If you drive Uber for a living like so many of us do, it may have come to your attention that, in order for you to accept a new ride, you have to take your eyes off the road as soon as a new ride pops up on your phone, or this ride offer will vanish in front of your eyes in a few seconds, before you have the time to tap on it to accept.
Yet: not all ride offers presented to Uber drivers for acceptance are created equal. Some rides in the San Francisco Bay Area will vary from 50 cents a mile to 6 dollars a mile during a surge in downtown areas.
To help Uber drivers keep their eyes on the road, while a new ride offer is presented on their phone, I have built a Shortcut extension for iOS that plays a distinct sound if the ride is worth picking (Ta da! alert) and another one if not worth it (Fog alert).
Android users may not use this as it is a Shortcut extension and Shortcut is only part of iOS.
Below is a real life screen showing how it works (Turn the sound on if you want to hear the alert).
The minimum income per mile to accept the ride has been set in the Shortcut settings to $1.1 a mile:
If that amount per mile offered by Uber for the presented ride on the screen is over $1.1 a mile, the shortcut will play the Ta Da! alert. This sound will indicate that it is worth it for the driver to tap the screen without even looking at the ride offer details to accept the ride. The $ per mile is calculated automatically in the background.
Ta Da sound playing if $/mile > $1.1
Ta Da sound playing if $/mile > $1.1
Drivers will also get a notification with details about the ride being analyzed, so it can be viewed at a more convenient time and before pickup:
Apple Shortcuts icon
4Real is delivered as an iOS shortcut: Make sure you Install Apple Shortcuts App from the App Store first, if not already installed.
Install the shortcut with the link below (iOS only).