Packing Boxes and Hiring Movers: Is There an App for That?

I’ve done almost every kind of move, from packing a trunk to go away to school, to throwing everything into several 55-gallon, heavy-duty trash bags and grabbing a cab (long story). I emigrated from the UK to the US with just two large army surplus kit bags, while the rest of my stuff stayed in storage for a couple of years (don't ask).

A few years later, when I moved from LA to NYC, I sold, donated, or gave away nearly everything I’d acquired, mailing just seven boxes to my new sublet. The boxes didn't arrive for months, of course. Only once did I move "perfectly"—the total white-glove treatment—where a concierge service packed up my apartment and put everything on a truck back to the West Coast. All I had to do was catch a plane and stay with friends until my stuff arrived a week later.

Next time I move, and it might be soon, I’m going to seek out an AI assistant. All my prior moves were before the app economy simplified navigating life via a smartphone screen. Surely it must be simple to move to a new place with all the services out there now, right? Let's find out.

Moving.com has a comprehensive Moving Checklist(Opens in a new window) designed to get you prepared up to eight weeks before your moving day. It also has several custom lists, such as a job relocation checklist(Opens in a new window). If you sign up for an account, you can check the boxes next to just the tasks you need.

These might range from getting comparison quotes(Opens in a new window) from truck companies, booking storage units(Opens in a new window), calculating how many boxes(Opens in a new window) you’ll need, where to donate(Opens in a new window) what you don't need, and how to transfer your utilities(Opens in a new window) so the lights are on when you arrive.

Verdict: It's comprehensive, but essentially a very long list of partner referral links to vendors within the realtor.com network. The UX is too cumbersome, old-school, and list-based. I want an AI to request information, fill out the underlying data fields for me automatically, then deliver a perfect moving plan at a glance. This is not it. Let's move on (pun intended).

The MoveAdvisor(Opens in a new window) app, available for both iOS(Opens in a new window) and Android(Opens in a new window), looked simple enough to use—at first—but things weren't as they seemed.

Type in your current home ZIP code, then select the city and state you’re moving to (no international option, this is a domestic US-only move app), moving size (studio, 1 bedroom, etc.) and moving date. Then click Plan my move. However, it won't let you proceed past this step without setting up an account (no single sign-on using Gmail, though).

Select from a long list of room names (kitchen, bedroom, etc.) then click on a room to populate the screen with typical accessories for that room (beds, boxes, chairs, electronics) with approximate weight (in pounds) and or cubic feet. Drag and drop each item into the center screen until you’ve "stored" everything in that room. Then move onto the next room until you’ve inventoried the whole house, apartment, or sublet room over a garage.

Another long list of everything you might need to do before, during, and after your move: from organizing records, to choosing your mover, making an inventory your home, packing the garage and basement, and using up food supplies (this sounded vaguely apocalyptic, but I digress).

Disappointingly, this is just a click-to-call-me-back option from one of MoveAdvisor's many vendors/partners.

Verdict: This app isn't smart at all. It's a sales-based, front-end shoved onto a database of local leads. All of whom, one assumes, have paid for the exposure, or will give a percentage of the move fee to MoveAdvisor. Fair enough, but I didn't feel there was any intelligence inside the app.

Maybe there's no such thing as a free app, especially when dealing with something as difficult, costly, and stressful as moving house.

When I took on this assignment, I asked around to see what people I knew had used, in the way of moving apps. Photographer Jonathan Ducrest(Opens in a new window) got in touch. He’d recently moved back to Zurich from the US. I asked him if there was an app that did the entire moving process end-to-end.

"I wish there was!" Ducrest says, "But I don't think the level of sophistication is there yet. So I used a combination of services. I booked FlatRate(Opens in a new window), because I’ve used them before, and trust them, to get my stuff from LA to Zurich, Switzerland. But I knew I needed a top-notch solution for the packing itself. Especially as I’d be going through exit customs in the US and entry into Switzerland. For this I used Boxes(Opens in a new window) and highly recommend it.

"This was a highly organized person's dream come true," Ducrest says. "I was able to catalog, photograph, and print (label printer not included with app) the labels for each box. Better yet, if the US and/or Swiss customs wanted to—and they often do—they could scan the QR code and find out more information or an image(s) of the contents inside each box."

This iOS(Opens in a new window) app was developed by StackTracks, a development and design studio specializing in iOS apps, which meant I couldn't test Boxes on my Android smartphone or my Chromebook. Jonathan provided data for the steps below so I could understand how the app functions:

Create an account on the Boxes app and purchase a package of boxes and images. Ducrest confirmed he purchased a pack of 200 boxes (and corresponding images) for $6.99.

Inside the Boxes app, click the Spaces option so you can name each individual room. In Ducrest's case (see images), he selected Kitchen, Bedroom, Bathroom, Closet, Office, and Living room.

You can then add a box to your inventory (the app will automatically number it for you) and tag it with the room it is from (i.e. Kitchen). Now fill the box (IRL) and take a picture of the box, and input a list of its contents. The app will now treat these combined data fields as an object for shipping purposes with a custom QR code, per box (so smart).

Hit Create Label and select Public Link so that a third party (customs, etc.) can scan the QR and see each box's content. Now you can select Print from my phone or Save to My Camera Roll for extra back-up purposes.

Now tape that box shut, and start with the next box. Repeat steps 1 - 4 until complete.

"The app allowed me to create a complete manifest of my place—both per room, and for the entire move," Ducrest tells me. "I used this manifest when the movers delivered my belongings to Zurich to check every box—pardon the pun—and make sure nothing was lost in transit."

Was it simple to use? "Yes, it was," says Ducrest. "Once I got in the flow of steps 1 - 4. Basically, after downloading the app I hit the ground running. I started packing my belongings, sometimes multiple boxes at a time."

Boxes also has a wide range of features, on top of categorizing contents and generating QR codes. It is also able to create tasks to help you with important to-dos, set up custom box statuses, filter boxes by specific criteria, and even set custom app themes.

Boxes tags itself as "storage made simple" as opposed to positioning itself as a moving app, which gives it a bigger market, as anyone downsizing, or doing the Airbnb thing might need to shift belongings into storage.

Verdict: If you’re looking for a great app for packing, labeling, and moving boxes, this is the one. Ducrest confirms that all his stuff arrived in Switzerland, safely, and in good time. It's free to use for the basic service, with incremental in-app purchases for image storage once you go above 25 boxes, starting at $1.99.

Having tested two services, and receiving input on a third, I started to think about the perfect moving app.

I wanted an app to lead me through the process by asking me questions, then generating a custom move plan. Or, if we’re being really fancy (and why not?), an app with an underlying NLP (Natural Language Processing) layer so I could talk to it, while walking around my place, identifying objects, and the AI automatically inputs all the data. Or, as I said before, deploy image recognition. I’d pay for both voice input and auto-tagging from images.

Ducrest adds: "Another neat idea would be, given that most phones now have AR capabilities, it would be great to scan your room with your phone's camera and the embedded AI could then figure out the size of your move, and get quotes that way."

Moving is such a process, and AIs are good at processing vast amounts of data and generating custom outputs. A combination of NLP, image recognition, and a deep understanding of the individual steps required, for each person's moving journey? That would be the app I’d pay for.

In the meantime, next time I move, I’ll hire someone from TaskRabbit(Opens in a new window) (I’ve used them a lot) to come to my place, then hand them the Boxes(Opens in a new window) app and ask them to tag away.

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