Amazon is now texting arrival times for package deliveries - here's how it works

• Amazon has started texting customers with a time frame for package deliveries. 
• The new notifications are still in testing phase, so they aren't available to all customers, an Amazon spokesperson told Business Insider. 
• Visit BusinessInsider.com for more stories.

Amazon has started texting customers to let them know what time their packages will arrive. 

The text notifications are still in testing phase, so they aren't available to all customers, an Amazon spokesperson told Business Insider. 

The notifications provide an estimated time frame for deliveries, rather than an exact time. 

For example, an Amazon text notification that a customer posted to Twitter said a package was "Estimated to arrive... before 4:15 p.m."

Map Tracking, which allows customers to see where their deliveries are in real time, is still the best and most accurate way to track packages, the company said.

Read more: Amazon now lets shoppers track the exact location of delivery drivers in a 'creepy, but convenient' map

Map Tracking becomes available to customers when fewer than 10 stops remain on a courier's route to deliver their packages. The tracking feature was rolled out to all Amazon customers last year.

Amazon also sends notifications to customers when their packages are delivered, along with photos of where the items were left.

The new text notifications that Amazon is testing are just an additional way for Amazon customers to keep track of their deliveries. 

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