Ride-hailing app features: what passengers and drivers expect

Every ride-hailing app has the same three parts: something for the passenger, something for the driver, and something for the office. This guide lists the ride hailing app features each part needs, marks the ones UK law and the app stores require, and shows which matter for pre-booked work and which only matter for on-demand rides in a city.

What features does a ride-hailing app need?

A ride-hailing app needs a passenger app, a driver app and an office system, and each one has a short list of features nobody will do without. Here's the core of each.

Everything else is a nice-to-have until the core works. A pre-booked firm can launch without surge pricing or a loyalty scheme. It can't launch without a proper booking record.

Which features does UK law require?

The law asks for a few features directly, and London's rules spell them out in detail. The Private Hire Vehicles (London) (Operators' Licences) Regulations 2000, which TfL enforces, set these conditions on every London operator:

• Before each journey, agree the fare with the person booking or give an accurate estimate (regulation 9(3)).
• Before each journey, give the passenger the particulars of the driver and the vehicle, in the form TfL specifies (regulation 9(10)).
• During business hours and during every journey, make sure the passenger can speak to a person at the operating centre or another notified address (regulation 9(11)).
• Run a procedure for complaints and lost property, and keep records of both (regulation 9(7)).
• Record each booking before the journey: date, passenger name, pickup time and place, destination, the agreed or estimated fare, the driver, any subcontracted operator, and the vehicle (regulation 11). Keep it for 12 months (regulation 16).

Outside London, section 56 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 says an operator must record the particulars of every booking before the journey, in the form the council sets. The Department for Transport's statutory standards ask councils to require the passenger's name, the time of the request, the pickup and destination, the driver and vehicle, and the staff member who took and dispatched the booking, and suggest keeping those records for at least 6 months. Check your own council's licence conditions, because they set the exact fields.

One more applies everywhere. Under section 170 of the Equality Act 2010, a private hire operator commits an offence by refusing a booking because a disabled passenger has an assistance dog, or by charging extra for the dog. So the booking flow needs an assistance dog option that never blocks the booking or adds a fee.

What do the app stores require?

Apple and Google add their own rules, and an app that breaks them doesn't get published. Four matter most for a ride app:

1. Account deletion. Apple's guideline 5.1.1(v) says an app that lets people create an account must let them delete it inside the app. Google Play asks for an in-app route and a web link where people can request deletion.
2. Paying for the ride. Apple's guideline 3.1.3(e) says physical services used outside the app must be paid by methods other than in-app purchase, such as Apple Pay or card entry. So fares go through a card provider, not Apple's in-app purchase.
3. Sign-in options. Under Apple's guideline 4.8, an app that uses a social login such as Google Sign-In for the main account must also offer an equivalent login option that meets Apple's privacy conditions.
4. Up-to-date builds. Since 28 April 2026 Apple has required uploads to be built with Xcode 26, and from 31 August 2026 Google Play requires new apps and updates to target Android 16 (API level 36).

What passenger app features do people expect?

Passengers judge the app the first time they use it, so the passenger app features that matter are the ones on the booking path: find the address, see the price, book, know which car is coming.

• Address search with saved places. Home, work, the station. Typing a full address on a phone at night is where bookings get abandoned.
• The price before they commit. A fixed price, or a range they can trust. Uber's own UK price page explains its fares as a base rate set by time and distance, a flat operating fee in some cities, and higher prices at busy times when riders outnumber drivers.
• Book now or for later. For a pre-booked firm, "later" is most of the work.
• A confirmation they can find again, by text, email or a notification, with the pickup time, the price and the booking reference.
• The car and the driver. Make, colour, registration, driver's name and photo. In London that's a licence condition (regulation 9(10)).
• A map of the car on its way, so they come outside at the right moment.
• Card payment and a receipt. Account customers want an invoice instead.
• A way to reach someone. A call or message to the driver through a masked number, and a phone number for the office.

Ratings, trip sharing and favourite drivers come next. They're worth having once the core path works on a bad signal at 2am.

What driver app features do drivers expect?

Drivers want the job details up front and as few taps as possible while driving. The driver app features that keep them happy are simple ones.

• Go available and unavailable with one tap.
• See the pickup, destination, time, price, passenger notes and any extras before taking the job.
• Open directions in the maps app they already use.
• Tap through arrived, passenger on board and job complete, so the passenger and the office see each stage.
• Call or message the passenger without either side seeing the other's number.
• See today's jobs, their earnings and their job history.
• Get a reminder before their licence, insurance or MOT runs out.

The sign-in button carries more weight than it looks. In Uber BV v Aslam (19 February 2021), the Supreme Court upheld the tribunal's finding that Uber drivers were working whenever they had the app switched on, were in the territory they were authorised to work in, and were able and willing to take trips. Uber then said all its UK drivers would be treated as workers, earning at least the National Living Wage for time spent actively working, with holiday pay and a pension. So the app's logs of when a driver was signed in and available can become evidence about pay. Our guide to self-employed or employed taxi drivers covers what that means for a local firm.

What does the office need behind the apps?

The office side is where the firm runs, and the apps are only as good as what sits behind them. For a UK operator it needs:

• Prices you control: fixed prices by zone or by route, waiting time, extras, and account rates.
• Driver and vehicle records. TfL's regulation 13 asks London operators to keep each driver's name, address, date of birth, National Insurance number, a copy of the driving licence and PHV licence, and a photograph.
• Every booking in one list, from the app, the phone, the website and messages, with the fields your council asks for.
• Giving and changing jobs by hand, for the airport run that needs a particular driver or the account that books the same car every week.
• Complaints and lost property logs, with dates and outcomes.
• Exports, because your council can ask to see your records and you need to own them.

Bookings that come by phone matter as much as app bookings. Dispatch AI is booking and dispatch software for taxi and private hire firms. It answers your phone, WhatsApp, texts and emails, books the jobs at your prices and sends them to your drivers on your own app. The passenger gets a text and an email to confirm, a secure link to pay by card, and a live link to track the car.

Which features matter for a pre-booked taxi app and which for on-demand?

In the UK every private hire journey is a booking taken by a licensed operator, whether it's made a week ahead or a minute ahead. Section 46 of the 1976 Act says nobody may operate a private hire vehicle without an operator's licence, and in London section 2 of the Private Hire Vehicles (London) Act 1998 makes it an offence to invite or accept private hire bookings without one. What changes between a pre-booked taxi app and an on-demand one is which features carry the load.

For more on choosing between the two models, read our guide to on-demand or pre-booked ride services. To see what all of this costs to build and run, there's our guide to the cost to build an app like Uber.

The market is growing on the private hire side. The Department for Transport counted 290,000 licensed private hire vehicles in England on 1 April 2026, up 13% on 2024, against 52,300 licensed taxis, and 34,500 wheelchair-accessible taxis and private hire vehicles. If some of your cars are wheelchair accessible, let passengers ask for one when they book.