SortylendoAbout us
Four parcels, four QR codes – and suddenly we had no idea which code belonged to which parcel. That is exactly how Sortylendo began.
Let us be honest: a printed shipping label is actually rather practical. You print it, stick it on the parcel, and the matter is settled. What you need for that, though, is paper, tape or self-adhesive labels. So if you only want to send a single parcel, a printer-free shipping label with a QR code is a really good alternative.
In our case, however, there were several shipments at once: three returns plus a parcel with a pair of shoes we had sold. We had run out of labels at home and thought we would simply use the QR codes this time. After all, that would also save us the printing, the cutting and the sticking.
We only noticed the problem once everything stood packed in front of us. For every parcel there was an e-mail, a QR code or a screenshot somewhere – and suddenly a rather banal question came up: which QR code belongs to which parcel?
So I started photographing the parcels and their matching codes one after another, so that I would still know later what belonged together. It worked, but it was awkward, and in exactly that moment the thought appeared: there really ought to be a better way.
We found no app that solved this particular problem as simply as we needed it. So, drawing on the programming experience from my online shop HalloGeschenk.de and our first Shopify app for it, I started building one myself. The idea behind it was really quite simple: you photograph your parcel and store the matching QR code, the digital shipping label or the relevant document right on the same card. Later, when you are standing at the counter or at the parcel locker with several parcels, you simply pick up a parcel, open the matching photo and have the right code in front of you straight away.
That is how Sortylendo Parcel came about.
What surprised me about it: I actually kept using the app afterwards. And that was exactly what made me realise that I had not simply built a nice app for my own use, but a real everyday problem solver for people who regularly have several parcels to send.
From then on I started looking at our everyday life with different eyes, asking myself the same questions again and again: where are we constantly searching for something? Where do we lose track? Which things do we only memorise because there has been no sensible solution for them so far?
A fairly obvious example was till receipts. They lie around somewhere in drawers, folders or boxes, and when something breaks later on, the search begins. When did I actually buy this? And where, come to think of it? And above all: where is the receipt? And can you even still read anything on that slowly fading thermal paper?
That is how Sortylendo Warranty came about. You photograph the receipt and the product, store the purchase date and the important deadlines with it, and later have everything in one place when you actually need it.
Another problem met us during a move. Our flat was full of boxes back then, and on the first evening we were simply done in. We had no desire and, honestly, no strength left to unpack everything there and then. We still needed a few things, though – and of course, with several boxes, at some point we no longer knew what was actually in which one.
Out of that experience came Sortylendo Moves. While packing, you can photograph the contents of a box, give it a number and assign it to a room. That works not only on moving day, but already weeks or even months beforehand, when the first things are being packed. If you are looking for something later, you do not have to open several boxes — you can simply look up where it is.
With Sortylendo Travel the trigger was something that happened to my parents. Their suitcase was gone, and suddenly a very simple question stood in the room: what was actually in it?
That sounds banal at first, until you try to recall the complete contents of a suitcase from memory. That is where the idea first came from: to document luggage and its contents properly. It quickly became clear, though, that the app can help much earlier — before the journey even begins.
With Sortylendo Travel you can note things down the moment they occur to you, assign them to a particular suitcase or piece of luggage later, and tick them off while packing. So you know not only what you want to take with you, but also what is already packed and where it is. And should a piece of luggage actually go missing, you have already documented what was inside.
Then there is that typical freezer problem. At some point you pull out a container, look at it and ask yourself: what is actually in there, and how long has it been sitting here?
That is how Sortylendo Freezer came about. You photograph the contents and store where it is and when it was frozen. Later you can see what is still in the freezer and how long it has been there. Less goes to waste, and you do not have to guess every time what is hiding in some tub. And quite incidentally you have a little menu of your own on your phone — only from the freezer.
More apps are already in planning.
And that, little by little, is how the idea behind Sortylendo came about.
We did not want to build complicated systems, nor apps that contain as many functions as possible just to make the feature list look longer. What we care about is taking real everyday situations and solving them in such a way that at some point you wonder why you ever made it more complicated.
Your data stays on your device
There is one more thing that connects all our apps, and it matters a great deal to us: your data stays on your device.
Photos, documents, notes and the information you store in Sortylendo are not uploaded to a Sortylendo server and are not passed on by us. Precisely with apps in which personal documents, deadlines or information about your own belongings can be stored, that was important to us from the very beginning.
And if you change your phone at some point, you still do not have to start over. Using the backup function you can download your data and then load it back in on your new device.
So your information stays with you, and you still keep the option of taking it along to a new device.
Who is behind it
My name is Karl, and behind Sortylendo there is in fact no classic software company that sat down one day and worked out which apps it might still bring to market.
I originally come from the commercial side, have worked as an operations manager for many years and by now have more than 30 years of professional experience. My working life includes quality management, ISO matters and accompanying audits.
At the same time I have long been creative and entrepreneurial, run my own online shop HalloGeschenk.de and by now work intensively on developing Shopify and Android apps.
Perhaps that is also where my standard for Sortylendo comes from: an app should not simply have as many functions as possible. It has to solve a real problem, be understandable, and sit so naturally in everyday life that at some point you stop thinking about it at all.
That is why we use our apps ourselves, question how they work and try to make them better step by step.
And that is exactly where you can help us
If a function is missing, if you have an idea, or if something strikes you while using the apps, do write to us. Because many of our apps came about in exactly that way – because something annoyed us in everyday life and at some point we thought:
There has to be an easier way.
Sortylendo – thoughtful apps for an easier everyday life.