You Can Now Use an App to Find Mister Softee Trucks

There’s no sound that sounds extra like summer time than listening to a Mister Softee ice cream truck’s jingle, understanding {that a} cool, candy deal with is simply steps away.  

For the better a part of the previous six a long time, the analog custom has been a staple of East Coast summers. The family-owned firm was based in 1956 in Philadelphia, however is now headquartered in Runnemede, New Jersey, and is understood for its nostalgic vibes. Nevertheless, even this iconic firm is adapting to the digital age—it now has an app that helps prospects observe down the situation of its 625 vehicles throughout 18 states.

Out there on each Apple’s App Store and Google Play, this system supplies a real-time map of truck places. When you open the app, there’s no must log in. Simply hit “Skip,” and it’ll present the reside places of all of the vehicles out and about for the time being. Click on onto the little truck emblem and you could find how lengthy that specific truck has been working, in addition to a listing of its menu gadgets. 

After we pulled up the app on a Tuesday afternoon, we noticed 40 vehicles in New York Metropolis’s Manhattan, a dozen within the Philadelphia space, 10 within the California Bay Space, 4 in South Carolina’s Myrtle Beach space, two every within the Orlando and Austin areas, in addition to single vehicles in Milwaukee and Memphis. Some had been even in additional surprising areas, like three in Oxnard, California, and one every in Marietta, Georgia; Buda, Texas; and Mooresville, North Carolina. 

In fact, utilizing the app does take away the throwback custom of ready to listen to the jingle, an earworm that was written round 1960 by Philadelphia’s Les Wass, who handed away in 2016. Whereas he was advised the tune would solely be used on two or three vehicles in South Jersey, it now rings from tons of of automobiles, coast to coast.

The app initially debuted in 2020, nevertheless it’s gained far more reputation just lately, after it relaunched this month. Nevertheless, for the reason that vehicles are owned by 350 franchises, every proprietor has to decide into the app if they need their vehicles’ places displayed. Meaning there’s nonetheless an opportunity of taking place upon a Mister Softee Truck that doesn’t seem on the app’s map. (By the way, whereas we had been penning this story, we heard the truck in Hoboken, New Jersey, however did not see it seem on the app’s map.)

One Apple Store user named “Yasgurl” commented, “We couldn’t hear the ice cream truck anymore, so we determined we might chase it down … once we turned on the road, we discovered the truck. My dad even mentioned, ‘Yeah, I’ll must get that app too!’ It was like magic, will certainly be utilizing it once more.”