For over eight years now, I've used an app to keep track of which packages were coming my way and when—typically something that I ordered online. And occasionally, I found it useful to track something I was returning or sending to someone else. The app that I used for most of that time was a great app called Deliveries, which I reviewed in 2015 and again in 2017. But the Deliveries app no longer works as well as it used to; as the app's developer explained in a 2022 post, he had lost the ability to work directly with some outside services such as UPS. So I started to look for a replacement, and a few months ago I started using an app called Parcel. It's a fantastic app, and it is now my package tracking app of choice. It lacks one feature that I used in the Deliveries app, but the Parcel app has some clever tricks that make it an overall better app. And unlike the Deliveries app, Parcel works well with all of the major delivery services—including DHL, FedEx, TNT, UPS, USPS, and over 300 other services. Perhaps best of all, it works particularly well with Amazon.
Adding a delivery
In Parcel, just like Deliveries, you can easily add a delivery by copying the tracking number. For example, if you have a UPS or FedEx tracking number in an email or a website on your iPhone, just copy that number, open the Parcel app, and tap the + at the top right corner. Parcel will automatically paste the number into a field, determine the carrier from the number (which you can adjust if necessary), and then let you write a description. Deliveries was a little better than Parcel because it detected a tracking number even before you tapped the + sign, but otherwise, the process on both apps is similar.
If you have a delivery sticker with a barcode on it (because you are the sender), the Parcel app can scan the barcode to save you the trouble of typing the tracking number. That's a very useful feature, and it worked well for me.
If you order frequently from Amazon, as I do, Parcel has a neat feature if you choose to give it access to your Amazon account: it will automatically add your Amazon deliveries without you having to do anything at all. Just open the Parcel app and anything that you ordered from Amazon is already being tracked in the app. The title listed in Parcel is taken from the Amazon website, and occasionally those titles are unhelpful (often because they were written to try to make the item show up in more search results) but you can easily change the title in the Parcel app if you want by taping on the item, then tapping the icon at the top right, and then tapping Edit Delivery.
Parcel has a page on its website describing the privacy implications of you letting Parcel use your Amazon account. In short, your credentials are stored locally in the app and not sent to the developer of Parcel. I haven't heard any reports of Parcel using this information inappropriately.
Tracking your deliveries
Once your items are in the app, you open the app at any time to see what is coming and how many days before it is delivered. The Deliveries app uses a different color banner depending upon the delivery service, such as brown for UPS, purpose for FedEx, etc. Parcel doesn't do that, which is a shame. But what Parcel does do is work with all of the major delivery services. When I ordered a MacBook Air for my daughter to use in school, the Deliveries app couldn't tell me when the UPS delivery would arrive, telling me "Couldn't connect," although I could tap on the item to eventually open the right page on the UPS website. But Parcel was happy to tell me when the app was coming, where it was located along the way, and when it arrived.
Parcel also supports push notifications. Thus, if you want to be alerted to delivery status, the app can do that.
Because Parcel lets you connect the app to Amazon, Parcel works particularly well with Amazon deliveries. For example, if Amazon sends something via the U.S. Postal Service, the Deliveries app—like the USPS website—won't have much information on when the item is coming. But Parcel will be able to guess by providing Amazon's own guess about approximately when the package will arrive. And of course, Parcel can track items shipped by Amazon's own delivery service.
On the day of delivery, the Parcel app will initially tell you that you have 0 days until delivery. But then once the package is out for delivery, the icon changes to make it easy for you to see that information. And for some deliveries, you even get a delivery window.
One of the features of the Deliveries app that I enjoyed was the ability to easily archive a delivery after an item had arrived. That way, if I ever wanted to go back and search for an item previously delivered—for example, if I am trying to remember how long ago I last ordered something that I'm about to order again—I could find that information in Deliveries. In Parcel, there is no archive feature. You can keep old deliveries on the main screen, but I find that to be distracting; I only want to see active deliveries in the main screen of the app. Thus, my practice has been to delete items in the Parcel app once the item is in my hands, which means that I cannot use the app as a log of past deliveries. It would be great if Parcel added an archive feature in the future.
Multiple platforms
You can use Parcel on the iPhone (which is where I use it the most), the iPad, the Mac, and even the Apple Watch. All of your information is synced across all of your devices. The app also supports widgets on the iPhone.
Cost
You can try out the app for free, but that free version has limited features and only tracks three items. To unlock all of the features, pay for a subscription, which is $4.99 a year.
Conclusion
I know after many years of use how helpful it is to have a single place on my iPhone that keeps track of all of my upcoming deliveries, no matter what the vendor or the delivery service. It is nice to know when an item will arrive and where it is now. Parcel does a great job with that. Moreover, since most of my deliveries nowadays come from Amazon, the Parcel app is especially useful because I don't have to spend any time putting my Amazon deliveries in Parcel. They are there automatically. There are a few features in the Deliveries app that are currently missing from Parcel—the archive feature is the one that I miss the most—but overall, the Parcel app is much better than Deliveries and I'm happy that I made the switch. If you are interested in an app to track your deliveries, regardless of whether you are a previous user of the Deliveries app or you are new to this type of app, I highly recommend the Parcel app.
Click here to get Parcel (free; $4.99/year to unlock all features)
