There's a ban at The Vatican on social media use and cellphone signal jammers are strategically installed, but there are still plenty of ways to help the rest of us keep track of the process.

Olivier Rojo is a busy student at Texas A&M University, so he downloaded three pope apps on his smartphone to make sure he's informed of all things Vatican.

"You sign in and as soon as the new pope is elected, they send you a text message and notification. So where I am at work or home, I can see it,” said Rojo. “They all have complimentary features and I want to be sure not to miss anything,” said Rojo.

These apps allow the user to get news straight from the Vatican, and images from the Vatican's six web cams.

Father David Konderla with St. Mary's Catholic Center in College Station gets his information the more traditional way.

"I catch the news here and there, I catch up on some websites or I hear people talk about, like the black smoke came out. I didn't see that anywhere yet, I heard it on the radio,” said Konderla.

There's also the Vatican Information System that sends email alerts to registered users.

No conclave has lasted more than five days in the past century, so Konderla is making sure he keeps up with the developments during his tight schedule.

"I'm busy with phone calls and meetings and whatever so I will probably hear about it in the news before I hear about it anywhere else…I don't have my Pope account set up or else I would hear it that way,” said Konderla.

There are also websites like istherewhitesmoke.com and popealarm.com that offer alerts for when the decision is made.