and a lot less scary. I can’t imagine managing my professional or personal networks without LinkedIn and the rest. Plus, one of the best parts has to be that I can do all this without paying a single penny — apps make networking accessible to everyone.

By Alexandra Rice, NerdWallet.

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