The holiday season is upon us and, holiday season or not, you’ll probably want to keep an eye on your packages—inbound and outbound. While many online retailers have greatly improved their package tracking integration over the years, there’s still easier ways to watch your in-transit package’s status.
Checkout these great web apps for tracking your package’s every move.
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Google Tracking
Probably the easiest to remember is doing a quick Google search with your tracking number, which will provide you with a link to your carrier’s tracking page and the package’s detail. Fast and easy!
- Price: Free
- Multiple Packages: No
- Carriers: UPS, FedEx, USPS, DHL and others.
- Alerts: No
- Acct. Required? No
- Mobile App: Yes
Boxoh
Boxoh
Boxoh is a fun little app with Google Maps integration that shows the path your package is taking via map, indicating its starting point, stops and final destination with Google Maps’ icons (and a package). On the left you’ll see your packages additional information such as when it was shipped, where and how far (in miles) it’s going, an RSS link for other tracking options and a way to share this info.
It’s simple, fast and fun!
- Price: Free
- Multiple Packages: No (one at a time)
- Carriers: UPS, FedEx, USPS or DHL
- Alerts: No (RSS Available)
- Acct. Required? No
- Mobile App: No
TrackThis
TrackThis
TrackThis gives you status updates on your in-transit packages via a variety of popular communication methods such as Email, Twitter or even Facebook. Once you’ve signed up you can manage multiple packages and their notification options. An iPhone version of this app is also available.
- Price: Free
- Multiple Packages: Yes
- Carriers: UPS, FedEx, USPS, DHL and others.
- Alerts: Yes (Email, SMS, RSS, Facebook or Twitter)
- Acct. Required? Yes
- Mobile App: Yes
TrackThePack
TrackThePack
TrackThePack pretty much does it all, allowing multiple package tracking, updates and shows your package’s path via Google Maps. TrackThePack has an iPhone app as a Firefox extension, browser bookmarklet and more, see their extras page.
- Price: Free
- Multiple Packages: Yes
- Carriers: UPS, FedEx, USPS, DHL and others.
- Alerts: Yes (Email, SMS, RSS)
- Acct. Required? No
- Mobile App: Yes
PackageTrackr
PackageTrackr
PackageTrackr seems to be among the best of the apps here for tracking multiple packages and offers mobile and touch-optimized versions of the site along with a Windows sidebar gadget. Tracking packages shows a map and other typical package info. Unfortunately the site was intermittently down while writing this roundup.
- Price: Free
- Multiple Packages: Yes
- Carriers: UPS, FedEx, USPS, DHL and others.
- Alerts: Yes (Email, SMS, RSS or Twitter)
- Acct. Required? No
- Mobile App: Yes
FollowMyStuff
FollowMyStuff
FollowMyStuff is one of the simplest apps listed here allowing you to enter your package tracking code and your email address to receive updates. It’s simple and gets the job done but if you’re looking for some of the more advanced features, you won’t find them in this app.
- Price: Free
- Multiple Packages: No (Individually)
- Carriers: UPS, FedEx, USPS and DHL
- Alerts: Yes (Email with SMS and Twitter coming soon)
- Acct. Required? No
- Mobile App: No
PackageMapping
PackageMapping
PackageMapping needs a bit of an interface update but does a great job of providing package transit information, even a few fun stats such as distance, time and average speed. Not only do you get a Google Map of your package but info. from the carrier is pulled into the sidebar as well for more detailed transit information.
- Price: Free
- Multiple Packages: Yes
- Carriers: UPS, FedEx, USPS, DHL and others.
- Alerts: Yes (Email and RSS)
- Acct. Required? No
- Mobile App: Yes
Amazon
Amazon
Okay, Amazon shouldn’t really be included in this list but if you order from Amazon a lot you’ll know that they do a great job of making your package tracking information easily accessible from one page. They also don’t want you leaving the site so pulling up additional tracking information doesn’t take you to another site. They don’t offer a cool map but there’s plenty of information and it’s really easy to navigate around.
Now if only Amazon would let me track packages I’ve ordered elsewhere…
- Price: Free
- Multiple Packages: Yes
- Carriers: UPS, FedEx, USPS, DHL and others.
- Alerts: Yes (Email & SMS)
- Acct. Required? Yes
- Mobile App: Yes
What do you use?
While these apps can be quite useful, most carriers offer email (and usually SMS) updates for packages shipped through them. Do you just stick with what carriers offer or do you use another method to keep track of all your packages? Are there any special desktop apps, widgets or plugins you use to do this?