Apps for Uber Drivers
Like a lot of bright ideas here in the digital age Uber can be either a boom or a bust. What you make of it often comes down to how well you’re prepared when you leave the house. Apps for Uber drivers are an essential way to optimize your earning potential. They can help you find more customers, waste less gas, find roadside assistance and keep track of expenses to boot. So don’t be just another one of those frustrated Uber drivers sitting around staring at their waterproof watches. Download the following apps to your smartphone and start making money instead of wasting it.
1. Waze
Waze leverages input from drivers in your community to determine the best way to get from Point A to Point B. Waze is free but you will have to download and install the app. Unlike Google Maps Waze features up to the minute (or close anyway) road and traffic conditions gleaned from others who are on the roads in question at the time you need help. If there’s an accident, traffic jam, police roadblock or construction a Waze driver will report it and you’ll be able to avoid it. Super helpful Uber driver app.
2. Google Maps
When it comes to the best driving apps there has never been anything like Google Maps. Especially the “Street View” feature that allows you to navigate your way down more than half of the world’s highways, byways, boulevards, roads and backstreets one click or tap at a time. You can stop anywhere, take a 360 camera view of the surroundings, check street signs, businesses, the terrain, the condition of the road (as long as it’s a fairly new photo set) and more. If you are lost on your way to a pickup simply tell the app where you want to go and it will formulate the best route from your current location and map it out for you.
3. Mystro
It’s a mistake to think that all Uber drivers are only Uber drivers. Many shift between Uber and Lyft on a pretty regular basis. Mystro is an Android-only app that helps drivers sort out the confusion that sometimes comes with trying to work with more than one rideshare company and to make sure that they always have a fare in the queue. With Mystro there are no overlapping fare obligations that can cause you to lose business. Mystro claims that drivers can make as much as 30 percent more money using their app. The kicker? An annual membership is about a hundred bucks.
4. FarePilot
FarePilot is a free app that uses a combination of real-time and historical data to uncover hot spots where fares are most likely to be. Instead of sitting around the parking lot of the donut shop with your swell coffee travel mug waiting for a fare to come in FarePilot scours the landscape for the places where those fares are likely to be congregating. Once FarePilot identifies a potential hot spot they notify you. It’s like having a dispatcher in your corner all day alerting you where the action is so you have a higher likelihood of snagging a fare. FarePilot also predicts where traffic snarls are likely to form and provides recommendations for navigating around them.
5. Stride Tax
One of the biggest challenges facing independent contractors today is keeping track of money spent on everything from gas to car waxes. Stride tax is an easy to use free app that is an invaluable ally in your quest to keep track of what’s coming in and going out so that, when tax time comes, you’re on top of things. Stride Tax allows you to track mileage, log expenses in a variety of convenient ways, find deductions you didn’t know existed and file an accurate, timely return.
6. Hurdlr
Hurdlr is another accounting app that provides timely assistance when it comes to keeping track of what’s going in and what’s going out. While the basic app is free it’s limited in scope. So, unlike Stride Tax, premium Hurdlr services are going to cost you a few bucks every month. You may, however, decide that those premium services are worth it because they include everything from invoicing to bank account monitoring and more. As far as apps for rideshare drivers go it’s one you shouldn’t overlook.
7. MileIQ
It’s crucial for Uber drivers to keep track of the number of miles they drive in the course of doing business and to log them effectively. This can be difficult and is often the first thing that a driver will lose track of when things get busy. The MileIQ Uber driver app will track up to 40 fares per month for free. But nobody who hopes to make a living is going to do so on just 40 fares a month. So, for all practical purposes you’ll need to pay. Though it’s not much. About 60 bucks for the yearly plan.
8. QuickBooks Self-Employed
Why the emphasis on so many accounting apps for Uber drivers? Because accurate accounting is one of the most important aspects of being a successful independent contractor. The QuickBooks Self-employed app is free to download but the service will cost you a ten spot each month. Still, considering that the difference between many successful and unsuccessful contractors is accounting, most drivers will find it 10 bucks well spent.
9. Gas Buddy
Like a lot of the best driving apps these days Gas Buddy has a robust social media component. In this case users upload information on gas prices at various locations in your city. That information is collated by the app and presented to you as a list of places where you can get the best deal. No more driving around wasting gas looking for the lowest price. The Gas Buddy community does the research for you and the app delivers the info right to the screen of your smartphone in the form of lists and maps.
10. Accuweather
When you venture out to spend the day transporting fares to and fro it’s important to have some idea what you’ll be facing from Mother Nature. A snow squall or fast developing thunderstorm can not only wreak havoc with traffic but also endanger you and the people you’re charged with conveying. The Accuweather app lets you monitor weather conditions in real time so you can avoid trouble spots and stay productive. The app and service are free and compatible with both Android and iOS mobile platforms.
11. Urgently
Urgently – technically, Urgent.ly – is a roadside assistance app that can help Uber drivers extricate themselves from tight spots in a hurry. The mechanics of this Uber driver app are very similar to Uber in that, once you’ve installed the app and signed up all you need to do to hail help is to open the app and tap a couple of times. Just to be clear, Urgent.ly won’t send a mechanic. But if you’ve run out of gas, need a tow or locked your keys in the car they’ll get you going again.
12. Honk
Honk is another roadside assistance app that boasts it will get help to you wherever you may be in 15-30 minutes. There’s nothing that’s going to take a bite out of your earnings like downtime and getting help when you’ve run out of gas or have a flat can be a pain. With Honk you have a choice of using their app or simply accessing the service through their website to get help 24 hours a day 7 days a week. It costs about 50 bucks a year, but for Uber drivers who don’t have AAA it can be one of the best car apps.
13. Flightstats
If you’re scheduled to pick someone up at the airport it’s crucial that you know whether their flight is on time or not. Otherwise, you could waste a lot of time hanging around the terminal when you could be out making money. Flightstats is a free app that lets you track data on all commercial flights in real time. Even if you don’t have a scheduled pick up you may want to head to the airport anyway on the chance you’ll snag a fare. Flightstats will help you determine if it’s worth the trip.
14. The Uber Passenger App
While having the Uber Driver App is essential every driver should also have the Uber Passenger App installed on their smartphone. Why? So you can see – just like prospective passengers – how many drivers are in your area and where they’re located. This way you know if it’s worth wading into a particular part of town or not. Ideally, you want to be where the customers are and the other drivers aren’t. The Uber Passenger App can help you find those spots.
Rideshare Timer is essentially a stopwatch app but it simplifies the process of instituting a timer once you arrive at the location. Uber drivers are typically advised to wait 5 minutes before they bail and if they don’t they may be penalized. With Rideshare Timer simply tap a couple of times once you arrive and it will A) automatically start the countdown and B) send a predetermined message to the client announcing your arrival. Two birds, one stone, simple. Only downside is that for now it’s Android only.
16. Active Hours
Like the best car gadgets, the best driving apps are those that enhance your experience and make your life simpler. Active Hours is one of those apps. It allows you to access your Uber pay the same day you earn it. Just download and install the free app then enter your bank account info and the amount you want to transfer. The money shows up in your account instantly and the amount you transferred is deducted from your Uber pay automatically. This can be a real lifesaver when cash is tight.
17. DailyPay
The idea behind DailyPay is essentially the same as Active Hours with a slight twist. Instead of occasionally dipping into the Uber earnings well to access some cash in a tight spot it automatically deposits your daily earnings into a Payfare Mastercard account. This is essentially a debit card and you use it as such. Just remember: what you’re doing here is inviting a middleman to dip his cup into your income stream, since each daily deposit to the card will cost you 50 cents.
18. Vugo
Vugo essentially brings targeted marketing into your car. For Vugo to work you’ll need a tablet affixed to the back of your driver’s seat facing your passengers. The app takes your destination information and uses that to display (hopefully) relevant advertising to the passenger on the tablet screen. There’s also an option presented to the passenger that allows them to tip you by following a few simple prompts.
19. Square
Since you are the master of your car domain you can offer your passengers whatever you like. Want to have a variety of snacks on hand for your passengers to enjoy while they relax in the back? Download Square and you’ll be able to accept payment for those snacks right through your smartphone. Or keep a stock of umbrellas on hand and offer them to passengers getting out in the rain. It’s a great way to make some extra cash and enhance the passenger experience as well.
20. Spotify
We end this list of best apps for Uber drivers with Spotify. Nothing helps a passenger relax like some quality tunes. But finding such a thing on the radio today can be a challenge. Spotify is maybe the best streaming music service out there with tens of thousands of popular titles. For a minimal monthly expenditure the Spotify app will allow you to bring customized playlists and/or popular song collections right into your vehicle to set a relaxing mood. If you’re concerned about data usage from all that streaming there’s an offline mode that will minimize data consumption.
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