Paresh Sagar 2 July 2018

Categories Mobile

Points To Keep In Mind While Creating An App Like Uber

So, you are a budding entrepreneur looking for some tips on how to make an app like Uber of your own. Don’t worry fellow adventurer, I am here to guide you through the do’s and don’ts of setting up an on-demand taxi app service. First, you need to know what actually entails in creating an app like Uber and how to make it a successful business venture.

So, let’s get into a more detailed study on how to make an app like Uber and what points to keep in mind while doing so. Remember that there are many taxi app businesses out there but it doesn’t matter who built it first, what matters is who built it better and there is always room for improvement.

Business Model

Planning is valuable, though the plan is usually useless.  - Ben Horowitz

You need to have a very efficient Business Model that takes to account every factor that affects your taxi app service company. Find out how Uber started and what was its initial business plan; Notice the problems that Uber faced so that you cannot just pick up their plan and stick it on your startup.

You can also see how Uber gave a tough competition to already existing taxi service apps and raised to the pinnacle of this on-demand service industry. Initially if you don’t have enough experience, try to smartly follow their marketing strategies, revenue models, and other business strategies.

You need to remember that following someone else’s plan, however brilliant it is; will never allow you to excel in your market. You need to have your own identity and your own Business plan to get at the top where Uber is sitting comfortably right now.

With experience, you will understand how to build a proper roadmap for building an app business like Uber. As you move ahead, you will find many differences between your startup and Uber in aspects like terms of investment, tangible and intangible assets, team size and composition, future financing, etc. and these differences should be positive.

Learn the Operation

Uber has a very sophisticated way of working; they have made a full-cycle operation that they follow for each ride. This gives a professional touch to their way of business and dealing with customers. With a pre-set protocol, such services can create a very positive impact on the riders. It’s not necessary for you to follow the same cycle as Uber for your taxi app service but you can certainly take some useful points to build your own. So, let us look at Uber’s full-cycle service protocol.

1. Rider intimates Uber about their need of a ride
2. Uber shows near-by drivers to the rider according to their geo-location
3. The rider selects any one car and driver from the prescribed list
4. The driver responds to the rider’s request and reaches the pick-up point
5. After the ride is over, the user rates the ride experience for company use

 Note that this is not where Uber’s work actually get’s over. This is just the most basic feature that Uber offers. All of this is possible when there are many unseen features working behind the creating an app like Uber, such as;

1. Push notification for the rider as well as driver side to inform them about the current ride status and giving direction and traffic updates.
2. Multiple payment gateways integration while building an app like Uber. A very important gateway is adding third-party payment apps like PayPal or having an in-app wallet for payment besides credit and debit card.
3. Geo-location feature for both; rider and driver to get current location, pick-up and drop off point and continuous navigation.

Remember that these features and some more are present in every successful taxi app at present. So, besides these features, you need to develop more according to your ideas and working capabilities to make your app like Uber stand different from Uber and other established brands.

Project Timeline

There are many sections of steps to develop an app like Uber, and each of the steps has a different timeline. We will classify them in the common ascending steps of uber like app development.

1. The first step is the designing of a base frame of the app, more commonly known as framework designing. Here we get a very brief skeletal structure of what the app should be like and where all the other sections will fit in.
2. Then this framework was sent to two workstations, namely; front-end and back-end. The front-end designs the features that will come in direct contact with the user. The client-side of the app. While the back-end works on the data analysis and management side or the server-side of the app.
3. Next comes the designing team that gives the color, design, and patterns to the app which will please the users and gives a very personalized look to the app according to the company’s logo color pattern and even their principles of business.
4. After the app is made it is sent to the QA tester for manual and automation testing where the tester makes sure that no bugs or errors are there in the app that can create a problem in either user experience or app functionality.

Cost of Creating An App Like Uber

The cost of building an app like Uber or even something different from the existing ones depends a lot on what features you are adding to it. There is a very cheap option of creating an app using an Uber clone script which can be done in a minimal amount of $5000. But, a clone can only get you to a limited height.

To make a difference you need to create your taxi app from scratch so that you can do whatever you wish to, with the app and develop it to your heart’s content. Such solutions start from $6000 and can go up to $50,000 as per the range of features and the quality of the app.

Conclusion

To build an app like Uber and create a unique identity for your on-demand taxi service startup is a very challenging task but no one won big on an easy game. All you need to succeed in this industry is a different approach, a loyal team of taxi app developers and a lot of will to keep going whatever the case may be.