How to Build an App Like Uber Share: AgileTech Date Published 22 May 2020 Categories Blog Reading Time 8-Minute Read Within a short period of time, Uber stunted the growth of the traditional taxi business and earned massive revenue. So, what makes an app like Uber stand out? As an entrepreneur as well as a customer, you have used popular apps like Uber, Grab, Lyft. Instead of hiring a driver, the ride-hailing platform can conveniently pickup taxi booking services without paying enormous amounts. Within a short period of time, a taxi booking app like Uber stunted the growth of the traditional taxi business and earned massive revenue. So, what makes an app like Uber stand out from the crowd? When you look at Uber, it is present in 65 countries and over 600 cities worldwide. In addition, BusinessofApps reported that 2018 Uber revenue came to $11.3 billion – a 43% increase compared to 2017, while gross bookings were up 45%, to $50 billion. Alongside this core ride-hailing business, Uber offers many new fields in recent years. Food delivery service Uber Eats is already gaining success in hundreds of cities across the world. Another ride-sharing app like Uber is Grab. Grab is becoming an everyday everything app, especially in Southeast Asia. With Grab, you can experience multiple services – not only on-demand ride services but also hotel booking, ticket purchasing, food ordering, grocery shopping as well as financial services. All the above-mentioned is part of its journey to becoming a “super app” platform. With just a single super app, you can easily message with friends, order food delivered, call a taxi, shop online any products or services, transfer money,… The list goes on and on. A bunch of services is put into one – super great, isn’t it? How Does Uber Work? In summary, if you want to build an app like Uber, you must be aware of how much does it cost to create an app like Uber, and underlying technologies including features, tech stack, useful tips and more. Our Uber statistics below could be a helpful reference. First, you should glance at the general app performances during the development: Request – Entering destination in “Where to?” box, choosing vehicle, price and confirming the pickup. Then the request is accepted by drivers nearby. Matched – When rider and driver match, automatic notifications will pop with an estimated time of arrival. Pick up – Verifying each other’s names and destinations. Therefore starting the ride. Payment – Choosing a payment method, whether cash or cashless. Rating and review – Users can rate the service from 1 to 5 stars. It’s an important component to better understand customers and to enhance customer services. How Many Apps Do You Really Need? Every app is built to make everyday life become easier. Want to keep users using your ride-share app? It’s natural to develop a fully customized Uber clone app with user-friendly features. In fact, if you wish to create a carpooling app like Uber, you should integrate features that help the user book a taxi in as few steps as possible. So these are a few tips recommended to help you make your own app like Uber. First, when you plan on your ridesharing apps, do not miss out on these basic features of Uber for customers! Basic Features of the Uber App for Passengers Registration/login GPS tracking Fare estimation In-app payment Push notifications Calling or texting driver UI/UX design Next, let’s take a look at how to make a taxi app like Uber with basic features for drivers! Basic Features of the Uber Driver App Driver destination Maps and location Calling to passenger Daily/ Monthly report Free cancelation How to Build an App Like Uber? What’s the cost of developing an app like Uber? Or how much does it cost to build a taxi booking app like Grab? Clearly, the cost of making an app like Uber depends on numerous factors. If you are looking for a short answer, then the cost to create an app like Uber can be $50,000 with near functionality. The actual question you should ask yourself is how long will it take to develop an application like Uber? Because the length of projects will affect a lot on cost estimation. Now, let’s take a deeper look at what passenger’s cost factor to develop a ride-sharing app! Read also: How To Create Hotel Booking System Software? Core Passenger Features of an App Like Uber Registration/ Login: If you plan to clone the taxi app like Uber, it should include various methods like mobile number, Gmail or Facebook. After sign up, it is necessary to verify the user’s identity. GPS Tracking: Through this feature, Uber users can track the movement of the driver. When planning to develop your own app like Uber, you should be able to manage driver’s information, including with photos, vehicle number, and their navigation process in real-time. Fare Estimation: Both the driver and the passenger should know the estimated fare in advance. When calculating the actual price, it may involve factors: the distance between pickup and drop-off locations, cost of fuel, discounts, car class, traffic and weather conditions. In-App Payment: There are multiple payment variants available on Uber from cash to credit card with promo code. So when the ride complete, payment is withdrawn automatically through a payment gateway like Visa, MasterCard and digital wallets like Apple Pay, etc. Push Notifications: After you start a ride, Uber will send you a couple of notifications. Push notifications are used to provide regular updates to the users as well as the current status of the trip. Calling/ Texting Driver: You can receive these messages as SMS for the sake of better communication. UI/UX Design: A good design will play a vital role in the success of your app. Its useful UI attracts more users with ease of interaction. Apart from these key features, there are several other advanced features such as rating and review, coupons, or codes available to boost customer acquisition. Features to Create Uber-Like App for Drivers On your road to building an app like Uber, this stage would be an important milestone. A right driver functionality app is essential to maintain a smooth flow of communication between passengers, drivers and the company. If you are wondering what functions to consider while building an on-demand taxi app like Uber, here are some things to help you with. Below you can find 5 key driver functionalities for an Uber-like app. Driver Profile: This feature helps reduce anxiety and gives a sense of security. Besides the name, photo, phone number, email, the driver app should also include the driver’s license and information about the vehicle and its photo. Calling To Passenger: Provide the ability to text or call passengers from the app to reduce wait time. Maps and Location: Geolocation, orientation, and mapping APIs are also used to build an app with navigation features. It helps identify draw paths between driver and customer, set pickup and drop-off locations, track movement and even calculate the cost or estimated time of arrival. Daily/ Monthly report: The driver can track their daily/weekly/monthly earnings including date, time, cost, passenger name, pickup and drop-off locations, rating, etc. Free Cancelation: Both the driver and passenger should be able to cancel a ride. In the case of a cancellation, a fee may free or be charged. In your quest to know how to create an app like Uber, you can explore the complete driver functionality that keeps the system updated and helps to manage the administrative side of the mobile app. Tech Stack and Team After all the features you need to know about making your own app like Uber, be ready to explore the next complete guide to update and manage tech stack and team members! Read also: Tips To Get Your Ideal Dedicated Team The Technology Stack Kotlin for Android app Swift for iOS app Node.js for back-end Amazon EC2 Amazon S3 PayPal / Stripe Twilio Elastic email Google Maps Google Directions Firebase Facebook SDK What About the Team? UI/UX designer Android / iOS engineer Business Analyst Project Manager Back-end developer QA engineer Final Thoughts So how much does an app like Uber cost? The cost depends on the functionality of the development from $50,000 to above at $50 per hour rate. Keep in mind that each of the features has its own risks and affects how many hours will be to create a ride-sharing app like Uber. The pricing may also vary depending on the platform you choose iOS/Android or both. In conclusion, there several factors that influence the software development budget: The development origin – Europe, Asia or the USA, UK The complexity of an app – features, screens, databases and third-party tools integrations Design requirements Tech support after launch