Question :

I live in The Netherlands and on my iPhone, I want to trace packages that will be delivered to me shortly.

The PostNL.app works perfectly, but it’s for PostNL shipments only…

The UPS.app works perfectly too (despite the privacy agreement is a little awkward), but it’s for UPS shipments only…

There are various apps in the Apps Store for DHL shipments, but none of them work for The Netherlands…

I’ve tried the iPhone-apps by Deliveries, ParcelTrack and 17track, but even though they are advertised as ‘perfect solutions’ in most countries, they fail for at least one of the main delivery services in The Netherlands…

Isn’t there any iOS-app that can track all mayor post & parcel delivery services like PostNL, UPS, DHL, GLS and TNT in The Netherlands ?

Answer :

Yes there is… but there’s only one : AfterShip.app [click to download]

…and it’s not perfect yet, it still needs a little more do-it-yourself than advertised :

• the Auto Detect function doesn’t always select the proper delivery service, nor does it always include the proper delivery service in it’s short list of options, so (especially for DHL deliveries) you must always double-check the exact delivery service from your shipment confirmation eMail
• there’s only one Title (or Description) field you can add to your Shipment-entry, so if you want to include both Sender and Content description (as you can in most other Track&Trace apps) you will have to combine those into only one line of info
• the Edit option only allows you to edit the Title (a.k.a. Description) of your Shipment-entry, so… if you’ve erratically chosen (or guessed) the wrong delivery service, you will not be able to edit or correct it… you will have to delete the entire Shipment-entry and create/add a new, corrected one entirely…

But apart from that… it’s FREE and once you have picked the delivery services correctly, it works as expected ! (and that’s far better than any other Track&Trace app)

There are a few things to know :

• TNT-shipments from Amazon UK and Amazon DE to The Netherlands : if your online Amazon account info lists TNT (or “TNT (Netherlands)”) as the delivery service, the actual shipment will be done by PostNL, so you’ll need to choose “PostNL Domestic” as the delivery service ; if in the “Verzendbevestiging” you have received through eMail, the fine print says “Je items worden verzonden door Post NL Pakketten.” the actual shipment will expedited be by PostNL Domestic, even if your online Amazon-shipment-info says something else !
• DHL-shipments from Amazon DE to The Netherlands : if your online Amazon DE account info lists DHL (or “DHLNL”) or DHL_CONNECT as the delivery service, this will NOT be DHL Express or DHL Benelux (the ones suggested by AfterShip.app), this will usually be shipped using DHL Parcel NL ; in the “Verzendbevestiging” you have received though eMail, the fine print says “Je items worden verzonden door DHL NL Pakketten.” the actual shipment will be expedited by DHL Parcel NL, even if your online Amazon-shipment-info says something else !
• DHL-shipments from Dutch resellers to addresses within The Netherlands will be usually expedited by “DHL Benelux” (and NOT by “DHL Express” or any other DHL branch)

enjoy !