Amazon Just Found a Way to Let You See Inside the Box Without Opening It (AMZN)

For an increasing number of people, making a purchase from Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is seen as an exciting thing, if not one of the best things that they can do while surfing the net. If you are one of these people and you simply want to get all the information regarding your order then the e-commerce giant has just added another way for you to know more about your packages.

Amazon rolled out an update for its iOS app last week which allows users to know what’s inside their incoming Amazon boxes before opening them.

To use this latest feature on the app, simply tap your iPhone’s camera icon besides the search box. Doing this will open up a number of options, from which you need to select the “Package X-Ray” button. Then hold the camera frame over the barcode of your box and the items inside will be displayed.

You might be thinking that you will now be able to see the inside of the boxes x-ray vision style, which is really cool and should be a godsend for people who are somewhat impatient with the orders that they have made from the website. Sadly though, despite the name, this feature does not give you a view of the actual items inside your Amazon boxes.

Instead, the app gives you information regarding the items inside the box. Also, you will be given a visual of these items which link you back to the product page on the website.

If you think that you can now see into other people’s boxes then you are out of luck; this is only available for boxes that are tied to your own Amazon account.

So the question is, what’s the point if I don’t get to see my actual items? Well actually, this feature can be quite useful for a number of reasons.

Amazon does not deliver all items at the same time so with this feature you will be able to know which boxes contain certain items. This also allows you to know what to expect when a given box arrives. Further, this negates the need for you to search for individual tracking numbers. Simply view the box that you want an update from and you should know the shipping status of the item(s) that you have ordered. Also, thanks to the visual links to their Amazon product pages, you will now be able to know the latest info or reviews on the products you have bought without having to do a manual search.

This update has been rolled out to line up with Cyber Monday and Black Friday, which is the time of the year that the online retailer receives its highest volume of orders thanks to the Christmas buying spree, along with the huge discounts and promos that the website offers.

While this can indeed be a pretty nifty feature for iOS users, Amazon shopper on Android are unfortunately left out on this one. As of late, there have been no announcements indicating that this feature will be available on the Google-platform.