Best GPS and Mileage Tracking Apps for Delivery Drivers

What Makes the Best GPS App For Delivery Drivers?

The market is awash with a litany of GPS and mileage tracking apps. To sort the wheat from the chaff, we took the four apps for a spin. We’ll delve into details of how they performed in a bit, but first, here’s a sneak peek into the best GPS apps for delivery drivers: 

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1. Timeero — Best GPS and Mileage app for delivery drivers with geofencing
2. Everlance — Best Mileage and expense tracking app
3. SherpaShare — Best mileage and expense tracking app for rideshare drivers
4. Stride Mileage Tracker — Best mileage tracker for independent delivery drivers

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Here are the key features to look for in the best GPS app for delivery drivers: 

Route Planning

A route planning feature takes into account factors such as sensitive deliveries, distance, and unexpected delays to create the optimal route for each driver. Doing so reduces aimless driving and allows drivers to fulfill deliveries as quickly and cost-effectively as possible.

Mileage Tracking

The app should also track mileage to create accountability and transparency for delivery drivers. Besides earning you 65.5 cents of tax deductions per mile, every mileage you track moves you closer to fair reimbursement of delivery drivers. 

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Moreover, some mileage tracking apps, such as Timeero, offer accurate GPS points and speed. You will know how fast the driver has been traveling through the delivery trip and can even suggest best practices to save gas mileage, such as asking drivers to maintain 50 mph speeds. Remember: gas mileage drastically drops at speeds above 50 mph.

Real-Time GPS Tracking

Real-time GPS helps determine the live location of each vehicle and asset. As a result, you can give your customers more accurate ETAs, so they know when to expect their delivery. 

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Moreover, GPS tracking discourages delivery drivers from running personal errands or making detours while on their route. When drivers remain on the suggested routes, they always deliver consignments on time, barring other unexpected mishaps.  

Geofencing 

A geofence is a virtual perimeter built purposely to restrict where employees can clock in or out. Geofencing goes hand-in-hand with mileage tracking. By ensuring each employee clocks in and out from their designated place of work, you won’t have to pay for time spent driving to work or back home. 

Route Replay

A route replay gives you a driver’s timeline and route taken during the trip. You can look back on the delivery route to see where the driver has been throughout the journey. It comes in handy when customers complain about late delivery, but the driver denies any wrongdoing. 

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4 Best GPS and Mileage Tracking Apps for Delivery Drivers

Thankfully, the apps on our list tick most of these boxes. Let’s dive straight into the nitty-gritty details of their pros and cons, starting with Timeero — the best GPS employee tracking app for delivery drivers:

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1. Timeero - Best GPS and Mileage App for Delivery Drivers With Geofencing

Timeero is the best mileage tracker app for delivery companies managing multiple drivers. It offers a flat learning curve for all users, including non-tech-savvy delivery drivers. Setting up your company profile, creating jobs/tasks, and inviting delivery drivers via email is easy. 

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Once delivery drivers set up their accounts, they only need to clock in from their smartphones, and Timeero will track mileage automatically. You can erect geofences around your warehouses and depots so that the app log business mileage for fair reimbursement and tax deductions. Geofencing eliminates the chances of drivers tracking commuter mileage and claiming its business mileage.

GPS and Mileage Tracking

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Timeero only counts mileage for what it considers driving. It currently relies on speed — meaning that when you hit a specified threshold, the app begins to track miles automatically. However, we’re updating the software to use motion detection. 

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When the new upgrade is rolled out, drivers won’t have to set the speed threshold when Timeero should start tracking mileage. Instead, the app will automatically record mileage only when the vehicle is on the move. This way, when you’re not driving or stuck in traffic, the app will not track mileage to improve accuracy. 

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Our odometer tracked 9.32 miles, and since we didn’t run into traffic, we expected Timeero to capture nearly every mileage. The app recorded 9.23 miles, representing 99% accuracy.

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Beyond the high accuracy, we were impressed with the details the app captures. First and foremost, the app gave us a map showing our exact route, including all the turns we took. Moreover, it showed detailed point-to-point timestamps about our whereabouts, thanks to breadcrumbing.

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You can click on each breadcrumb to view each vehicle's time, location, and speed. If you needed to know where your delivery driver was at some point, you could easily do so. This is important, particularly when the driver delays and the customer wants to be sure where the package is at a particular time.

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There’s a route replay in case you need full details about the driver and their speed at some point during the trip.

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We even switched off the internet mid-trip to see whether the offline mode does exactly what it says on the tin. As we expected, the offline mode worked so seamlessly that mileage tracking continued without a hitch. You can rest assured that even when drivers deliver parcels in areas with poor internet coverage, Timeero will track every mile. 

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Lastly, Timeero plays seamlessly with different accounting apps to mitigate human error during tax calculations and speed up payroll processing. It integrates with Gusto, QuickBooks, Rippling, ADP, Paychex, Xero, Viventium, and more. 

User Privacy

Timeero is designed with user privacy in mind. It stops tracking when the driver clocks out, so you can rest assured that it won’t intrude on your driver’s privacy. 

Missing Features

Timeero’s minor niggle is that it doesn’t come with a route-planning feature. However, there’s an apt alternative called suggested mileage. With this feature, you can see the suggested distance and business miles saved compared to the original route. 

Timeero Pricing  

Timeero doesn’t offer a free plan. However, if you want a first-hand feel for its features, you can do so for free, thanks to the 14-day free trial. If the features meet your expectations, you can subscribe to a paid plan starting at $4 per user per month. 

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2. Everlance - Best Mileage and Expense Tracking App

Like Timeero, Everlance is user-friendly: It’s easy to set up and use for all drivers. Sadly, it doesn’t support geofencing and tracks mileage automatically without requiring you to clock in. 

GPS and Mileage Tracking

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The app uses automatic trip detection technology, which starts to count mileage when you start driving. This option is a double-edged sword. While the simplicity is a welcome bonus for drivers who need to remember to clock in, it can be the Achille heels for your business. 

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Unscrupulous drivers can track mileage for time spent driving to or from work. To thwart such fraudulent activities, Everlance lets you configure the app to automatically classify trips as business trips if they happen within work hours. Still, that’s not the perfect remedy to prevent drivers from making detours or running personal errands during work time. 

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That niggle aside, Everlance gave us a map similar to what Timeero produced. The app recorded 9.3 miles out of 9.32 miles (or 99% accuracy), which proves that the auto-tracking features are quite effective. However, it doesn’t provide data like Timeero, meaning you can’t tell the time a driver was at a certain point along the route.

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Expense tracking is Everlance's forte. You can track gas mileage and other business expenses during the trip. It provides detailed expense reports, and you can even sync your credit card or bank account for automatic expense tracking. Because delivery expenses require strict approvals, Everlance allows you to customize your approval workflow to sidestep paying for personal expenses.  

Missing Features

Everlance doesn’t offer a route planning feature, which is miss if your drivers make multiple drop-offs. In addition, the lack of geo-fencing and the fact that it doesn’t require drivers to clock in complicates the entire reimbursement process. Moreover, you can’t recreate the driver's journey during the day because there's no route replay. 

User Privacy

Everlance doesn’t require drivers to manually track miles. Plus, with the auto-tracking feature, it creates mileage logs as soon as the vehicles start moving. As long as the auto-tracking tool is on, there’s a risk that rogue employers might oversee employees’ location outside of work.   

Everlance Pricing

Everlance is the only GPS and mileage tracking app on our list to offer a full-featured free version. The free mileage tracking app lets you tinker with its features for free forever and is a viable option for your small business. 

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However, if you make more than 30 trips per month, the free app will come up short. You’ll need a premium plan which costs $118 per year per user or $9.8 per user per month, nearly double Timeero’s subscription.

3. SherpaShare - Best Mileage And Expense Tracking App for Rideshare Drivers

Last but not least, we have SherpaShare — the best GPS app for freelancers and self-employed drivers. Only the master admin can automatically track mileage — if you want the entire team of drivers to track mileage electronically, you’re better off using another app.

GPS and Mileage Tracking

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That foible aside, SherpaShare is a joy to use. The app is geared towards rideshare drivers such as Uber, Lyft or Doordash drivers, and its functionality show that. For example, you don’t have to clock in for SherpaShare to track mileage. The app automatically creates a mileage log as soon as you get the vehicle moving. 

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Automatic mileage tracking makes the whole process hassle-free. The driver doesn’t have to indicate the start and stop for each trip manually, but there’s a caveat. As we found out with Everlance, automatic mileage makes it difficult to separate personal and business trips. 

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Overall, SherpaShare recorded 9 miles, representing 96.6% accuracy. The only issue with SherpaShare is that it ends the trip every time the vehicle stops (even when stuck in traffic). For instance, in our case, we stopped three times, and as a result, SherpaShare recorded three trips — instead of one. The maps don’t come with detailed timestamps.

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Sherpashare also helps independent contractors and self-employed delivery drivers track expenses during the trip. Plus, with driver-to-driver communication, it’s easier to chat with fellow drivers in real-time about issues along the route, such as traffic or accidents. 

Missing Features

Since Sherpashare is designed with rideshare and self-employed drivers in mind, it doesn’t provide a geofence feature. If you need an app to make it mandatory for drivers to clock in from the job site, look elsewhere. It also doesn’t come with a route planning tool. 

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However, Pro subscribers can use the Compass feature for navigation. With this tool, SherpaShare points you to the optimal route with a higher likelihood of finding more passenger requests. 

SherpaShare Pricing

SherpaShare offers a 15-day free trial if you want to play around with its features. Paid plans are affordable, starting at $4.99 per month. 

4. Stride Mileage Tracker - Best Mileage Tracker for Independent Delivery Drivers

As with SherpaShare, the Stride mileage tracker best suits independent delivery drivers and solo entrepreneurs. You can't create a team account, meaning only the master admin can track miles, expenses, and earnings. Remember that Stride doesn’t come with a web app; everything happens on the mobile app. 

GPS and Mileage Tracking 

The snags aside, Stride is super easy to use despite lacking an automatic mileage tracking capability. You only need to tap the green plus (+) button and select ‘track miles.’ The app will spring to action and track miles once you start driving. Once you’re done with your delivery trip, you must tap ‘I’m done driving’ to stop mileage tracking. 

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Stride recorded 9.68 miles, representing 0.36 miles over our odometer readings. We couldn’t fathom why the app recorded more miles than other apps, yet we never made any mess when starting or stopping mileage tracking.  

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The erroneous mileage reading puts a damper on Stride’s accuracy. If this is anything to go by, Stride isn't great at tracking mileage as it may lead to inaccurate tax deductions and earnings. Stride lets you manually add mileage if you forget to track miles for a delivery trip. 

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Unlike SherpaShare, Stride gave us one continuous track, indicating all the turns we took during our mock delivery trip. You can zoom in on the map to trace specific streets to show you were in an area at some point during the journey. Sadly, without timestamps, the map becomes a jumble of tracks and doesn’t help determine when you delivered a good. 

Missing Features

Given Stride is geared toward solo drivers, we’re not surprised that some features are missing. There’s no geofencing, which is an excellent addition for companies managing a group of drivers. Moreover, there’s no route planning feature, and Stride doesn’t come with an equally capable substitute. 

User Privacy

Since Stride supports manual mileage tracking, it puts your privacy in your hands. You decide when the app can actively track your mileage. As long you stop mileage tracking, the app will have no details about your whereabouts outside office hours. 

Stride Pricing

Stride is a free app. However, the mobile app may be unavailable on the Google Play store in some regions despite being free. In that case, users have to install the app via the APK file version.

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Pick The Best GPS App for Delivery Drivers

There’s no doubt that Timeero is the best mileage app for delivery drivers. The app ticks the right boxes, from mileage tracking and real-time GPS tracking to geofencing and route replays. 

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It’s easy to use, and most importantly, it plays nicely with QuickBooks Online and other payment software systems. You can generate IRS-compliant mileage reports for tax filing purposes and export them to your payment system for fair reimbursement.

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FAQs

What is the best mileage tracker for delivery drivers?‍

Timeero is the best mileage tracker for delivery drivers. It has a 99% mileage tracking accuracy and offers detailed point-to-point timestamps to help you track the whereabouts of each vehicle in real time. 

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What is the Best Navigation App for Delivery Drivers?

If you’re looking for the best GPS for delivery drivers, Google Maps is worth considering. However, if you need an app that generates IRS-compliant mileage reports, Timeero is right up your alley.

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How do I keep track of my delivery drivers?

To keep track of your delivery drivers, you need one of the best GPS apps for delivery drivers, such as Timeero. Timeero uses real-time GPS and provides detailed timestamps so you know where your drivers are at any point during the trip. 

Should Delivery Drivers Use A Mileage Tracking App? 

Yes, delivery drivers should use mileage tracking apps to track their earnings and to determine mileage deductions they’re eligible for. 

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