Careem, a fore-runner taxi booking app rooted in Dubai, has made aspirations to evolve into an everyday lifestyle app.

The hassle of getting a cab on time is REAL! 

Or you might be in a situation where you want to hire a Taxi. 

But, after an endless wait and bummer experience, you end up paying more than required! As conventional transport services often fail to check on customer-centric services, apps like Careem, Ola and Uber understood the pain and reaped advantages out of it. 

With the debut of Uber in 2009, it upturned the transport industry. Right after making it customer-oriented, Uber elevated on daily refusals, hassle and inconvenience caused. But gradually, many competitors are sprouting in the industry and giving a bottleneck competition to Uber. 

One such miraculous name is “Careem”, an out-of-towner taxi-hailing app giving a serious tiff to Uber.    

But before you step ahead, it’s essential to uncover what makes Careem so unique that even a 9-year giant is facing a blow in Dubai? 

Although California-rooted Dubai has the lion’s share globally, it’s still lagging behind the Careem’s territory. According to a report, Uber’s competitor is eventually getting a boost compared to Uber in social media conversation. 

Unsurprisingly, Careem outhussle Uber, as localities consider it as a homegrown brand! 

In a report, Careem’s super app, which was launched at the peak of COVID-19 outbreak, has amassed 48 million users. Also, debuting as the region’s first “Super App”, Careem made all services available at one platform, offering a ride, bike-sharing, grocery shopping, digital Payment options, intercity travelling and delivery options all in one place. 

Simply put, the app’s core objective is to cater to sheer convenience wherever they are plying – solving technical demurs that commuters face. Precisely, taxi apps across the globe have revolutionized the transport sector by welcoming ride on-demand features. 

So, suppose you have a taxi business and plan to take it to the next level in Dubai. In that case, all you need is a reliable mobile app development company that has proven expertise in developing on-demand taxi apps. And, who knows you can be the next Careem or Uber of today’s epoch.

Let’s Start!

History Of A Successful App – Careem 

Careem initiated its service as a web-based service for corporate car bookings and revamped into a company that offers assistance to hire a car for routine usage. In its fancy stage, pre-scheduled bookings were an integrated feature, so that they had a good time to appoint and arrange a cab for the commuter. Usually, the users were from firms that require a lot of travelling.   

The CEO and Co-founder of Careem had a vision of Careem aspiring to become an app focused on consumer’s daily need paying attention to the synergies leading to greater operational efficiencies and improved customer experience. To be precise, they want to create a more holistic view of the consumer in a single platform.

A 360 Degree View Of Careem Business Model 

Irrespective of it’s Android or iOS app development, Careem app consist of three models for the vital elements of the app:

1. Captain/Driver App
2. Commuter App
3. Admin Dashboard

Captain/Driver App

The driver uses the app to receive cab booking notification and earn money. Here are the steps to register as a driver: 

• Register your details at the driver credential page of the app
• Complete the captain training
• Download the driver app
• Accept your first trip, and you have successfully started on your journey to earn money.
• The cab booking service is available 24*7 in big cities surrounding the MENA region and Turkey, like Dubai, Riyadh, Jeddah, Beirut, Istanbul and the list goes on.

Commuter App

The passenger or commuter app is the app’s where users can easily book a cab according to their convenience. It can be booked for regular commuting or can be scheduled for later drives. 

• Download and install the app. With the integrated GPS feature, the experts will pick up your location accurately to drive your way quickly.
• Select your car type and choose “Ride Now” or “Ride Later” depending on when you want to get going—a more flexible approach in context to conventional taxi-hailing services.
• Select your dropoff location for a rough estimate.
• Type “YALLA” and get a confirmation at the instant. Further, complete your driver details and location.
• Track your ride in real-time. Once your ride arrives, get-in, sit and relax. You have to pay only when your rise is completed.
• The time you book a ride, you can opt for either pay through cash or through the card. In making a card payment, the amount will be automatically deducted from your account by Careem, and if paying by cash, you will have to hand over money to the driver at the end of the ride.
• Don’t forget to rate the service or share your feedback.

Admin Panel

The administration panel allows super admin to manage the drivers, cabs, reviews, dashboards and many more to the list.

What It Takes To Create An App Like Careem? The Masterplan

The technology stack used for Uber and Careem booking has been evolved. As taxi app startups globally are coming up with fresh and innovative ideas to solve a unique challenge or trying to make the journey safe and comfortable etc. and, while you adhere to these features, every other taxi startup is looking for one thing – “Success”! 

To cherish the taste of success, you need to make sure you make the user experience easy as ABC. At the same time, it must expand your client base in your targeted area in the MENA region. 

Assess Few Things While Targeting The Middle East Region 

1. Your competitors.
2. Your scope of building a taxi app.
3. Your target audience in the Middle East region.
4. Your long term objectives with the app. 

However, with the right strategy, you can easily reach clients in big cities like Dubai and Abu Dhabi. And to craft that strategy, you need to answer these questions in advance. Once you are done with this questionnaire, decide whether you want to opt for cross-platform taxi app or native app development, 

With whatever platform you choose to create an app like Careem in the Middle East, it’s crucial to select the best backend and frontend development team from the leading app development companies in Dubai.

Well, that’s relatively brief. Let’s dive a little deeper into the best technologies to help you develop apps like Careem in the UAE.

1. Select GPS Tracking In Your App

Your clone app, like Careem, needs to manage several requests at an instant. And, these requests will come from different locations. Simultaneously, the taxi must reach the user’s location on time.

So, it makes sure that your app is tracking the user’s location continually, which will contact the driver at the nearest point or within an arm’s stretch. 

Integrating GPS features in the app is a must. For iOS, the core location framework is used. This framework uses device GPS features to track user location, which, in return, offer ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival). For Android app development, a location manager allows the app to get frequent updates of the user’s geographical location. 

2. Keep App Performance Unparalleled

Finally, you are geared to create an app like Careem. But, are you done with your homework? 

Developing any taxi-hailing app comes with a handful of related responsibilities. Any mobile app development company cannot just assure you of the best support needed for your platform. And, this time we are talking about support, your app must be dynamic to handle numerous requests in a day.  

To make sure your app performs like it’s nobody’s business, you do need to make sure of impeccable performance. The ideal technology for this is AWS, Amazon Web Service. It’s easy to access and the best. Undoubtedly, for your target audience in the UAE, AWS proves to be your best bet. It will make your app dynamic to avoid crashing when request maximizes.  

The already established apps like Careem and Uber, follows a dynamic server to handle the load. They have made their computing power strong enough to perform without crashing. Therefore, your users will be more contented and hence will adhere to the app! 

3. “Cashless” Payment Integration

Uber, Ola, Careem – any taxi app you take, has integrated, reliable payment gateways making payments a no-hassle job. 

They have automated the process so that the user doesn’t have to reach for the wallet. There’s always a choice to pay in cash and also, you can also keep popular payment options like UPI, Card payments, or offer an alternative like Careem wallet options in your taxi booking app. 

To have a seamless and cashless payment method integrated for your app in the UAE, you can easily opt for CCAvenue and Stripe technologies for iOS. These technologies also have the potential to manage mobile payments. The iOS SDK (Software Development Kit) is ideal when you need to add payment integrations in your app. It makes the API for native payments easy to use for apps. Further, to make it more seamless, one-tap purchases is what you need to include in it. 

Braintree can save the pieces of information which will prevent users from presenting their information now and then. I would also recommend the iOS and Android app developer to use Stripe API for taxi apps like Careem.

4. The Cost Rundown Of Creating An App Like Careem

Finally, the wait for the final cost is over!

Let me assist you here. The cost for creating a successful app like Careem for the MENA region ultimately depends upon the feature you opt. Talking about Careem, they have similar functions and feature sets that have transformed the entire transport system. 

Both the transport mammoths have a seamless UX/UX feel, rare errors and minimum debugs. So, it’s high time you uncover the vile to understand what determines the cost of apps like Careem. 

To add, you can also outsource a development team that will help you get a dynamic solution without leaving a hole in your pocket. Let’s have an insight into the features that your taxi-hailing app must have:

Driver’s App Feature

• Tracking Of Vehicle
• SMS Alert
• Notification To Drivers
• Automatic e-receipt

Passenger’s App Feature

• User profile and credentials
• On-demand booking
• Digital billing
• Ride history 
• Automatic e-receipt
• Flexible payment options 
• Flexible tracking system (GPS)
• Notifications and SMS alerts
• Scheduled bookings
• Profile customization

The decisive question is that if you want to create an app like Careem targeting the UAE, the more functionality you will add, the more it will cost you. But, you can always go for a better app version than Careem or Uber. Outsourcing from a different region will charge you differently, and they are affordable and reliable.

Also, adding features like social media integration, splitting the bill, group messaging will take the price towards a higher side. So, finally, it’s on your choice what features you want to add or what design to include and importantly, how much experience your iOS and Android app developers are.

The Key Takeaway

If you are in the hassle of strategizing for the Middle East Region, keep in mind that a homegrown taxi-hailing app will get more audience compared to any other app. So, simply pay attention to eliminating the pain of daily 9-to-5 goers and commuters, brainstorm on innovative ideas and take your taxi business online through a mobile app.

To create the best on-demand taxi app that rules the market, know how we help!