Moving house generates an overwhelming amount of tasks, decisions, and information to track all at once. The right apps on your phone can replace stacks of sticky notes, missed reminders, and frantic last-minute searches. Here are the best apps available right now to help you plan, pack, and settle in without losing your mind.
Whether you are relocating across town or across the country, technology can take a serious amount of stress off your plate. From building your checklist eight weeks out to measuring furniture in your new living room before moving day, there is an app for almost every challenge a move throws at you. Use this guide to build your moving toolkit before you pack a single box.
1. Planning and Organisation Apps
Getting organised early is the single biggest thing you can do to keep costs and stress under control. A good moving checklist is your foundation, and these apps help you build and maintain one across weeks of preparation.
Notion
Free (with paid plans) | iOS, Android, Web
Notion is one of the most flexible organisational tools available. You can build a full moving dashboard with a task tracker, box inventory, budget spreadsheet, and contact list all in one place. Templates for moving planning are freely available in the Notion community and take minutes to import. If you share your move with a partner or family, the real-time collaboration makes sure everyone is working from the same list.
Trello
Free (with paid plans) | iOS, Android, Web
Trello uses a visual card-and-board system that works extremely well for move planning. Create columns like "To Do," "In Progress," and "Done" and drag tasks through them as your move progresses. It is especially useful for tracking parallel workstreams, such as packing one room while sorting admin tasks like changing your address and cancelling subscriptions simultaneously.
Google Keep
Free | iOS, Android, Web
For quick notes, reminders, and shared checklists with a low learning curve, Google Keep is hard to beat. You can set location-based reminders (useful for when you arrive at a hardware store and need to remember what you need), share lists with household members, and colour-code notes by category. It syncs instantly across all devices and works offline.
💡 Pro Tip: Whichever app you choose, create your master task list on day one and share it with everyone involved in the move. A single shared list eliminates duplicated effort and makes it much easier to delegate tasks without things falling through the cracks.
2. Inventory and Box Tracking Apps
One of the most common moving frustrations is not being able to find something for days or weeks after arriving in a new home. Box tracking apps solve this by giving every box a unique label and a digital record of its contents.
Sortly
Free (with paid plans) | iOS, Android
Sortly is the most popular dedicated moving inventory app and for good reason. You can photograph items, assign them to specific boxes, and generate QR code labels to print and stick on each box. When you need something at the other end, a quick search tells you exactly which box it is in and where that box has been placed. The free tier allows up to 100 items, which covers a small to medium household. Larger homes may benefit from the paid plan.
Moving Van
Free (with in-app purchases) | iOS
Moving Van is a streamlined app built specifically for move inventories. It lets you scan barcodes of packaged items, add custom items, take photos, and organise everything by room. The interface is simpler than Sortly, making it a good choice if you want something fast to set up without a steep learning curve. The room-by-room layout mirrors how most people naturally think about packing.
💡 Pro Tip: Pack and log boxes room by room rather than category by category. This makes both the loading process and the unpacking process far more logical, and it helps your movers know exactly where each box should go in your new home.
3. Budget Tracking Apps
Moves regularly cost more than people expect. Having a live view of your spending as costs accumulate helps you avoid arriving at your new home in financial stress. These apps make it easy to track every receipt and stay on target.
Trail Wallet
Paid (one-time purchase) | iOS
Trail Wallet was designed for travel budgeting but works beautifully as a moving budget tracker. You set a total budget, enter expenses as you go, and the app gives you a clear visual of how much you have spent versus how much remains. Its simplicity is its strength as there is no setup complexity, just a running total that keeps you honest.
YNAB (You Need a Budget)
Paid subscription | iOS, Android, Web
If your move involves significant financial complexity such as selling a home, coordinating deposits, or managing costs across a long-distance relocation, YNAB offers a more robust solution. It connects to your bank accounts, categorises spending automatically, and helps you plan for upcoming expenses before they arrive. It has a learning curve but is highly regarded for keeping finances visible and manageable during major life transitions.
4. Address Change and Admin Apps
Changing your address across banks, subscriptions, government agencies, and dozens of other services is one of the most tedious parts of any move. These tools help you work through it systematically.
Canada Post MoveUpdate
Free | Web (canadapost.ca)
Canada Post's official mail forwarding and address update service is the first stop for any Canadian move. You can set up mail forwarding so nothing sent to your old address gets lost during the transition, and use their address change notification service to alert a list of senders at once. It is straightforward to set up online and buys you time to update your address with individual senders at your own pace.
Updater
Free | iOS, Android, Web
Updater is a dedicated moving admin app that walks you through address changes, utility connections, and subscription updates in a guided workflow. You enter your move details once and the app generates a personalised to-do list of admin tasks specific to your situation. It has partnerships with many service providers in Canada and the US, allowing you to complete some changes directly within the app rather than hunting for each provider's contact page individually.
5. Home Measurement and Layout Planning Apps
Arriving at a new home to discover your sofa does not fit through the door or your dining table overwhelms the room is an expensive and stressful problem. These apps let you plan your layout before moving day so you know exactly what fits and where.
RoomSketcher
Free (with paid plans) | iOS, Android, Web
RoomSketcher lets you draw floor plans of your new home to scale and drag in furniture pieces to see how they fit. You can enter the exact dimensions of your existing furniture and measure your new rooms using the app. This is particularly useful before you commit to paying to move heavy or large items. If a piece clearly will not work in the new space, it makes more sense to sell it before the move than to transport it and deal with the problem at the other end.
MagicPlan
Free (with paid plans) | iOS, Android
MagicPlan uses your phone's camera and augmented reality to measure rooms automatically. You walk around a room pointing your camera at the corners and the app builds a scaled floor plan in real time. This makes it fast to capture measurements of a new home during a viewing, even before you have signed anything. It is one of the most practical AR tools available for everyday moving use.
6. Utility and Service Setup Apps
Getting your electricity, internet, and other essentials connected in a new home involves more coordination than most people anticipate. These apps simplify the process considerably.
Google Maps and Street View
Free | iOS, Android, Web
Before you even arrive at your new neighbourhood, Google Maps lets you explore your surroundings in detail. Use Street View to familiarise yourself with the street layout, identify nearby grocery stores, pharmacies, and transit stops, and check parking conditions near your new home. On moving day, it helps your moving crew navigate efficiently, especially in dense urban areas where truck access can be tricky.
Houzz
Free | iOS, Android, Web
Once you are in and boxes are unpacked, Houzz becomes a genuinely useful tool for planning how you want to style and furnish your new home. You can browse millions of interior design photos, save ideas to mood boards, and use the augmented reality feature to preview furniture and decor in your actual rooms using your phone camera. It is the most comprehensive home design community app available and a satisfying way to start making a new space feel like yours.
7. Marketplace Apps for Selling and Sourcing
Before your move, selling unwanted items reduces the volume you need to transport and puts money back in your budget. After your move, sourcing second-hand items helps you furnish a new space without spending a fortune. These apps do both.
Facebook Marketplace
Free | iOS, Android, Web
Facebook Marketplace remains the most active local buying and selling platform in Canada for household items. Furniture, appliances, moving boxes, and packing materials all move quickly, especially in the weeks leading up to a move when sellers are motivated. It is also a great place to source free or cheap boxes from people who have recently moved and no longer need them.
Kijiji
Free | iOS, Android, Web
Kijiji is Canada's longest-running classifieds platform and still sees high traffic for local furniture and household goods listings. If you are selling bulkier items like sofas, beds, or appliances before a move, listing on both Kijiji and Facebook Marketplace gives you the widest possible local audience. Many sellers find items move within 24 to 48 hours when priced fairly.
💡 Pro Tip: List items for sale at least four to six weeks before your move date. Buyers on marketplace apps often need time to arrange pickup, and leaving it too late means either dropping your price dramatically or having to move things you intended to sell.
Putting It All Together
You do not need every app on this list. Pick one organisational tool, one inventory tracker, and one budget app, and use them consistently from the moment you start planning. Add the measurement and marketplace apps as your move date approaches. The goal is to reduce the number of things you are trying to hold in your head at once so you can focus on the parts of the move that actually need your attention.
Technology handles the tracking and reminders. A professional moving team handles the heavy lifting. If you are planning a residential move in the Greater Vancouver area and want to make sure moving day itself goes smoothly, an experienced crew makes more difference than any app. For those tackling a longer relocation, understanding your full moving costs in Canada before you commit to a method is the smartest first move you can make.
FAQs
Is there a free app specifically designed for moving house?
Yes, several. Sortly offers a solid free tier for box inventories, Trello and Notion both have generous free plans for task management, and Updater is free for address change coordination. Google Keep is completely free and works well as a shared checklist tool for households. You can build a very capable moving toolkit without spending anything on apps.
What is the best app for tracking moving boxes?
Sortly is the most widely recommended app for box tracking. It allows you to photograph items, assign them to labelled boxes, generate QR codes, and search your inventory by keyword. For a simpler option with a faster setup, Moving Van is a good iOS alternative. Both are available as free downloads with optional paid upgrades for larger households.
Can apps help me change my address when moving in Canada?
Yes. Canada Post offers an official mail forwarding and address change service through their website, which is the most important first step. The Updater app then helps you work through a personalised list of remaining senders including banks, subscriptions, and government agencies. Using both together gives you the most complete coverage during the transition period.
How can I plan furniture layout before moving into a new home?
RoomSketcher and MagicPlan are both excellent for this. MagicPlan uses your phone camera to measure rooms in augmented reality and builds a scaled floor plan automatically, making it fast to capture measurements during a viewing. RoomSketcher then lets you drag in your existing furniture pieces at scale to see what fits and where. Using both together gives you a clear picture of your new layout before moving day, which can save you from transporting items that will not work in the new space.
Should I use apps instead of a professional moving company?
Apps are tools for planning and organisation, not a replacement for professional movers. They help you stay on top of tasks, track your belongings, and manage your budget. The actual moving of furniture, heavy appliances, and fragile items still benefits enormously from an experienced team with the right equipment.
Get a Free Estimate for Your Move
If you are preparing for a move in the Lower Mainland, getting a free estimate from Smoother Movers lets you plan your full budget with a firm number from a trusted local company.