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Summary
- The USPS is beta testing a dedicated “Informed Delivery Mobile” app for Android to improve upon the current subpar experience of accessing the service through a web wrapper in the main USPS mobile app, which lacks push notifications and requires frequent sign-ins.
- The new app offers a more intuitive interface and adds granular push notifications for package updates (delivered, available for pickup, etc.) in addition to the existing features of daily mail previews and package tracking available on the website.
- Users interested in trying the beta app can do so by joining a specific Google Group (linked below) and then downloading the app from the Google Play Store. The future timeline for a wider public release is currently unclear.
The United States Postal Service’s (USPS) Informed Delivery service is a valuable tool that lets users check what mail and packages are expected to be delivered to their address in the coming days.
As of right now, the service can be accessed through your computer or via a smartphone running the USPS MOBILE app. The experience on the latter, however, is subpar.
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What is USPS Informed Delivery?
The US Post Office’s Informed Delivery service can help you track what mail is coming your way
Accessing Informed Delivery through the USPS mobile app requires users to sign in every time they use it, with the resulting page frustratingly only surfacing the service’s desktop page in a web wrapper. The page doesn’t even use a custom Chrome tab (CCD), and does not offer any sort of push notifications, with emails being the sole source for delivery updates.
To tackle the limitations, the USPS is working (and has been since 2024) on a dedicated ‘Informed Delivery Mobile’ app that offers a more intuitive way to access the service. Currently in private beta testing, the app is available for you to download and try out, as highlighted by Droid-Life, though only after you go through certain steps to join a private Google Group.
- Sign up for the beta test by joining the ‘USPS Informed Delivery Mobile Beta Test’ Google Group here.
- Tap Join Group.
- Enter your display name and enable relevant email updates.
- Tap on the first message that shows up (there will be only one — the one that was posted on 23 August, 2024.)
- Visit the mentioned Play Store link and download the app.
Simply sign in with your Informed Delivery credentials, and you should be good to go.
The app offers all the familiar functions, with the addition of granular push notifications. These include alerts for ‘Package Delivered,’ ‘Available for Pickup,’ ‘Delivery Exception,’ and ‘Package in-transit,’ and more. Although the app’s UI isn’t the most polished, its functionality seemingly is. It is likely that the app will receive subsequent updates if and when it becomes widely available, but it isn’t entirely clear when that might happen.
Here’s what the app’s Play Store listing describes it as:
- Create your account or sign-in with an existing account.
- Get daily digest notifications to preview your mail and packages scheduled to arrive soon.
- See grayscale images of your mail before it arrives*. Images are of the exterior, address side only of letter-sized mail.
- Interact with mailer-provided digital content associated with your mail (e.g. – special offers, related links).
- Scan eligible tracking numbers or label barcodes to track the status of your inbound or outbound USPS packages.
- Get delivery status updates directly to your smartphone.
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