A lot of people are working as ridesharing drivers every day and many of them are either new to this line of work or at least not experienced enough to know how to make driving more efficient. This is where rideshare driver apps make a huge difference. As a ridesharing driver you are an independent contractor, and you need to personally take care of your taxes and insurance bills. Also, ridesharing companies like Uber and Lyft provide drivers with a limited types of apps that are not capable of offering everything you will need.
In this article we will show you the best of the best apps you will need to make the most money by saving more money and time and by driving more efficiently and hopefully increasing your tips.
Rideshare Apps For Drivers
As a ridesharing driver, you have several needs while driving:
- You need to keep an accurate record of your miles
- You will want to keep an itemized expense deductions list for year end taxes
- You will want to integrate your mileage and expenses into the easiest tax payment software
- You will want to get cashback on gas if possible and earn money for referring drivers and passengers to Uber & Lyft
- You want the best GPS navigation software to make you faster
- You want apps that show you where more people for picking up are located and when to go there
- You want an app that can give you roadside assistance in case you have a car problem
- You want a music app for you & your passengers entertainment (trust us you will get bored)
Some of these apps require a paid subscription while others offer free or limited versions. If you want to work smarter not harder, we recommend picking one or two of these from each category listed they will not only help you make money, but they are critical to more success.
Best Apps For Rideshare Drivers
1. Mileage Tracking & Tax Management Apps
You MUST have an accurate mileage tracking app and use it to keep a record of your driven miles while rideshare driving. When you calculate your year end taxes to the IRS, you may need proof of your traveled distance if the IRS should ever audit you. More importantly you just need to keep track of your miles so you get the tax deduction you are owed. You will also want to keep track of all expense bills which are deductible from your rideshare work & compare all expenses against IRS per mile deduction and see which is higher so you maximize your earnings.
Here are our only recommended mileage & tax apps:
Stride
Features:
- Only a free version
- Extremely accurate mileage tracking
- Lightweight passive mileage tracking & Less Battery
- Very good expense tracking – file your receipts and expense records
- Walks you through which expenses can be tracked, geared towards rideshare drivers
- Only one permission to install, no collecting data other than your locations
- All your business deductions in one place
- Add your bank account & or add your expenses manually
- Stride specializes in health, vision, dental and life insurance benefits for independent contractors
Hurdlr
Features:
- Most accurate in one mileage tracking test (see below)
- Tracks mileage automatically or manually
- Free version includes expense and semi-automatic mileage tracking
- Premium version automatic expense and income tracking with links to your financial accounts
- Generate graphs to show your net earnings and expenses over time
- Integrates with your Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, Square, and bank account
- In-app customer support from a real human
- Data can be exported from the app and sent by email
- Compare mileage tracker vs itemized expenses to save the most at year end
Gridwise
Free Features:
- Tracks mileage automatically or manually
- Major event tracking & alerts up to a week ahead
- Airport flight arrival & departing passenger volume
- One app that does almost everything a rideshare driver needs
- Use less cell battery with one app
- Helps you make more income with surge, traffic, event and airport data
- Real-time look at how far you’ve driven and how long you’ve driven for the current day, the previous day, and the entire week
- View your weekly and daily results on the Earnings tab. This will include your total earnings and total number of trips given
- Shift summary email with more detailed stats
- Member benefits like car washes and insurance
- Track your earnings across Uber & Lyft
- Export mileage reports to help you with taxes
- Real-time weather notifications
Paid Features:
- 24 hour airport arrival & departure information
- Make custom airport activity alerts
- Make & set unlimited event alerts
- No Ads
- Priority Support
- Much More
You Will Want To Read This For More Info ===> Rideshare Mileage Tracking Apps
2. Tax Payment Rideshare Driver Apps
As an independent contractor, you are going to need an app that you can use to pay your taxes with and also get all your deductions. Here are three choices we recommend:
Turbo Tax
Self Employed: $120 + State is extra (Probably the best around – pricey)
- Claims to Uncover industry-specific deductions they even have rideshare mentioned (wow)
- One on one help on demand
- They claim you get your maximum refund guaranteed
- They feature a 1099 upload from your smartphone picture
- They offer a year round tax estimator so there are no surprises since you know where you stand
- Standard mileage versus expenses automatically chooses the higher option
- Import directly from Uber & Lyft data
As amazing as Turbo Tax is for Rideshare drivers…. It is also amazingly overpriced and not necessary. Our pick is Tax Slayer!
Tax Act
Self Employed: $109.95 + State is extra (Very Robust Software – pricey)
- They offer a deduction maximizer that finds all your tax breaks
- They have a dedicated phone line, screen share capabilities and limited in-app chat support
- You can import any type of tax document & it automates the data (wow – not needed for rideshare)
- Software finds errors and omissions in your return that could increase your risk of an audit
- Real-Time Refund Status shows you how much you are getting back based on what you have entered
- Once your Federal tax is filled out it automates into state level to save you time
- Get email notification and/or text as soon as your state return has been processed
- Import taxes done in Turbo Tax or H&R Block
As amazing as Tax Act is …. It is also amazingly overpriced and not necessary. Our pick is Tax Slayer!
Tax Slayer
Self-Employed: $47 + State is extra (Our Preferred Choice – cheapest & does everything)
File your federal tax return for less is their moto.
- You can print and e-file with Tax Slayer
- Switching from another tax software is simple.
- They allow you talk to a tax professional with self-employed expertise for your most difficult questions
- They have a deduction finder that finds all your tax breaks (Includes 1099 filing and Schedule C)
- They include unlimited phone, email, and live chat support
- They have tax payment reminders all year if you want to make quarterly payments
3. Gas & Cash Back Rideshare Driver Apps
These apps will allow you to save or even earn some money. Apps like Get Upside and Gas Buddy are dedicated to gas savings and mapping gas stations in their GPS. They use crowd sourcing to keep track of gas pricing everywhere you can imagine.
Gas Buddy (Free & Paid)
This service saves you up to .25c a gallon via their free membership. You can use their app to find the best prices quickly while in transit and to see all the gas back offers they have. They have partnerships with many companies which give you gas credits. Earn gas back on each qualified purchase. Earn up to 10% of your purchase or a lump sum (think $10 to spend on gas). Redeem Gas at gas stations when you pay with your Pay with GasBuddy card. In addition to your GasBack, this free card saves you up to 25¢ per gallon.
They also have a premium membership for $9.99 mo. which saves up to .40C a gallon and also offers roadside assistance provided by Allstate. Includes tire changes, jumps, lockouts, and fuel delivery at your expense.
Get Upside (Free)
When you join GetUpside, you’ll save up to 25¢ per gallon every time you get gas.
It’s a free app, and thousands of stations are offering cash back. So, what are you waiting for? Follow the app instructions (either upload a receipt or just Check In) and earn cash back – real money – directly in the app. Get Upside partners with nearby businesses who want to win you over with offers you won’t find elsewhere. Earn cash back, and cash out whenever you want via PayPal, e-gift card or check.
- Get Upside gives you cash back, but Gas Buddy is instant savings
- Gas Buddy works everywhere mostly whereas Get Upside is not nearly as widely honored
- Both Apps have special offers and retailers they offer savings through, But Gas Buddy has a lot more
- Gas Buddy is easier to use, but Get Upside is not really complicated just a bit of a pain
- Gas Buddy has some other features that make it more useful as well
You could use both of these if you want, we only use Gas Buddy.
Freebird (Free & Best Way To Refer Anyone To Uber & Lyft)
Another Cash Back app with interesting services. You can actually link either one of your Uber or Lyft accounts to Freebird and then start taking trips using its promo codes. Earn $10 cash back by taking your first two rides on Uber or Lyft using The Freebird App.You can also get cash back just by going out to restaurants and bars you might normally go to anyway.
This is the best way to refer anyone to drive for Uber or Lyft or to ride with either one as well. They save money and you make referral money from Uber and Lyft.
Get rewarded for going out! Get $10 when you take 2 rides using Freebird! Download the app below and enter the promo code wad2e before you take your first ride!
4. Rideshare Driver Apps & GPS Apps
Obviously navigation apps and apps that help you find trips faster depending on where you are driving are two of the first types of apps every driver needs. Navigation apps are more than just simple maps with routes and places on them. These applications will actually provide you with tools to help with your navigation in the fastest way possible. Gridwise can help you locate events and people near where you are driving and if used properly can make you more money every time you rideshare drive.
Here are our only recommended apps to help with navigation and finding trips:
Gridwise (Free & Paid)
We highly recommend using Gridwise, Google Maps or Waze (if you are a must have Waze user), and Hurdlr or Stride. But compare the Google maps features below before using Waze.
Google Maps (Free)
You can hardly find a driver who hasn’t heard of this well-known app. Google Maps available for both android and iOS, provides drivers with useful options such as real-time traffic data, multiple route suggestions, and intelligent re-routing in case of getting off course. It still seems like the best app for its safety and features. First of all you can use it hands-free as you drive because it tells you when to turn and which lanes to get into before you get to them. It also has very accurate ETAs, re-routing, and gives you multiple route options with ETAs on all.
Waze (Free)
Waze definitely has its upside as it is a bit more responsive to load in congested areas than Google Maps. Waze is also crowdsourced real time info updates, which means sometimes it can be more reliable about accidents and so forth. But it can also be less reliable… overall we have found Google Maps to be very reliable regarding traffic. Waze also drains more battery than Google and does not have as many features which benefit ridesharing. Some people swear by it however.
Uber Nav (Free)
Uber Nav is Uber’s Google Maps api version of navigation. It provides drivers slightly faster loading of the map on routes. The app does have some functionality issues compared to normal Google Maps. Uber maps chooses the shortest distances versus Google maps, which chooses the fastest time. Google maps also has functions listed above unlike Uber Nav. All in all we recommend switching it off to Google Maps itself.
Lyft Nav (Free)
Lyft navigation is really just Google maps built into the Lyft app. It seems to be the best way to use the Lyft app. However some die hard Waze users prefer that over Google maps on Lyft. You can change the settings in your Lyft app to Waze very easily. Check out how on Lyft site if you are a die hard Waze user. Waze has been reported by some to be slower to use with Lyft, but try it out for yourself.
5. Airport Tracking Rideshare Driver Apps
Airports are definitely one of the most crowded spots where you can always find good ride requests for sure; and obviously, you are going to need an app that can notify you about flight schedules and airport traffic. You can use apps like Flightstats (or on IOS) for checking all incoming and departing flights. You can use FlightView (or on IOS) for info on delayed flights.
We highly recommend Gridwise above anything else for flight and airport information. See description above
6. Roadside Assistance Rideshare Driver Apps
We all know it is going to happen one day. So it’s wise to have some support in case of any emergencies with your vehicle on the road.
Gas Buddy (see above)
Uber Pro
Just for being an Uber Driver receive 20% off roadside assistance as an Uber Pro blue driver. You will receive free roadside assistance services up to 4 times yearly which includes: fuel delivery, jumps, lockouts, tire changes, and up to 25 miles towing. Earn 1 to 5 points per passenger trip in order to hit Gold level at 400 points to unlock the free service. We recommend Gas Buddy which covers all your road side assistance for times you are not at Gold level Uber Pro. Your Uber Pro points reset every 3 months and take at least a week or two to hit Gold level.
7. Music & Entertainment Rideshare Driver Apps
Of course, everybody needs something to enjoy both on break time and long boring roads. Some music apps sound like a plan.
Spotify (Paid & Free)
With both free and premium memberships, Spotify has the largest library of music on earth and is a very good app for raising your mood on trips. Offering many different options such as custom playlists and different music filters, premium members can also enjoy the offline service that allows them to download their favorite music tracks and create an offline playlist for times when they don’t have access to the internet. The premium membership is $9.99 per month.
Pandora (Paid & Free)
A cheaper alternative than Spotify starting at $4.99 per month. There is also a free version with ads.
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