PigeonTrail for iPhone

The app puts every letter you have in the mail on a live map, follows each one through USPS's plants, and reads the barcodes on your envelopes as you head to the mailbox. It's free, and it works with the same account you use on the website.

Coming to the App StoreOpen PigeonTrail on the web

A letter's page: USPS marked it delivered in Boston on October 20, and its route from Austin is drawn across the map with a Replay the trip button.

The full screen live map at night, with a pigeon for each letter in the mail over the United States, and a card for one letter that reached the USPS plant in Las Vegas this morning.

Every letter you have in the mail, on one map

Each letter sits on the map as a small pigeon at the last place USPS scanned it, and the ones that moved since you last looked fly their latest hop when the map opens. A letter that falls behind USPS's schedule turns amber, and the ones USPS marked delivered in the last two days settle into quiet dots.

Under the map, Today lists what needs you, such as a letter that's running late, a quick letter waiting for an address fix, or orders waiting to be printed. Tap a pigeon and you get that letter's card, with a link straight to its page.

The Today screen with the live map card and the list of what needs the seller.

Follow one letter, then replay its trip

Every letter has its own page, with its route drawn on a real map, each USPS scan with its city and time, and the day USPS expects it to arrive. The page also has a short message with the tracking link, ready to paste into your marketplace or send to your buyer.

When you tap Replay the trip, the map tilts down over your town and flies to each place USPS scanned the letter, holding for a moment at each stop with a caption that says where it was and when. Tap anywhere to skip ahead. If you have Reduce Motion turned on, the same trip appears as a still map with the stops listed.

Replay the trip over a satellite map of Nashville, with the caption USPS scanned it in Nashville, TN, on October 17 at 5:56 AM.

Scan the stack on your way to the mailbox

Open Scan, choose Mail run and slide your envelopes past the camera one after another. The app reads the barcode on each one, shows the buyer's name on a little chip, and adds the envelope to a stack at the bottom of the screen. When you tap Done, those letters are marked as mailed, so you and your buyers know they went out today.

A scan made without a signal waits on the phone and goes out when you're back online, so a dead spot at the post office loses nothing. The mail run comes with PigeonTrail Pro, and on every account Look up opens any letter as soon as you hold its barcode up to the camera. The scanner reads only PigeonTrail's own barcodes.

The scanner in the middle of a mail run: the camera has locked onto an envelope's barcode, a chip shows Sam Ortiz, order 2256, Dallas, TX, and the stack at the bottom holds 5 letters.

See your letters at a glance without opening the app

Widgets on your Home Screen show how many letters are in the mail, how many are behind and how many were delivered today, and the larger one has a button that opens the scanner. After a mail run, a Live Activity follows those letters on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island until USPS has them all.

Notifications tell you when USPS first scans a letter, when it marks one delivered and when one falls behind, and you choose which ones you want in Settings.

The small widget: 56 letters in the mail, 1 behind, 3 delivered today, and the next one expected Wednesday, October 21.

The medium widget: 56 in the mail, 1 behind, 3 delivered today, with a Scan button.

See how your letters are doing

Insights tells you in a few plain sentences how many letters you printed, how many USPS scanned and marked delivered, and how long a typical letter took. A map of the states is shaded by how long your letters take to reach each one, so you can see where the mail runs slow and set your buyers' expectations to match.

Insights for the last 30 days: 105 letters printed, 102 scanned, 53 marked delivered and a typical letter taking 3 days, above a map of the states shaded by delivery time.

Print from your phone with AirPrint

You can turn the orders waiting in your account into letters right from the app, or write a quick letter to someone in your contacts, and print the envelopes or labels with AirPrint on the printer you already have. Every address is checked against USPS's data first, and the barcode is made on our server for that one letter, so what comes out of the printer is ready for a stamp.

The Send letters sheet with four orders ready to print and a button that says Make 4 letters.

Free with your PigeonTrail account

The app costs nothing, and nothing is sold inside it. Sign in with your email address and the code we send you, or with a passkey, and if you're new to PigeonTrail, the same steps open a free account with 100 letters a month. Your plan, your imports and your envelope design all live on the website and show up in the app as they are.

Coming to the App StoreOpen PigeonTrail on the web

Questions about the app

Does the app cost anything?

No. The app is free, and it uses the same PigeonTrail account as the website, so your first 100 letters each month are free there too. The mail run in the scanner comes with PigeonTrail Pro, and looking up a letter by its barcode works on every account.

Do I need an account first?

No. Sign in with your email address and the 6 digit code we send you, and if the address is new to PigeonTrail, those same steps open a free account. You can sign in with a passkey after that.

Does it work on iPad?

Yes. It runs on iPhone and iPad with iOS 18 or later, and on an iPad the full screen map works as a desk display that refreshes itself every five minutes.

Can I delete my account from the app?

Yes. Under More, then Settings, you can close your account, and we delete its data within a day, apart from the payment records that tax law requires us to keep.