You've been approved for Uber, DoorDash or Instacart, and the first shift is tomorrow. The phone is your whole workplace now: it gets the offers, navigates, records what you earned and, if you set it up, records the miles you'll deduct in April. Half an hour tonight saves you a missed offer on day one and an unrecoverable gap in your records at tax time.
Here is the short version, in the order that matters:
- Let the driver app's alerts through Driving Focus, or you'll miss offers while you drive.
- Start a mileage log before the first trip. The platforms don't record every mile you can deduct.
- Photograph your odometer on day one.
- Leave storage headroom so updates and navigation don't fail mid-shift.
- Sort out audio and food so the dead time between orders doesn't cost you.
Who wrote this: we make four of the apps mentioned below: TaxMiles, Cleanup My Phone, Trending Music and RecipeScan. Each section says where one of ours fits, and where a free tool already on your iPhone does the job just as well.
1. The platform app: permissions and Driving Focus
Offers are matched to where you are, so give each driver app the location permission it asks for during setup, and don't set it to Never. Allow its notifications too. Offers usually expire in seconds, and a silenced alert is a lost order.
The setting that catches new drivers is Driving Focus. It's built to silence your phone in the car, which is exactly when offers arrive. Set it up tonight rather than finding out on the road:
- Open Settings → Focus → Driving.
- Under the allowed notifications, add Apps and choose each driver app you use (Uber Driver, Dasher, Shopper and so on).
- Choose how Driving Focus turns on: automatically when iPhone detects driving, when it connects to your car's Bluetooth, or with CarPlay.
Low Power Mode can delay background activity. If offers seem to arrive late, check that it isn't on during shifts, and keep the phone on a charger instead.
Tip: many states ban holding a phone while driving. A mount at eye level and a charging cable that reaches it are worth more than any app on this list. Accept offers and change settings while you're parked.
2. A mileage log from the very first trip
This is the only item on the list that changes your tax bill. At the 2026 standard rate of 76 cents a mile from July 1, a driver doing 250 business miles a week is building a deduction of about $190 a week. The catch is that you need a record of those miles, and the platform won't hand you a complete one.
Uber's tax summary, for example, reports online miles, and a platform only sees the app it runs. Driving between two apps, repositioning to a busier area, or waiting for the next ping are often deductible business miles that no platform summary includes. The drive from home to your first order, and back again at the end, usually isn't. A log kept at the time of each trip is what separates the two when anyone asks.
Where TaxMiles fits: TaxMiles (ours) detects drives in the background and records each one. You mark it business or personal with a swipe. You can start and stop trips from CarPlay or an Apple Watch, and it values each trip at the IRS rate in force on the day you drove it. The free plan covers 40 trips a month, which is plenty for a first week. When your weekly statement arrives, you can import the platform's CSV, PDF or screenshots so earnings and miles sit side by side. Statements are read on your iPhone, and you check every row before anything is saved.
Whatever you use, do these two things on day one:
- Photograph the odometer before the first shift. A start-of-year or first-day reading backs up your total miles and business-use percentage. Here's how to keep an odometer photo log.
- Decide what you'll set aside. No one withholds tax from gig pay. A common starting point is 25–30% of what's left after expenses, explained in how much to set aside as a 1099 worker.
3. Storage headroom before it becomes a problem
Gig drivers take a lot of screenshots: every weekly earnings summary, the offer you weren't sure about, the customer's gate code, the receipt for a parking ticket. Add screen recordings of an app glitch to send support, and a phone that was fine last month starts refusing app updates. A driver app that won't update can stop working until it does, which is a bad thing to discover at the start of a Friday night.
Check first: Settings → General → iPhone Storage shows what's using space. The free fix is in Photos, where the Screenshots collection under Media Types lets you select and delete them yourself.
Where Cleanup My Phone fits: if the screenshots are mixed in with thousands of other photos, Cleanup My Phone (ours) groups screenshots, screen recordings, duplicates and near-identical shots so you can review and clear them in batches. It can also compress large videos rather than delete them. The analysis runs on the phone; your photos don't leave it. Your first cleanup is free, then free users get 5 more deletions, and Premium removes the limit. Deleted items go to Photos' Recently Deleted album, so empty that album to actually get the space back.
Once TaxMiles has imported an earnings screenshot, the screenshot itself is just clutter. The numbers live in your log.
4. Audio for the time between orders
A lot of a shift is waiting: parked outside a restaurant, circling for the next ping. Whatever plays needs to let navigation prompts and the offer chime cut through, and it should be controllable without picking up the phone.
Free options you already have: your car's radio, and Apple Podcasts.
Where Trending Music fits: Trending Music (ours) works with CarPlay. It shows large rows for Home, Library, Radio and Podcasts, and you can search by voice using your steering-wheel button. It streams live AM/FM and internet radio, podcasts and audiobooks for free, with ads between songs but never in the middle of one. Premium removes the ads and the free tier's daily streaming limit. Streaming uses mobile data, so keep an eye on your plan if it has a cap.
5. Food that doesn't eat the night's earnings
Buying dinner at the restaurant you're picking up from is convenient, and on a long shift it can quietly take a big bite out of the night's earnings. The fix is boring: cook a batch on your day off and bring it with you.
Where RecipeScan fits: RecipeScan (ours) suggests recipes from a photo of what's already in your fridge. Its meal planner has a Budget template built on cheap staples like beans, rice, pasta and eggs, an Efficiency template for batch meals that reheat well, and a Speed template for meals under 30 minutes. The grocery list shows an estimated total based on average US prices. Treat it as a guide, not your store's receipt. The free plan lets you use each AI feature once a week, Premium is unlimited, and the AI features need an internet connection.
The 30-minute checklist
| Do this | Where | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Allow driver-app alerts in Driving Focus | Settings → Focus → Driving | Offers arrive while you drive |
| Location and notifications for each driver app | The app's setup, or Settings → the app | Offers are matched to where you are |
| Mount and a cable that reaches it | Your car | Hands-free laws, and a phone that lasts the shift |
| Start a mileage log | A mileage app such as TaxMiles | The platforms miss miles you can deduct |
| Odometer photo | Camera, before the first trip | Backs up your total and business miles |
| Check storage; clear screenshots | Settings → General → iPhone Storage | Driver apps must be able to update |
| Pick your audio | Car radio, Apple Podcasts, or Trending Music | Controllable without touching the phone |
| Batch-cook for the week | Your kitchen, or RecipeScan | Food bought on shift eats into earnings |
Who this isn't for
- Android drivers. All four of our apps are iPhone-only, and the Settings paths above are iOS paths.
- W-2 couriers whose employer reimburses mileage. Follow your employer's log requirements. The self-employed deduction advice here doesn't apply to you.
- Drivers who already have a system that works. If your records hold up and your phone already works for you, switching apps just adds a gap. If you're considering a switch mid-year, read how to switch mileage apps without losing your log first.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need every app in this guide?
No. The only one that changes your tax bill is a mileage log, because the platforms do not track every mile you can deduct and you cannot rebuild a log reliably later. Storage, audio and food are about getting through a shift comfortably, and the free tools built into the iPhone cover a lot of it.
Will a mileage tracking app drain my battery on a shift?
Any app that records GPS routes uses battery while it records. TaxMiles watches for a drive starting and runs full GPS only while you are driving, not all day. Keep the phone on a charger during shifts regardless, because the driver app and navigation are running too.
Are these apps free?
All four are free to download, and each has a free tier with a limit. TaxMiles is free for 40 trips a month. Cleanup My Phone gives you your first cleanup free, then 5 more deletions. Trending Music is free with ads. RecipeScan lets you use each AI feature once a week. Each has a paid tier that removes the limit.
Log your first trip tomorrow
TaxMiles records every drive in the background, so the miles from your first shift are already in the log when you get home. Free for 40 trips a month.
Get TaxMilesThis article is general education for U.S. self-employed drivers, not legal, tax or accounting advice. Rates, platform tax documents, iOS settings and app features change; check current IRS guidance and your own apps. TaxMiles, Cleanup My Phone, Trending Music and RecipeScan are our apps. Uber, DoorDash, Instacart and Apple are trademarks of their owners, who don't endorse this article.