Understanding Uber & Lyft’s Destination Filters

In the early days of rideshare driving when you wanted to head home for the day, you would either just hope that you would get a ride that would bring you closer, or you would log out of the app altogether and just eat that mileage home.

One of the most popular features added within the last couple of years are the destination feature, and with the destination feature, you can save the headache of accepting unwanted rides as well as earn some money on your way back home.

Joe from The Rideshare Guy is going to talk about the Lyft and Uber destination filters. Take a look at his video, then scroll to the transcript below to see the points he covers.

What is a destination filter?

Destination filters allow you to only accept requests that will bring you closer to your destination, so when you want to head home for the day, you set your home address or wherever you want to end up as your final destination, and you will only receive requests that will bring you closer.

This will obviously reduce the amount of requests you receive, but it does allow you to make some money when you want to end your day. Instead of just having to log out of the app, you can set that destination feature, and hopefully get rides to bring you closer.

Differences between Uber and Lyft destination filters

Both Uber and Lyft have subtle differences between their destination filter. Uber has basically where you can set your destination filter twice daily, and what you do is you’ll set your destination, and once you accept the request and you complete a trip with that destination filter in place, that counts as one of your sessions.

You can continue to accept requests bringing you closer and closer to your destination, and that still counts as one session. As soon as you log out or change the destination, that will count as one session, and you’ll be onto your second session. Then once you’ve exhausted that second session, you’re done for the day.

Those filters reset for both Uber and Lyft at midnight every day, so once midnight hits, you’ll reset to two with Uber.

With Lyft it’s a little different. You’re allowed six sessions per day. The subtle difference with Lyft is if say you sit in Destination Mode for 15 minutes and you haven’t received a request, Lyft will automatically log you out of the app, and that counts as one of your six.

With Uber, you can sit in Destination Mode for as long as you want. It will keep you there, but it’s two as opposed to the six that Lyft offers. With Lyft, as well as that 15 minute rule, anytime you log into Destination Mode and say you log out, that counts as a session. You get six of those for the day, and just like Uber, that resets at midnight every single day.

How to use Uber destination filters

Let’s jump in and show you how to use the destination filter for both Uber and Lyft, and give you some additional information that will be helpful.

Here’s how we use the Uber destination feature. You’ll select the top right clipboard icon, select Set Destination, I’ll select Minneapolis. It’ll ask you to go online. I’m now online, and I will only get trips filtered towards the destination of Minneapolis.

Once I complete one trip towards my destination, this is a session. Say I complete a trip half way, I’ll stay within this current session and hope to get another trip that brings me even closer. Once I log out of Driver Mode, that counts as one session.

Now, say I want to go driving again today. I have one more destination session, so I can use one more destination session tonight. Uber also has this Add Arrival Time feature, so at the beginning of your day, say you want to be home by 5:00. You’ll set your arrival time, your arrive by time, to 5:00. You’ll select your destination, go online, and now I’m actually open to all trips, but at a certain point in time, I will automatically be entered into Destination Mode, and I will receive requests towards my destination, and hopefully be at or near my destination right around 5:00.

Why destination mode sometimes disappears

One additional thing to note, and this has been reported in some markets, that during sometimes, Driver Destination will not be available. You may get a message like this saying, “Driver Destinations is temporarily unavailable. To maintain that reliability, a destination can’t bet set at this time. This occurs in the busiest areas and times of the day. Please try again later.” So you may run into this during the busiest times of the day, but for most of the day, the filter should be available.

How to use Lyft destination filters

Here’s how to use the destination filter with Lyft. You’ll select the top right down arrow, and you’ll select Set Destination. Then you’ll select the address, and you can put in whatever address you’d like. We’ll add Minneapolis. Now Destination Mode is set, and I’m only going to receive requests towards Minneapolis.

Say I were to be logged into Destination Mode for 15 minutes and I don’t receive a request, I will automatically be logged out, and that will be counted as one of my six sessions for the day. Lyft does not show you the count of your six Destination Modes in the app, how many you’ve used, but once you’ve exhausted the six, you will get a text message from them saying, “You’ve used the Destination Mode six times today. Check back tomorrow to use it again.”

Again, the main things to remember are Uber has those two destination filters for the day, and Lyft has six. They’re a little nuanced, the differences. With Uber’s, you’re allowed to be in that Destination Mode for as long as possible, as long as you’re accepting trips towards your destination. You’re only given two though. With Lyft, you’re given six, but if 15 minutes lapse and you don’t get a ride, that counts as one of your sessions.

It’s just a really cool feature, and a way to earn some money on the way to any destination, whether it be home, whether it be you want to go to the airport, just a way to control your trips better than just accepting whatever trip wherever. Thanks for watching! Please like, comment, or subscribe, and drive safe.