Must-Have Uber App Features: Building a Ridesharing App
When you think about ridesharing app development, Uber comes to mind first.
Monthly active platform consumers ("MAPCs") exceeded 130 millions: MAPCs have increased 11% YoY, and by 6% in QoQ to 13 millions, driven by the constant growth in the number of consumers using our Mobility products. Mobility MAPCs hit an all-time high of more than 100 million.
There’s no surprise why this app is exemplary in the industry.
If you want to create an app like Uber, this article will help you get a grasp of its features. You’ll learn which features to add and how to implement them:
- How Uber App Works
- Uber app features for riders
- Features of the Uber app for drivers
- Safety Uber app features
Let’s get down to business.
How Uber App Works
The main goal of Uber is to connect drivers and riders on demand. The process of Uber app work can be described in 7 steps:
Step 1: A rider creates an account
Email address and phone number are all users need to create an account with Uber. The app is available as a web app in a browser or as an iOS or Android app.
Step 2: A rider orders a ride
A rider opens an app and enters the destination location, reviews each ride option for vehicle size, price, and estimated drop-off time, chooses the desired option and confirms the pickup.
Step 3: A rider is matched with a driver
A nearby driver sees the order and chooses to accept or decline the rider. The rider automatically receives a notification when the car is about a minute away from the pick-up location.
Step 4: The driver picks up the rider
The rider verifies that the ride is right by checking the license place, car make and model, and driver’s photo provided in the app.
Step 5: The driver takes the rider to the destination
The driver takes the rider to the destination, optionally using turn-by-turn directions.
Step 6: The rider pays for the ride
When the rider arrives at the drop-off location, the payment is made. Depending on location, you can make payments in cash, with a credit card, or through Uber Cash.
Step 7: The rider and driver rate each other and leave a review
At the end of the trip, riders and drivers have an option to rate each other with 1 to 5 stars. The rider can also give the driver a compliment and a tip right inside the app.
Uber App Features for Riders
The Uber application consists of a few parts. The app for end-users is one of them. Let’s take a look at some of the most important features that make Uber a leader in the global market of ridesharing services.
1. Book a ride for now or later
This is the basic feature that all apps like Uber need to have. It enables users to book a ride for now for a future trip.
The ‘book a ride’ functionality consists of multiple features that combined deliver the required capabilities. Before the ride is booked, users need to provide the following input:
- the pick-up location
- the drop-off location
- the type of vehicle that users prefer
- the time and date (for the book for later feature)
2. Real-time tracking of drivers
Uber addressed one of the main problems of traditional taxis – the inability for users to fully understand when the driver will arrive at the pick-up location. The app allows users to track drivers in real-time with the help of GPS integration. Uber is a GPS-heavy application with many features depending on this technology.
The feature is a life-saver for both users and drivers in situations when drivers can’t find the needed locations. Users can guide them with text messages or on a call based on their location on the in-app map.
3. Real-time ride tracking sharing
Uber takes safety very seriously. As a part of efforts to provide users with safe rides, the company implemented a useful feature. It allows users to grant their friends or family the right to track their drivers in real-time. The main goal of the feature is to make users feel safer, especially when they are using Uber in an unfamiliar city or location.
After users reach the destination, they can notify friends that they’ve arrived safely.
This is a nice-to-have feature that you should consider for taxi app development.
4. Split the fare
When riding Uber with other riders, users can split the cost with other riders. Uber charges all credit cards equally plus a small transaction fee. The Split Fare improves customer experience as riders don’t have to pay with cash.
5. Multiple drop-off locations
Another useful option when traveling with friends is the ability to choose multiple drop-off locations. When booking a ride, users can add multiple locations where the driver will need to make along the route. They can also change the route on the go and add or change drop-off locations. Along with such changes, the fare for the trip is also automatically changed.
6. Multiple payment options
The more payment options you provide, the better the user experience. Uber offers both online and offline payment options. Users can pay for a ride with cash, with their credit card, or even using a mobile wallet. This is one of the key Uber app features for a clone of Uber.
7. Preferred driver
Many riders use such apps as Uber on a regular basis to get to their offices and back home in the evening. After making a few rides, users usually start having preferences when it comes to drivers. This is one of the important features of the Uber app that you should include in ridesharing app development.
During the ride-booking process, the app can ask passengers about their preferences. If the driver is free, the app will automatically assign the ride to them.
8. Driver review and rating
Reviews and rating functionality should be in the Uber app features list. Users, who’ve had a ride with a driver, should be able to rate their experience and rate the driver.
his information will help other users to decide whether to book a rider with a driver or to choose another one. For admins of the app, such reviews indicate drivers who deliver the best experience and those who should improve the provided services.
9. Trip history
Features of the Uber app also include trip history. The access to such information allows riders to see how much they were charged for a ride, how many riders they’ve done over some period of time, what experience they had, and which destination they’ve traveled to.
10. Saved destinations
Humans are creatures of habits. They often visit the same destination. When booking a ride, users need to type in the name of the destination in the app. To streamline the process, Uber app features allow them to save destinations for faster rider booking in the future. Users should also be able to add custom names for such places, for example, home, office, or gym.
11. In-app chat or call option
Messaging should be included in the Uber app feature list. In some situations, users might need to get in touch with drivers to help them find the pick-up location or to learn about their whereabouts. The in-app chat or call option will make it possible.
Consider also adding a chat with the customer support team and setting up a chatbot to help users with the most frequently asked questions.
12. Sync meetings with Calendar Shortcuts
Users of Uber can sync their calendars with the app. This option allows all meetings with an address to appear in the Uber app as shortcuts. The key benefit of such a feature is a streamlined process of ride booking.
13. SOS panic button
This feature of Uber is a must-have if you want to make your riders feel safe. Users can use this functionality to notify friends and family about emergencies that occurred during a ride or get in touch with customer support in case of dangerous situations.
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Features of Uber App for Drivers
When building an app like Uber, you’ll also need to create a dedicated app for drivers with all the necessary features to perform their work. Your task is not only to serve and retain customers but also to meet all the needs of drivers.
In this part, we’ll review some driver-facing features of Uber.
1. Profile management
Let’s start with some basic features of the Uber app. Drivers should be able to create a profile and manage the data in it, like add and change details about their vehicles, change passwords or update personal information, and upload their documents such as driver's license.
2. Earnings
The Earnings panel provides drivers with information on how much they’ve made with an app like Uber. The app needs to provide the ability to filter data to show daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly earnings.
3. Auto offline when idle
When drivers are idle, their status automatically changes from active to offline until they get back online again.
4. Navigation
Drivers get all information they need to get to the passenger’s location right inside a ridesharing app. Integration with Google Maps allows to get real-time route directions and find the locations easily.
5. Cancel the trip
Drivers need to have the ability to cancel a trip for any valid reason. You can add different options to your app, like trip cancellation because of the wrong address on the app, too long distance, and so on.
6. Preferred destination pick-ups
This is a nice to have among Uber app features. It allows users to get riders or collect items on their route, for example, while heading home. After they manually type in their locations, they are connected with riders who are searching for riders in the same location or destination.
It’s important for app admins to add some limits to avoid misuse of the feature by drivers.
7. Taxi-hailing
In some cases, drivers can pick up riders who’re haling a taxi on curbsides. The taxi-hailing feature will allow them to make some extra money and for you not to lose any revenue.
8. Limited working hours
When you build an application like Uber, you need to take care not only about making money but also about the safety of both drivers and passengers. Limited working hours is one of the features of Uber designed to support a healthy working environment for drivers.
For example, you can set up a limit of 10 working hours for drivers. After a driver passes the point of 10 hours of working, they will be automatically signed out from the app for 8 hours. Once the cycle is complete, drivers will be able to sign back into the app or the app will sign them in automatically.
9. Daily summary report
Seeing reports at the end of the day help drivers to get insights into their working day and come up with ways to improve their income through the app in the future. Such reports can include various information, such as duration of working hours, earnings, distance covered, total trips, tips, and so on.
10. Rider review and rating
After completing a ride, drivers can also rate their experience with the rider and leave a review. Other drivers will be able to see this information and decide whether to accept ride requests from users with bad reviews or low ratings. Everyone should feel comfortable while using your app and drivers are no exception.
If you see that a rider’s behavior is unpolite or even dangerous, you can block such users from using your application. The same goes for riders and their behavior.
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Admin Uber App Features
Admin panel is an integral part of apps providing taxi services. Admins of the app manage users and drivers, have insights into revenues, and control the whole operation of the app.
Take a look below at some of the features of the Uber app designed for the admin dashboard.
1. Scheduled requests
Admins can view all scheduled requests with every detail, such as pick-up location, destination, and chosen payment method.
2. Driver status
This feature allows admins to view the status of drivers, whether they are active, online, or idle. This will allow you to estimate how many drivers are working simultaneously at some point in time.
3. User reviews
Admins can check reviews and ratings provided by riders and drivers. As a part of the admin functionality, admins should be able to block users and drivers if they see form reviews that their behavior is inappropriate or even dangerous.
4. Drivers tracking
Admins can track all drivers and their details with the help of GPS services. They can track drivers based on country or track all active drivers worldwide. The information should include the driver’s current location on the Google Map with provider name, rating, car model, and current status.
5. Partners menu
If your taxi business has partners, admins should be able to add and delete partners, view all the partner details, such as contact information, name, and email.
6. Service type
Admins need to be able to add new vehicle types to provide a wider range of services to passengers. Such a menu needs to also provide admins with the ability to change the names of services and descriptions, and enable or disable them for some time or permanently.
7. Countries
The ability to add and configure countries is a must-have feature for admins. The list of features can include adding new countries, editing them, setting up the currency, bonuses for users and referrals, and so on.
8. Earnings
Admins can view earning reports, filter data by different parameters, view see total trips, the most profitable drivers, and their details.
Safety Uber App Features
The main concern about ridesharing services is the safety of both riders and drivers. Luckily, you can take the matter into your hands and do everything to mitigate any risks and bring dangerous situations to the minimum.
1. Trusted contacts
This feature allows users to add their close people to Trusted Contracts. Users can share trip details with these people and allow them to track rides in real life.
2. Driver profile
Driver profiles with ratings and reviews, driver details, such as a photo, and the number of trips completed, how long they’ve been driving help riders decide whether to get into the car or not.
3. Speed limit alerts
When a driver nears the speed limit, the app flashes visual reminders to help drivers stay at a safe speed.
4. 24/7 customer support
Customer support that is available around the clock provides an additional safety measure. Both passengers and drivers can ask questions, report incidents, and get any help they might need.
5. Real-time ID check
To make sure that the right person drives the car, Uber-like apps can regularly require drivers to take selfies and verify their identity.
6. Phone number anonymization
Calls and messages sharing that we mentioned at the start of the article don’t reveal personal phone numbers. The details of both riders and drivers are protected.
7. Emergency assistance
In case of emergencies, users can call local emergency services right from the app by pressing a single button.
8. GPS tracking
The app needs to track every rider from start to finish. If something happens, the app will have the whole record of information to restore the events of the ride.
9. 2-way rating
Two-way rating is an essential Uber app feature. All low-rated trips are logged in the system and users may lose access to the app if they many such negative ratings. This goes for both riders and drivers.
How Addevice Can Help with Uber App Development
So, you decided to create an app like Uber?
The decision is rightly justified by the continuing growth of the industry.
The global ridesharing market is expected to reach 61.24 billion by 2026 with an expected CAGR of 17.32 from 2021 to 2026.
The Addevice team can help you bring your app idea to life. We have experience building on-demand driving services and know all the ins and outs of Uber-like app development.
DriveHop is an on-demand service that helps users order drivers to get them and their cars home safely. The application addresses the problem of careless drunk driving that kills 10,000 people every year in the USA alone.
Our team delivered an MVP of the app in under six months and managed to solve the following challenges:
- Creation of a simple and user-friendly UX and UI design
- An interface so simple that even drunk and dizzy drivers could use it
- Fast access to the main functionality
- Payment system integration (Stripe)
- Automated payments upon ride fulfillment
- The screening process to make the app safe for everyone
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Explore the fundamental features necessary for a successful ridesharing app.
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✅ Real-time location tracking and mapping
✅ Secure payment gateways and fare estimation
✅ User feedback and driver ratings
FAQ
Uber app development cost starts at around $100,000-$150,000 for a single platform. The final cost will depend on a number of factors, such as the number of platforms supported, features, and their complexity. Building an app like Uber, you need to create not one but three parts of the system – an app for passengers, an app for drivers, and an admin panel.
To create an app like Uber, you’ll need around 6 months for app development. It’s possible to create a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) faster if you don’t need to create very complex functionality. However, the development process won’t stop with the release of the MVP to the market. After you get the app to the market and collect feedback, you’ll need to plan for ongoing development and support.
Uber takes the safety of all its users – both passengers and drivers – very seriously. The company has built a mechanism that allows it to identify potentially dangerous users and ban them from the app. The mechanism also checks drivers’ licenses to make sure that they have the required qualification for ridesharing services.
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