Why You Might Want Two Phones To Drive For Uber and Lyft

What’s up, guys? Today I have a more advanced video that is going to cover why you might need two phones to drive for Uber or Lyft. Using two phones is a subject that comes up often on forums and in Facebook groups, but most drivers don’t know how to do it or why it might be a smart idea.

Check out the video below to see how drivers use two phones to run Uber and Lyft at the same time and check out the transcript of the video below if you prefer to read.

One phone can get the job done, but…

I personally only use one phone right now — A brand new LG G3. I’m a big fan of investing in a tool that you’re going to use every day, like your phone or like your car, so I picked a top-of-the-line phone.

I think it’s very important that drivers have a good phone,  and if you have one phone, you can definitely do everything that you need to do. You can run the Uber and Lyft apps, you can use GPS navigation, and you can play music from Spotify or Google Music. And then you can also browse Facebook and Rideshare Guy or listen to podcasts during your downtime, whatever like to do while you’re on a break.

I’ve gone over some tips and tricks to make sure that your phone is running at full capacity: Restart your phone at the beginning of every shift and clear all your apps before you go back online. Those are pretty basic. Even though I prefer one phone, there are a lot of instances and there are a lot of drivers out there using two phones.

Why use two phones instead of one?

If you’re going to have two phones, you really want to have a good reason why. Why are you going to use two phones instead of one?

Think about it from a business perspective. That second phone is going to cost you money, which we’ll go into. What value is the second phone adding? What benefit is it giving you? Is it just that you like the convenience? That’s what I’m going to talk about right now and that’s what I think you guys definitely want to consider if you make that switch from one to two phones.

One benefit to using two phones is that it allows you to easily see where other drivers are. If you’re sitting there waiting for a request, two, three, four, five minutes, it’s not super busy, you want to see if there’s another driver right on top of you. If there’s an Uber driver right on top of you and they’re closer to the passenger, they’re obviously going to get that request first.

See where other drivers are without toggling between apps

Drivers look at the passenger app on their second phone and say, “I see another driver right here. I’m going to move.” Neither the Lyft app or the Uber app have that feature. doesn’t have that feature.

Instead of toggling back and forth between the passenger and driver app one one phone to see where other drivers are, they’ll have their driver phone to get requests and they’ll have their second phone to look at the Uber app or the Lyft app from the passenger side to see where the nearest drivers are.

With Lyft, you’ll be able to see all the drivers around you in the passenger app. And with Uber, you’re actually only able to see the closest eight drivers to where you drop your pin. So if you’re out playing around on Uber on the passenger app and you’re moving the pin around, you can see where those other drivers are, but it will only show you the closest eight. Some drivers will just use one phone to toggle back and forth, but as a personal preference some drivers like to do that with two phones.

Getting the second phone cheaply is crucial

Some people get their second phone pretty cheaply and then tether it to your main phone. Tethering means that you turn your main phone into a WiFi hot spot and then connect to that WiFi hotspot with your second phone. Both Android and iPhone operating systems can do that, but not all cell service providers allow it. On my AT&T LG G3, I can create a WiFi hot spot so if I did have a second phone, I could connect it to my main phone and get data that way.

One time where I think it never makes sense to get a second phone is if you’re paying for the Uber iPhone. That phone can’t make calls, so all you’re paying for is basically $10 a week in data, which I think you can get much cheaper plans, whether either it’s through tethering or a second data plan altogether.

I don’t think it makes a lot of sense to pay for that second iPhone, but you can also get a pretty cheap second smartphone. A lot of these top-of-the-line Samsungs and LGs cost $500, $600, $700, and $200 with a full contract, but if you’re on your second phone, you probably don’t want a second contract. There are things like family plans where you can add on a second line that is super cheap. AT&T lets you add on a family line for 20 bucks plus $30 for unlimited data. There are some pretty good deals out there that you allow you to cheaply use a second phone. If you’re looking for a good off-contract Android phone, I like the Nexus or the OnePlus One.

What’s the return on your investment in a second phone?

Now the main thing is that if you’re going to be buying a second phone, it has to serve some purpose and you have to be able to see a return on your investment. Figure out what that’s worth to you. However much you’re spending per month on the second phone is cutting into your earnings. There has to be some tangible benefit, whether it’s helping you get more pickups, providing convenience for your passengers, or just saving you stress from not having to switch back and forth between apps. A you making the passenger’s experience better? Are you getting bigger tips? Are you getting better ratings? What’s it helping you with? What’s your return on your investment? I think that’s a really good way to think about it.

I hope you guys enjoyed this video, and if you have any further questions about what it’s like using two phones definitely let me know. Leave a comment, shoot me an email, find me on social media. I’m all over the place. If you guys have anything else, just let me know. Take care!