I totally missed this app the first time around, but PaperKarma is an iPhone/iPad app and Android app that helps you stop junk mail. Catalogs, magazines, coupon books, flier, credit card offers, yellow books, etc.
You just snap a photo of any piece of unwanted mail, and that’s it. (Try to capture the address label and any tracking codes.) They scan the photo, grab the pertinent details, and contact the mailer directly to remove you from their distribution list. They’ll even contact you when you are successfully unsubscribed. For free. That sounds almost too good to be true.
Previously, I’ve had success with the websites CatalogChoice.org to stop unwanted catalogs and YellowPagesOptout.com to finally end delivery of those huge phone books (both free as well).
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Jonathan, have you actually utilized the PaperKarma service yet? Results?
@Thomas – No, I just found it and haven’t had the time to see if it really works. Reviews generally seem positive though, it has been around since 2012.
Thomas — no doubt like others here, I’ve been engaged in perpetual battle with junk mail, and have done just about everything possible to get it down to near zero. I have used the PaperKarma app a number of times over the past several months, usually for “tough cases” where I’ve already tried to unsubscribe from something and it doesn’t seem to be working. In at least a few cases, it seems to have done the trick.
I think it’s easily worth downloading and giving it a shot — not much to lose.
@Pete – Thanks for the info!
Thanks for your input, definitely appreciated.
I actually don’t mind getting the junk mails these days.
I already transferred most of the bills/statements to my e-mail, so the mailbox isn’t that full most of the time. To me, junk mails is one of the least expensive ways to help USPS survive. I just take those junk mails and throw them into the recycling bin right away…
Great article! Have you checked out https://www.dmachoice.org/index.php? I found them on ZeroWasteHome.com and have had success in the past with them. I didn’t have to pay anything and I just need to update it when my address changes but it got rid all of my junk mail.
I’ve used Paper Karma almost 10 times over the past 8 months. It does seem to work, they have been able to unsubscribe me from mail order and store catalogs (along with other things).
I found Mailstop for the same purpose, before I came across Paperkarma. Works well.
Woah, sounds way more effective than trying to unsubscribe individually… especially since they ignore you half the time. I’d love to read a review of someone who has actually had some success with it.
I’ve used it for a year with great success. Now they want to charge $19.99 per year. Goodbye
Paperkarma is still free. I just started using it. Where did u get $19.99 a year from?
On the iPhone, there is an option for in-app purchase of “unlimited unsubscribes for a year” that costs $19.99. However, I’ve never been charged either so perhaps it is only for people who are doing a ton of unsubscribe requests?
Recently started charging, end of 2025. I was there, so to speak. I used someone else’s for free and tried to signup the next day and there was a charge. The other person was so shocked we spent an hour researching and found it happened late2015. I paid for it and have been working hard with not much success. I’ve been told it can take six weeks, plus it was during the holidays when I sometimes received the same catalog maybe three times a week so I might be impatient. But that is why I’m surfing the web on the subject today. I’m about to try some of the others mentioned here as a back up