Often entrepreneurs wonder, how to make an app like Uber? How much does it cost to make an app like Uber? This happens, because people who live in cosmopolitan cities with busy traffic use car service apps like uber. So no wonder entrepreneurs also want to grab the opportunity to make apps like uber to make money. The idea of an uber clone app is very much a possibility with uber’s magnificent success.
So, consider this blog as a roadmap for your Uber clone App Development. We will show you how to develop an app like uber and also break down its features, cost estimation, and business models.
Uber Clone App Development- Introduction
Smartphones are changing the way people perceive products and services. Acute functionality in the Uber app is making them an inevitable part of the digital world.
The trend of mobile app development is becoming a medium for brand awareness rather than a business of its own. Small or large, each enterprise is looking to make its business more relevant and expandable. But, Uber remains the best taxi app and no other app seems to be catching up soon.
Currently, the uber app is providing its services in 10,000+ cities across 72 countries to its 109 million active users. So, these statistics justify the fact that Uber is the best taxi app.
So, the idea of Uber Clone app development is certainly worth a shot.
Uber Clone App Development- Business model and How does Uber App work?
Uber Business model- What is Uber X?
Uber brought in the concept of the aggregator business model. This is a unique business model; it involves building partnerships and also allowing partners a chance to work with the brand.
In layman’s terms, Uber doesn’t own cars. It collaborates with cab drivers that don’t work under the Uber brand name. While partners offer the actual services, Uber makes sure that the quality of service remains intact i.e. cabs are clean, the right routes are followed, and ensure the safety of a consumer.
Uber is the pioneer of this business model, hence, also known as the Uber X business model.
How does the Uber app work?
Uber uses two faceted operating models. Here, one aspect of the model focuses on getting maximum cab partners on board in order to deliver a seamless experience to the end-user while the other prioritizes marketing.
So before you hop on to develop an app like Uber, make sure you consider the following steps:
How does the Uber app work?-Steps
Step #1: Request
Uber app user requests the car service via the app immediately or on time. Those requests are acknowledged by nearby drivers.
Step #2: Matching
The Uber driver can either accept or decline the ride. In case, the driver denies the request it’s sent to another driver.
Step #3: Riding
The customer follows the taxi’s approach and knows the approximate time for its arrival.
Step #4: Payment
The cashless mode of payment and pre-calculated price make the transaction easy for both parties
Step #5: Social validation
Social validation is a process of gathering reviews from customers, these reviews eventually reflect on the rating of the app. This component of Uber’s business logic assures a user that the service is reliable.
Uber Clone app development- Basic features
When you think, about how to make an app like Uber? It’s not restricted to only developing an app but also, integrating different features.
Here are some basic features that your Uber clone app must have:
Admin dashboard
Admin dashboard is a navigation panel that allows users to access the services. To understand better, have a peek at the features of the admin dashboard.
- Trip allotment
Here, the admin can manually assign a trip request sent by the rider to the driver.
In low-demanding areas, the admin is able to help out riders to reach their taxi drivers by assigning trips in the area having high request rates.
- Driver transaction
Admins can easily handle weekly reports, these weekly reports consist of data such as total revenue earned by the driver, the total payable amount after deduction.
This can be done for all the drivers. You can also consider it as a timely ledger that has all the financial accounting of the drivers. This helps drivers keep track of their finances and easily manage their vehicle service expenses.
- Driver commission
You can set up different commission rates as per the performance of a group of drivers. This feature is flexible; meaning, you can check their commission rates and change them as and when you wish.
- Interactive user dashboard
This feature assists the admin panel of the taxi app in keeping track of activity that is complete, pending, or canceled trips on the dashboard. Hence, everything is manageable through one screen.
Uber for drivers
Here are some basic features to include in your uber clone app for drivers.
1. Real-time request
The customer requests the car through the Uber app. Uber driver gets these requests in real-time. The drivers have a time frame to either accept or decline the request before passing it to another Uber driver.
In short, an Uber driver is able to pick up their preferred riders.
2. Route optimization
This feature works in two ways:
- Shows the fastest and most efficient route i.e. an optimized route to the Uber driver. The drivers are also able to reroute and navigate their entire journey.
- The drivers can also select the“my destination” option; this allows them to enter predefined routes at the time of heading back. While heading back, drivers will get requests from people that appear on that route.
3. Daily report
The driver’s report contains all the minute details regarding rides, performance, and rider’s experience. Hence, a driver can easily see a performance summary and also, keep the track of that performance via your uber clone app.
4. Extra earnings
If you are determined to have an uber clone app, you will have to think of a strategy of extra rides for the drivers. The drivers need to complete a predefined number of rides to earn some extra income and earn additional referral codes.
Uber for riders
Here are some basic features for your uber clone app from the rider’s perspective. Make sure you consider the rider app features while you make an app like uber.
- Advance booking
Let your riders book a cab in advance for the office, home, or any other location. This feature gives leverage to the ride-sharing app as users will never be late with the“ride scheduling” feature.
Develop easy user navigation where the app user has to manually add the time, date, and destination. This will help users to easily use this feature.
- Map view
Map view is known to be the most accurate and trustworthy feature from the user’s perspective. Every uber clone must have this feature because it allows app users to constantly track their rides and also check the route availabilities.
Further, users can also calculate the approximate pick-up and drop time by the distance shown on the GPS location map.
- Special request
Your taxi app must be able to provide the best riding experience to your user. For achieving that make sure your app is scalable enough to process requests like – a seat for a newborn baby, special arrangements for the elderly, and adjustments for people with disability.
- Payment gateway integration
Often users panic if they are short on cash, so make sure that your uber clone app is providing your users with multiple payment options like a debit card, credit card, G-pay, UPI, etc.
- Geolocation and Routing
Geolocation is a common feature to consider while you think of developing an app like Uber. In general, GPS technology is useful to detect someone’s location.
This feature requires a stable internet connection because the path is recorded in the phone’s memory, the user of the device can be offline afterward because only depending on GPS could lead to erroneous readings i.e. misjudgment in the path up to several meters.
In order to know the distance and run the routes, routing is necessary. Uber’s routing engine works hard to make sure that the customer is safely dropped off.
Every trip detail like destination, route, driver /passenger, and pickup location needs to be stored and easily accessible on the device. The main reason for this is when the user restarts the phone, all the information must be recreated and displayed again.
In short, a user must be able to pick up where he left off.
- Call and Text feature
A user must be able to initiate direct contact with the driver before starting the trip. By having this feature in your uber clone app, you are making sure that a user is having a direct communication via call or text with the driver in case they get lost.
So, setting up an internal discussion for such scenarios is a brilliant idea. But, to maintain user privacy, the calling feature should be carried out through a phone exchange.
- Payments
You need to come up with your own tactics for payment methods while creating your Uber clone app. Modern technologies enable direct financial transactions between all parties involved.
Uber facilitates its users with a fare calculator which ensures pretty accurate estimation right in the app itself. The fare rates depend on the service you choose (uberX, BLACK, SUV) and the city you are in.
To estimate the fare for a ride, UBER considers four parameters.
Payment parameters
- Base fare
- Cost per mile
- Cost per minute
- Safe rides free
So the question is, How to develop your Uber clone app with cashless payment?
Here, you need to ensure data security while integrating a payment system to your uber clone app. If your company stores and processes the data, it needs to meet the specific requirements known as PCI compliance. Once the company has PCI certification it’s a go time for integrating a cashless system into your uber clone app.
- Registration & profile
You require registration & profile in your uber clone app. there are two specific reasons to support it:
- Helpful in keeping track of users base
- The user base gets open to full-fledged services
If you want to develop an app like Uber, you need to provide easy registration to your customers via social media or email, because Uber provides registration through Facebook, Google, email, or phone number.
As for the profile feature, you need to include minimum functionalities such as photo, name, and car license number or be a completely feature-rich Uber clone app.
- Notification
As discussed earlier, communication is an important factor to emphasize while you make an app like uber. So, Notifications are nothing but a way to keep your customer aware of the important details (car arrival, order confirmation).
The following tools can come in handy while developing your clone app with flexible notifications:
- Apple Push Notification Service (APN) is when you make an app like uber for Apple devices.
- Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) when you are developing your uber clone app for android-powered devices.
Here are some additional features which can be useful in your uber clone app development.
Additional Features Of Uber Clone App:
✦ Outstation booking
The clone of the Uber app must include an outstation booking feature. This provides users, the freedom to book their ride from anywhere via your uber-like taxi app.
You may also improvise and include a certain feature like “pre-book ride” and give some in-app discount for same.
✦ Car Rental
The car-rental feature is in demand these days. Many people prefer driving a rental for their daily chores, especially in the USA. The inclusion of the car-rental feature in your uber app clone will help you target other driving niches too.
✦ Bidding
The riders must get a chance to bid or bargain. This feature in your taxi app will lure more customers and more customers’ leads to more downloads.
Consider this example:
The ride estimation is $40 dollars, but if your customer is requesting the driver to take him for $30, the driver should consider the bargain.
Although, the decision is up to the driver, having this feature will be beneficial as it will attract customers with low income.
✦ Gender preference
Gender preference provides the user with an option to change the driver, this is to avoid conflict or awkwardness that resides inside the mind of the rider or driver.
For instance, a female rider can book a female driver to feel safer. This way fake complaints can be dissolved, and unemployment can be eradicated.
These are some features you must think of including while you make an app like Uber.
Next,
Uber Clone app development- Cost to develop a taxi app like Uber
If your mind is full of questions like, how much did it cost to make the Uber app? Or how much does Uber-like app development cost? Don’t worry, we got you covered.
Here in this section, we will be discussing the time and cost taken to make an app like uber (MVP).
Registration & profile features for an MVP of driving apps like uber
The approximate cost of an MVP feature at the initial stage is $3050 for one platform and $6100 for both iOS and Android.
MVP of apps like Uber for drivers
So, to create an MVP of your Uber clone app for drivers will cost around $15,650 for one platform and $31,300 for two.
MVP of apps like Uber for riders
The cost for MVP in the rider’s app will be approximately $29,350 for one platform and $58,700 for two.
Finally, the cost to make an app should include expenses for the admin panel since it’s mandatory for every app.
Admin Panel
On the basis of the $50 rate, the admin panel development will cost let’s say $14,350.
Considering all the factors in this article the cost to build an app like uber may fall between $57000 and $114000 for one or two app user apps i.e. iOS and Android respectively. Additionally, keep in mind the admin panel development price.
Uber clone app development- Technology
Uber App uses a hybrid approach, the earlier release was in a specific platform i.e. iOS which is a native approach, but with the expansion of business Uber is targeting every other platform via the Hybrid approach.
Technology stack for uber clone app
Here is the list of a potential tech stack for uber-like app development:
- Kotlin for Android App Development
- Swift for iOS App Development
- JavaScript for back-end
- Amazon EC2
- Amazon S3
- Paypal
- Google maps
- Google places
- Google directions
- Socket.io
- APNS
- Firebase
- Facebook SDK
Some other service apps like Uber
Apart from taxi ride services, other app ideas fall under different categories if your want to make an app like Uber. Let’s check out those categories for an Uber-like app.
✦ Uber for beauty
Who doesn’t wish for a one-on-one yoga lesson, followed by a massage, nail clean-up, and other beauty services? Apps like Glamsquad, Soothe, Priv, the on-demand beauty apps are amongst trending needs for a salon at home service.
The US-based beauty industry is forecasted at $90 billion by 2020. This opens up a window of opportunity for someone like you who is willing to have a similar business like uber beauty.
✦ Uber for trucking
This category provides lots of scope for the logistics and transport industry to capture the market with a successful freight management app. Every other business model is aiming for effortless on-demand delivery service, which increases the business opportunities for the fleet businesses.
The global freight trucking market is expected to reach U.S $652.81 billion by 2025. In short, if you want to capture the market properly, go for an app like uber development. In fact, you can develop an Uber-like app for trucking services.
✦ Uber for doctors
Nowadays, people prefer an application for doctor appointments instead of calling or going to doctor’s clinics. The applications have made it easy to book and consult from home. The mHealth market size is expected to increase to $58.8 billion in 2020. You can also refer statista to analyze the growth of mHealth market in the year 2020.
Today apps are saving lot of time of both doctors and patient through On-demand application development. You can also move forward with this concept as it is a successful Uber for X model.
✦ Uber for laundry
“On-demand” laundry is a convenient word for users. Without breaking a sweat, people can book a dry cleaning service with just a few clicks. Popular apps like Cleanly, Rinse, laundrapp have made their mark.
The retail and dry clean segment in the US is going to be $14.5 billion by 2025. Apart from taxi apps like Uber, these are the segments where you can expand this business efficiently.
Do you have your uber clone app idea?
The success of driving apps like uber surely motivates entrepreneurs and taxi app development startups to make similar apps. So, if you have an idea for an Uber clone app and are worried about the next steps, get in touch with us for making your next on-demand service app like Uber a reality.
Uber clone app development -FAQ’s
What are some must-have features in a rider app?
Fare calculator: Riders can easily check fares while traveling from destination A to destination B i.e. based on kilometers, the car type, estimated traffic, and surge pricing
Booking ride history: Easy to check previous booking riding history, routes are taken to reach the destination and history of transactions.
Ride cancellation: Riders must be able to cancel the rides, provide them with the time frame to cancel for avoiding cancellation charges.
How does your uber-like app make money?
If you want apps like uber to make money, the following are the must-have features:
- Base fare
- Drivers commission
- Trip fares from passengers
- Charges from trip cancellation
- Booking fee
- Premium rides
- Brand partnership/ advertisement
- Leasing to drivers
