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The Driver App

Drivers run their day from the Driver Dashboard on a phone or tablet. It shows today's routes, guides you stop to stop with a live map and navigation, and captures items, photos, and signatures at each pickup — even without a signal.

Your day at a glance​

The dashboard shows:

  • Active Route — the route you're currently running, with a progress bar, stops completed, estimated completion time, and a Continue Route button
  • Quick stats — today's routes, total stops, and stops completed
  • Today / Upcoming / Completed tabs listing your routes; tap any route to open it. The Completed tab is your history — it shows routes you finished on earlier days, not just today. (The dashboard always shows your own routes; a staff member checking on a driver uses Completed Routes in the Route Builder instead.)

Start a route​

When a coordinator publishes a route with you on it, you'll get an email with the route details and an Open your route link — it opens the route directly in the driver app.

Open a published route and tap Start Route, then confirm. The route switches to in progress and the first stop becomes your Next Stop.

The route map​

The route screen shows a map with:

  • Numbered markers for each stop, colored by status (gray pending, blue en route, yellow arrived, green completed)
  • A line connecting the stops in visiting order
  • A truck marker showing your last position as dispatch sees it

Tap a marker to jump to that stop's card. If the map can't load — no signal, or mapping isn't set up — the stop list still works and you can keep driving the route.

Share your live location​

While a route is in progress, a Share live location toggle appears. When it's on, dispatch can see your truck's position on the route map back at the store, and the panel shows when your position last updated. Turn it off any time — the choice is remembered on your device.

Work a stop​

The Next Stop card shows the donor's name, address, phone (tap to call), and item count.

  1. En Route — Start Navigation — marks you en route (the donor is notified you're on the way) and opens the address in your phone's maps app for turn-by-turn directions.
  2. Mark Arrived when you get there.
  3. View Details to see everything about the stop: contact links, the full address, Access Instructions from the donor, badges for stairs or an elevator, the item list (with quantities and "Requires Disassembly" flags), the scheduled window, and your ETA.

Complete a pickup​

From the stop, tap Complete Pickup. Completion is four steps:

  1. Items — every item starts checked. Uncheck anything you couldn't take, or use the plus/minus buttons to adjust the quantity actually collected. Add a short reason for anything left behind.
  2. Photos — optionally add up to five photos, for example the items loaded and a truck view. If you have nothing to document, tap Continue Without Photos.
  3. Signature — have the donor sign on the screen, or tap Skip Signature (No one available).
  4. Review — check the item summary, photos, and signature, add any notes, then tap Complete Pickup and confirm.

Partial pickups​

If some items weren't collected (unchecked, or a reduced quantity), the confirmation warns you and the pickup is recorded as a partial pickup. The office is notified, so note the reason on each item you left behind.

Skip a stop​

If you can't do a pickup — no one home, no access — tap Skip Stop on the stop's detail page, enter a reason, and confirm. The office is notified and you move on to the next stop.

Report an issue​

Tap Report Issue on a stop to flag a problem without skipping it. Pick a type — Access Problem, Wrong Address, Safety Concern, or Other — describe it, and submit. The report goes to the office.

Finish the route​

Once every stop is completed, skipped, or rescheduled, a Complete Route button appears. Tap it and confirm to close out your day.

Working offline​

The driver app keeps working in dead zones. Here's what to expect:

What keeps working​

  • Your route and stops stay visible. An Offline badge appears in the header, and a banner tells you the data's age: "Offline — showing route data as of 9:42 AM. It will refresh when you reconnect."
  • You can still complete pickups — items, photos, and signature are all captured as normal. When you submit, the app shows "Saved Offline": the pickup is stored on your device and the route moves on to the next stop.
  • Navigation to an address still works if your maps app has offline maps; the in-app route map may fall back to the plain stop list.

Pending sync​

  • A stop completed offline shows a Pending sync badge instead of a status — it's done from your side, and the app won't let you accidentally complete it twice.
  • A panel on the dashboard and route screens shows how many pickups are waiting to sync and when the last sync attempt was. Everything syncs automatically as soon as you have a connection; you can also tap Sync now.
  • If the office's system rejects a completion, it's flagged Sync needs attention with the reason — use Sync now to retry, or contact the office.
  • Complete Route waits until all your offline pickups have finished syncing.

Good to know offline​

  • Marking en route or arrived needs a connection (those steps notify the donor), so offline you can go straight to Complete Pickup — your arrival time is recorded with the completion.
  • Queued pickups live on your device until they sync. Keep the same device and browser, and don't clear its data while pickups are still pending.