Route: Package Tracker 4+

Replaced Slice with Route

I’d used Slice for many years and it improved nicely, but slowly it degraded over time until it was mostly useless. The hunt for a new tracking app began and I tried a few and narrowed it down to this app Route and one other called Shop which is better suited to a phone than a tablet.

This app beat them all out and is almost perfect. I can see the location of my packages on a map, copy the tracking number, mark a package as delivered, and submit feedback easily in app for each shipment individually. Pretty good I thought, but not perfect… yet. The dev seems to be making improvements which is better than an app that turns into abandonware. For this reason I’ll submit my own thoughts on what I feel is missing that could make me love this app more than I once did Slice.

What is missing is the ability to add your own tracking information when there are mishaps in shipping and new numbers issued. If and when an image for the item being shipped is not correct it would also be nice to be able to browse for and add the right or a better image. I would love to be able to add notes to shipments as well for future reference and flagging certain shipments as important or even being able to pin them to the top would be great. I appreciate the hard work you’ve already put into this app and wish you continuing success with it. Thanks for reading my input!

Nice idea. Poor execution.

TL/DR: Most of the time it’s easier and more convenient to just check order status on the site you ordered from and/or bookmark/leave the tracking tab open.

I live in a rural area so I end up ordering a lot of packages and being rural, delivery dates are an estimate at best. The idea of Route is a good one. Centralize tracking data and make it more convenient to check a tracking status. Unfortunately the app is cluttered with a bunch of partner stuff with shopping or something? I can’t be bothered to mess with it. I really just want to see where my packages are. Most of the time, it says “waiting for tracking data” when the tracking data is readily available. Shipper tracking APIs are not rocket science so it’s unclear why it can’t seem to update in a timely manner. It also can’t seem to figure out when something has been delivered. I feel like I’m providing more data TO Route than it is retrieving from readily available sources.

After a few years of tons of improvements except the main thing, I’m just sick of hoping they will ever fix it and I just deleted it.

Developer Response ,

Thanks for your feedback, we are sorry for your experience. We would like to learn more about ways we can improve, could you please contact us via email at feedback@route.com?

Unless you are ordering a lot this seems like a pretty pointless/intrusive app to me.

I recently ordered a couple records online and to my surprise got an email for the shipping telling me to download this app. No thanks, I just want the link in the email I can open up to take me to USPS.. you know.. the people who are actually in possession of my package? Only the link in the email doesn’t work if you just click the “prefer to track online” it brings up a broken webpage with no information on it regarding the package. Fine, I’ll download the freakin app so I can see how much longer I have to wait for my package. Now, first thing it wants is to link up with my email? No, I don’t want an app having access to all of my email. Luckily there is a manual “add package/delivery” button thing, cool go to look for the required tracking number in my emails from this dumb app/the online store NONE OF THEM CONTAIN MY TRACKING NUMBER, only a “route” number that apparently is only for when something goes wrong with my package?? What the heck is with this stupid pointless app?? What was wrong with having a link that led you straight to carries page with the actual information? Will actively avoid places that use this stupid thing. Unless you are ordering multiple things from multiple different places and can’t be bothered to look at them individually and also don’t mind having some weird third party having access to the email you use for online shopping, then don’t bother with this app.