# Driver app for a taxi firm: what your drivers need from it

> A taxi driver app for operators sends each job to the driver with the time, pickup, destination, passenger, notes and fare, and sends back what your booking records need. Section 56 of the 1976 Act makes operators record every booking before the journey, and holding a phone while driving carries 6 penalty points and a £200 fine.

By Joe, founder of Dispatch AI. Updated 2026-10-15. The web page: https://dispatchai.co.uk/guides/driver-app-for-taxi-firms/

The driver app is the one piece of software your drivers touch on every shift. If it's clear, jobs get done and your records fill themselves in. If it's fiddly, drivers ring the office instead, or worse, they look at the phone while they're moving. This guide covers what drivers need to see, what the office needs back, the law on phones and tracking, and how to roll an app out without losing a weekend.


## What should a taxi driver app show on each job?

A taxi driver app should show everything the driver needs to do the job without ringing the office. That means the time, where to go, who to pick up, what to expect when they get there and how the passenger is paying.

| On the job | Why the driver needs it |
|---|---|
| Pickup time | Pre-books matter more than anything else on the screen |
| Pickup address, with a note | "Side door", "Terminal 2", "flat 4, buzzer broken" saves a phone call |
| Destination and any stops | So the driver can plan the route and judge the fare |
| Passenger name and number of passengers | So the right person gets in and nobody's left on the kerb |
| Luggage and vehicle type | An estate or a seven-seater, booked in advance, not found out at the door |
| Wheelchair or assistance dog | So the right car goes and the driver is ready |
| How the passenger pays | Cash, card, or an account to invoice later |
| The fare | Your fixed price for the job, if you quote one |
| Booking reference | So the office and the driver are talking about the same job |

The assistance dog line isn't a nice extra. Under section 170 of the Equality Act 2010, a private hire operator commits an offence by refusing a booking because a disabled passenger will have an assistance dog, and an operator or driver commits an offence by charging extra for carrying the dog. A note on the job means the driver turns up knowing.

Keep the passenger's details to what the job needs. UK data protection law says personal data must be "adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary", which the ICO calls data minimisation. A driver needs a name and a way to reach the passenger on the day. They don't need the passenger's booking history.


## What do drivers want from a driver app?

Drivers want clear jobs, early notice and as little tapping as possible. Ask any driver what they hate about the app they use now and you'll hear the same few things: jobs that arrive with half the address, notes they can't read in the dark, and buttons too small to hit in a cradle.

The law sets the hard limit. It's illegal in the UK to hold and use a phone, sat nav or any device that can send or receive data while driving, even when stopped at lights or queuing in traffic. The penalty is 6 penalty points and a £200 fine, and a driver who passed their test in the last 2 years loses their licence. Drivers can use a phone hands-free in a dashboard holder, as long as it doesn't block their view of the road and they don't hold it.

So a good driver app is built for a phone in a cradle:

- Big, plain buttons for the steps of a job, and nothing that needs typing while moving.
- A clear alert for a new job, loud enough to hear over the radio.
- Notes in large type, readable at night.
- A one-tap way to ring the office or the passenger once the car is parked.

If your drivers also use a ride-hailing platform's app, they'll compare yours with it. Simple wins.


## What does the office need back from the driver app?

The office needs a record of every job: who did it, in which car, and what happened. Section 56 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 says an operator outside London must record the particulars of every booking before the journey starts, in the form the council sets.

The Department for Transport's Statutory Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Standards go further. They expect councils to require operators to record:

1. The passenger's name.
2. The time of the request.
3. The pickup point and the destination.
4. The driver and the vehicle.
5. The name of the person who took the booking and the person who dispatched it.

The standards suggest keeping those records for at least six months. A driver app helps because the driver and vehicle are attached to the job at the moment it's done, instead of being written up from memory at the end of the night. Check that whatever app you use writes those fields into the booking, and that you can export them if the council asks. Our guide to [private hire operator record keeping](https://dispatchai.co.uk/guides/private-hire-operator-record-keeping/) goes through the full list.

The other thing the office needs is a status on each job: on the way, arrived, passenger on board, finished. That's what lets a controller answer "where's my car?" without ringing the driver.


## Should the driver app track drivers' location?

Location helps the office and the passenger, but you have to be open about it and switch it off when drivers aren't working. The ICO's guidance on monitoring workers covers anyone who does work for an organisation, whatever their contract says, so it applies to self-employed drivers too.

Three points from that guidance matter for a taxi firm:

- You must tell workers and passengers about any vehicle monitoring.
- If a vehicle is used privately, you'll rarely be able to justify tracking it during private use. The ICO's own example is a tracking system the driver can disable when they're not working.
- When workers use their own phones for work, you shouldn't capture their private use of the phone.

The stores have their own rules. Apple's guideline 5.1.5 says apps must ask for consent before collecting location and explain why they need it. Google Play allows location in the background only when it gives "a significant benefit to users and is relevant to the core functionality of the app", and it asks for a declaration in Play Console plus a short video showing the feature. A driver app that shares location only while the driver is on shift is easier to justify to all three.


## Branded driver app or an aggregator app?

A branded driver app carries your firm's name and only your jobs. An aggregator or marketplace app is someone else's platform, and your drivers are one fleet among many inside it.

| | Your branded driver app | A marketplace or aggregator app |
|---|---|---|
| Name on the phone | Yours | The platform's |
| Whose jobs | Your bookings only | Whatever the platform sends |
| Who sets the prices | You | The platform's rules |
| Who holds the job records | You, in your system | The platform, under its own terms |
| Store listing | In your developer accounts, if set up that way | The platform's |

A branded app keeps your drivers thinking of themselves as your drivers. It also keeps your records in one place, which matters when the council asks for them. Our guide to [white-label taxi apps](https://dispatchai.co.uk/guides/white-label-taxi-app-uk/) explains how the developer accounts and store listings work.

You can also keep a driver app out of public search. Apple's unlisted app distribution makes an app downloadable only from a direct link, and lists part-time staff, partners and franchisees among the audiences it suits. The app still goes through App Review.


## How do you roll out a new driver app?

Roll it out in stages, with paper or the old system running alongside for the first week. These steps work for a fleet of five or fifty:

1. Check which phones your drivers use, iPhone or Android, and how old they are.
2. Send drivers the store link, or the direct link if the app is unlisted.
3. Run a test job with each driver in the yard before their first live shift.
4. Start with pre-books, so nobody is learning the app with a passenger waiting.
5. Keep a phone fallback: if the app or the signal fails, the driver rings the office and the controller writes the job up.
6. After two weeks, ask drivers what annoys them, and fix the top two things.

Updates matter after launch. Google requires new apps and updates to target Android 16 from 31 August 2026, so an app that isn't kept current can't ship updates through Google Play. Ask your supplier how often they release. The [guide to publishing a taxi app](https://dispatchai.co.uk/guides/publishing-a-taxi-app-on-app-store-and-google-play/) covers the store side.


## Where does Dispatch AI fit?

Dispatch AI is booking and dispatch software for taxi and private hire firms. Jobs go straight to your drivers on your own branded app, and Apple and Google usually approve the app within one to two weeks.

## Frequently asked questions

### Can drivers use their own phones for the driver app?

Yes. The ICO says that when workers use personal devices for work you shouldn't capture their private use of the phone, so set location sharing to work hours only. Ask drivers to use a dashboard holder, because holding the phone while driving is illegal.

### Is a driver allowed to look at a new job while driving?

Only hands-free, in a holder that doesn't block the view of the road. Holding and using the phone while driving, including at lights or in a queue, carries 6 penalty points and a £200 fine. Build your process so that drivers deal with anything that needs a tap once they've pulled over.

### What happens if the driver app stops working mid-shift?

Have a fallback before you need one. The driver rings the office, the controller gives out the job by phone, and the booking is still recorded with the driver and vehicle. Test the fallback once, on a quiet night.

### Do I need the driver's consent to track the car?

You need to tell drivers and passengers about any tracking and have a good reason for it. The ICO's guidance says tracking during private use is rarely justified, and gives the example of a system the driver can switch off outside work. Write your rules down and give drivers a copy.

### Should the driver app show the passenger's phone number?

Show what the driver needs to make contact on the day and no more. Data minimisation under UK GDPR means holding personal data that is limited to what's necessary for the job. Once the job is done, the driver doesn't need the number.


## Sources

- [Using a phone, sat nav or other device when driving (GOV.UK)](https://www.gov.uk/using-mobile-phones-when-driving-the-law) 6 points and £200 fine, hands-free rules
- [Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976, section 56](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1976/57/section/56) operators' booking records
- [Statutory Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Standards (Department for Transport)](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/statutory-taxi-and-private-hire-vehicle-standards/statutory-taxi-and-private-hire-vehicle-standards) section 8, operators' records, at least six months suggested
- [Equality Act 2010, section 170](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/section/170) assistance dogs in private hire vehicles
- [Employment practices and data protection: monitoring workers (ICO)](https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-resources/employment/monitoring-workers/specific-data-protection-considerations-for-different-ways-or-methods-of-monitoring-workers/) vehicle and device monitoring
- [Data minimisation (ICO)](https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-resources/data-protection-principles/a-guide-to-the-data-protection-principles/data-minimisation/) UK GDPR Article 5(1)(c)
- [App Review Guidelines (Apple)](https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/) guideline 5.1.5, location services
- [Understanding location in the background permissions (Google Play)](https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/9799150) declaration and video
- [Unlisted app distribution (Apple)](https://developer.apple.com/support/unlisted-app-distribution/)
- [Target API level requirements for Google Play apps (Google)](https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/11926878) Android 16 from 31 August 2026

Dispatch AI is a trading name of CABO TECH SOLUTION AI LTD, registered in England and Wales, company no. 16255667.