For many services, the Deliveries app contacts the tracking company directly, through their own web site or API, to check the status of your packages.
For some services, it is necessary for the Deliveries app to contact our own deliveries.app tracking system to check the status of your packages. If our system doesn’t already know the status of your package, it will contact the tracking company, then send the results to the app. We use this approach when it’s necessary to meet the technical requirements of the tracking company.
Our deliveries.app tracking system is designed to be as privacy conscious as possible. Requests are sent over a secure HTTPS connection. The item name is not included with these requests, since it’s not needed. Requests include an identifier that’s specific to your device, as well as your IP address. Our servers store your device identifier and IP address information separate from any tracking numbers, and date stamps have a randomization factor applied, so we can’t link those things together. (Note that if you use use our optional Junecloud sync service, this information is linked to your account.) See our Deliveries Privacy Overview for more information about how we handle each type of data.
This system also offers some significant benefits. Our server can send the app exactly the information it needs, so it doesn’t waste bandwidth. If your tracking information hasn’t changed since the last check, our server can communicate that concisely without having to send the same data again. We can also make improvements that take effect immediately, without having to release an update to the app. Because of these benefits, we expect to use this approach with more services over time.